Green is the New Black

In May, GNS student Katrina Wei won third place in a local art competition. The contest was put on by the physiotherapy company Rebalance, and was open to all high school students in Victoria. To enter, artists had to create an original piece centred around the environmental theme “Green is the new black.” Katrina has been painting on and off since elementary school, and says art classes at GNS have encouraged her and given her an opportunity to hone her skills. She heard about the competition through art teacher Jennie Greven and decided to enter. Though Katrina doesn’t paint that often, she says the idea came to her quickly and didn’t take that long to execute: “I really like the idea–it was a lot of fun,” Katrina says. Katrina used acrylics to paint a portrait of a girl with a flower crown, symbolizing someone embracing a greener way of life. To get the flowers right, she spent time studying flowers in nature. Katrina says that since caliber of the other entrants’ pieces was so high, she was pleasantly surprised when she ended up winning third place and a prize of $200. Katrina plans to continue to paint in class and whenever she has the chance. She loves the idea of a creative profession, and is currently trying to get exposure to a wide range of different creative fields. This summer, she’s taking part in an Emily Carr camp on industrial design. “I’m really interested in engineering with art, creating something environmentally friendly, or using recycled materials.” Great work, Katrina!