Friendship Centre’s SHIELD project

The Labrador Friendship Centre Sheild Project held a Metal Art Fabrication course this past weekend in Happy Valley.

Peyton Barrett, who is the instructor, said the weekend was an exciting one and the youth came up with great ideas on which to base their artwork.

Shield is an acronym for sexual health Information Exchange Labrador District.

The Project encourages positive sexual health, personal wellness and healthy relationships through art, culture and technology, and is in partnership with Community Youth Network NL.

Barrett is teaching 3 courses which will take place at the College of the North Atlantic.

The first course was to teach the teens on how to work with copper and bronze to design pieces of jewelry.

During the second course the participants explored copper and brass and created pieces of art including a pendant, ring, and a cultural copper wire design.

And the final course, which will take place on March 9&10, will be to focus on metal tooling and pop can art. The youth will complete 2 deigns; one on metal to be framed with matte board and copper leaves with soldered wire stems.

These courses run from 9am to 4pm each day.

Denise Cole, who is the coordinator for this project, says that it was intentional to bring up those conversations to talk about the importance of their culture and how that connects and reflects back to the art that they create.

For more information, you can contact Denise Cole at 709-896-8302 ext. 224.