Taking time to honor Remembrance Day. Visit us from November 1 – November 11 to view art displays created by the talented students of Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts (ASIA). 

Visit the Central Plaza, Marshalls Lobby, and the Hallway between Cineplex and Sephora to view the exhibits.

Artist Statement from ASIA

“Each year, the students at the Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts (ASIA Sumas) proudly utilize their artistic voice to explore a meaningful process of Remembrance. The process starts in virtually every classroom in our grade 6-12 learning community, and through artistic and academic integration, culminates in a demonstration of learning and a somber, yet powerful Remembrance Day ceremony. Dance, drama, music, visual and digital arts are used by the students to help them communicate their understanding of what it means to remember and why. The digital prints published around Highstreet reflect a snapshot of some of that learning. It is a sample of the work done by both our middle and secondary students in photography, digital media arts, and visual art classes. This year, the students explored the theme of “Rebellion” and created art pieces that reflect the damaging and devastating effects of war as a result of rebellious actions to achieve change. Students examined some of the negative impacts of war on those who have endured it, as well as the open resistance against the orders of an established authority to reach a positive change in providing the freedoms for future generations, including their own. 

This was captured by secondary students who placed powerful imagery of war within their own profile images to represent the inner turmoil each soldier endured to achieve our freedoms today. Our middle school pieces depict the rebellious action of using graffiti to display artistic expression in a positive light to portray the damaging effects of war. The goal was achieved by creating faked stencil-spray paint street art that uses images of war and “twists” them with an additional image of peace, hope, or love. The idea is to represent the sacrifices of past wars but turn them into hope for the future and an ideal of building peace. While other students chose images that resonated with them and converted these symbols into a brush to create a diffusion. This diffusion of the background conveyed a shift from event to memory. The symbol of a poppy, dove, or cross was enlarged as the central object overlaid with a collage of objects signifying war (or peace). Each art piece is meant to have aspects that speak to both the destructive and rebellious nature of war and the change that can follow. If you get a chance to check out the students’ work at Highstreet, try to see if you can determine the meaning behind their art, and walk away with the message they are trying to use their young artistic voices to communicate.”