Photo: Contributed

Students in the visual arts at West Kelowna's Mount Boucherie Secondary school have been busy at work and one student's painting is being gifted to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

Grade 12 student Ethan Audette, a student with diverse abilities, has created a painting for one of his political heroes; the Prime Minister, and thanks to MP Dan Albas he will be able to give his painting to him. 

As Audette began working on his first acrylic painting assignment, he expressed to his teacher how much he loved politics and admired Trudeau. 

For the assignment, he created an image of the Royal Canadian Air Force flag, honouring the armed forces and Trudeau. 

"I was watching him paint and listening to his heart felt appreciation of his hero," says art teacher Jim Elwood. "I put the question to Ethan, 'if I can figure it out, could we send your painting to the Prime Minister?'" 

Elwood says Audette jumped on board right away.

"Thanks to Dan Albas, making this happen was much easier than I expected. Albas and his staff appreciated the story and after a few checks, Albas let us know that he would happy to take the painting to Ottawa and personally present it to the Prime Minister," says Elwood. 

The painting made its way to Ottawa on Sunday. 

In a separate project, other students from the school have created a mural that will be featured in Kelowna Art Gallery's newest exhibition 'Northern Pine: Watercolours and Drawings by the Group of Seven from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.'

In conjunction with all shows that are featured in the main gallery at Kelowna Art Gallery, the education department creates a mural that sits in the gallery's classroom area. For this show, the gallery teamed up with Mount Boucherie Secondary's drawing and painting 12 class.

After researching the Group of Seven, the students learned what the show was about. They then designed and painted a mural based on two lino cuts by Franklin Carmichael and the advertising for the group's first show in 1920. 

Five students worked on the project for four weeks with help of their art teacher Stephanie Emmond. 

The show will be featured in the gallery until March 7. 

Photo: Contributed