The Renaissance Project

The period from the 14th-17th Century in Europe, known as the Renaissance, is represented in this exhibit by a variety of student works coming from both art studios and math classrooms. Inspired by the archetypal Renaissance thinker, Leonardo Da Vinci, students have learned to observe natural forms, divining patterns and ultimately principles from how things look and behave. Intense curiosity and a creative spirit characterized the artists and scholars of the age. By transcending subject barriers and infusing the artistic process into the solving of problems, students have stretched both their imaginations and their logical faculties. Designing a “Da Vinci” style parachute that would bring an egg safely to ground when launched from 20 feet was one of the challenges in which some Grade 9 students were engaged. They produced a variety of innovative solutions, tested them, and used video technology to derive the mathematics behind their fall. Some students studied other Leonardo inventions and came up with their own versions of these devices. Artwork ranged from creating decorative masks from the period to recreations of famous works such as the Mona Lisa, anatomical sketches and geometric figures. Realising that patterns and principles exist behind everyday objects and events, that beauty is inherent in symmetry and perspective and that we have the ability to look “beneath the surface” of things, is perhaps the essence of this experience. Leonardo, prodigious in all of these respects, helped to signpost the way towards the “art” of thinking. 2D Art teacher, Soleil Mannion, and 3D instructor, David Hunwick, collaborated with  academic instructors and facilitated students from numerous courses and grades to develop this project.