Some 25 pieces of original art created by 5th and 6th graders in the Oshki Ogimaag Charter School in Grand Portage will be on display for a public art show on Thursday, May 11, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. 

All are welcome to attend to view, reflect and meet the artists. The event will be held in the Grand Portage Community Center, 75 Upper Road, Grand Portage. As a permanent donation, the work will remain on display after the show.

The Seven Clans paintings were created by students with Grand Marais-based art therapist/facilitator, Belle Janicek. Janicek worked with students at Oshki Ogimaag for the past five years to create works that allow student to explore, interpret and create their own images of their cultural teachings. 

The paintings of The Seven Clans are each painted on circular/convex canvases. Each is displayed with an artist's statement about their art and their journey to identity through art, as well as their reflections and insights on the Clan they painted.  Explained Janicek: "The paintings are an honest and breathtaking display of what the children have come to know of themselves, their culture and their truth in the world."

In the past, art projects have been donated to Grand Portage Community Center, where they hang in the long hallway as a collection of the children’s path through art and what they have come to know of themselves and their journey as new leaders. This collection of The Seven Clans paintings will also join the collection.

The Seven Clans Project was funded by a grant from the Lioness Club of Cook County that covered art materials for each of the students involved.