A huge mural created by students at Cambrian College is on permanent display at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School in Sudbury.
Titled "Northern Resurgence," it's 53 feet wide wide, about 8 feet high, and covers an entire wall of the cafeteria in Lo-Ellen.
The theme is the re-greening of the City of Sudbury.
School of Creative Arts and Design student Ivy Pellerin of Blind River was one of nine Cambrian classmates who donated their time and talents to the project.
Pellerin started her college career at Cambrian studying engineering but the math and science of her curriculum gradually yielded to an artist's palette and chalks, among otherèw tools.
After two years in the Civil Engineering Technology program at Cambrian she transferred to Arts.
"Very much of it was just stressful. I thought if I only had so much time on Earth, what would I want to do? Why am I not seizing the day? I figured I'd take some time and enjoy a passion of mine because I've always enjoyed painting and had a talent for it," she reasoned.
So it was that Pellerin's layout was the one chosen for the collaborative project.
Contributing some 270 hours of labour, the painters did their work on the floor at Cambrian and the whole mural was transported to the high school for assembly.
The mural depicts the beauty and fragility of the northern wilderness, and the importance of revitalizing and conserving the landscape.
Over the past 50 years or so, considerable work has been done to re-green the community, earning Sudbury international praise and awards in the process.
Like Sudbury, Lo-Ellen Park Secondary has also undergone a dramatic transformation. Over the past four years, the school has been renovated, creating modern spaces for students and staff.
The mural is a blend of art, history and geography and the idea was to bring the outdoors into the school.
“This project is a fantastic opportunity for our art and design students to experience working on large-scale public art, and to create something as a team which will benefit the community," said Johanna Westby, a professor at Cambrian College who worked on Northern Resurgence.