
Uko Akpanuko
Daily Herald
The Prince Albert Literacy Network’s Family Fun Day wasn’t just a time to promote family literacy, it also gave a few local artists to put their work on display.
Wesmor High School student Marley Thorpe was one such artist. After investing a lot of time in creating his pieces, he was happy for a chance to display them. “It’s awesome how I got promoted to make this stuff,” said Thorpe, who is currently in Grade 11.
“This is new for me. I was at school Friday, and they said my name out loud. They said, ‘Marley Thorpe is making stuff out of cardboard at the mall. They said that, and my friends were proud of me everywhere.’”
The Family Fun Day theme was Learning to be Green Together. One of the highlights of the day was the Pop-up Art Gallery, where member of the public were invited to produce artwork from environment friendly materials or recycled materials.
All of Thorpe’s creations are made out of recycled cardboard. He gets his ideas from images he finds on Google, or sees in popular media.
For example, he created a full-head mask of the character Springtrap from the independent video game Five Nights at Freddy’s 3.
“When I was probably 13 I watched Springtrap and I wanted to make one, so I made it (with) cardboard, but the first one failed. It took a lot of days to finish that,” he explained.
“(It takes) a couple weeks sometimes. It’s just a thing where you have to think and focus.”
Thorpe’s work was among 28 pieces of art on display at the Pop-Up Art Gallery. Students from kindergarten to high school submitted works for display.
Thorpe is on the autism spectrum, and says working on his art helps bring peace to his life.
“(It’s) like music,” he said. “I can be quite and I can focus.”
–with files from Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald