Shoes, toys and rusty bicycle pedals: Students create art from objects found in Schneider Creek

Grade 8 students from Courtland Avenue Public School have created works of art inspired by a storm water drain.

Meet Me at the Creek at Globe Studios in Kitchener displays the student's hanging creations which feature items collected along Schneider Creek. 

The exhibit was a collaborative effort between two local art groups: Textile and The Creek Collective. 

Geoff Martin is a co-organizer of the project who helped gather the items for the students to use.

"We brought the materials into the classroom, had students think about the creek, and learn about the history of the watershed that we live in," said Martin. 

LISTEN | Grade 8 students create art out of items found at Schneider Creek:

The Morning Edition - K-W6:10Grade 8 students create art out of items found at Schneider Creek

Artists can look for inspiration in many different places. Some Grade 8 students were recently asked to find inspiration in a Kitchener stormwater drain. CBC K-W's Karis Mapp spoke with the organizers and some students taking part in the Meet me at the Creek art exhibit.

The students were also asked to select a few of the objects to be incorporated in their hanging art designs.

Paired with the kinetic sculptures, the students wrote creative stories about their items which line the exhibit's walls. 

"We're trying to think through different ways of imagining the creek and thinking of it beyond just a storm water drain and an infrastructure piece in the city," Martin said. 

"It has a life of its own. It has a history of its own and this is meant to conjure some of that."

Student contributions

From rusty bicycle pedals to golf balls, the displays use a wide assortment of objects that were discovered in Schneider Creek. 

Liam Lilley was one of the students involved in the exhibit.

"We saw a bunch of toys and thought that could work as a theme," he explained. 

"I'm a very creative person and I thought we were going to have to follow all these steps but they're like 'you do what you want to do' and then it turned out to be this and it was a lot of fun."

Meanwhile, Thutavi Karumamoorthy drew inspiration from a rusty black shoe sole. 

"Our story is called The Black Sole because it was very neat to see something like a rusty sole when they brought the items to our school," she said. "Everything else was like sticks, rocks and leaves. So it was very eye-catching."

For Olami Posi, the project was unlike anything she had ever done before because she only moved from Nigeria to Canada in September 2024. 

"I had never seen Schneider Creek before. I had never hear of it," Posi said.

Unlike Posi, Neko Thompson was familiar with the creek and drew inspiration from it for her art piece. 

"As a kid growing up here, there was always something new to learn about it. I think that this just shows everything that can be in the creek, some natural, some manmade," said Thompson. 

More than just art 

The students worked on the project for months leading up to the exhibit, which opened at the end of February, and they say they learned a lot along the way. 

"I didn't know Schneider Creek was that long. That's pretty crazy how long it is," said Lilley. 

For some of the other students, the art taught them to think deeper about the watershed. 

"I notice it more now knowing that there is a creek there and it makes me wonder more about what I don't know," said Karumamoorthy, who recently moved to the area. 

Thompson echoed that idea. 

"I definitely feel more connected to Schneider Creek through this project," she said. 

"As a kid, I always knew that Schneider Creek was there. I would go on walks near it, but now it makes me more curious about what's in it and what's around it."