Opening Doors of Mercy Display at St. Thomas Aquinas High School
It has been a tradition 
for many years that St. Thomas Aquinas High School's art team has been creating huge art displays for the foyer of the school. Each year a new display is created based on the theme for Catholic Education Week.
Teacher Nancy Prouty talks about the creative process. "Each year when we hear what the theme is for Catholic Education Week our team puts a lot of thought into how we can create an art display that really captures the essence of the Catholic Education Week theme. As we walk under the display all year long we can be reminded to live out the theme.
This year the display is called "Opening Doors of Mercy" and it's based around nine different displays that represent the corporal and spiritual works of mercy:
Mercy that Loves (family, mother and child)
Mercy that forgives
Mercy that feeds the hungry
Mercy that cares for the sick
Mercy that welcomes
Mercy that rejoices
Mercy that shelters
Mercy that prays
The installation took five weeks to complete and over 70 students were involved. Ms. Prouty's senior art classes (AVI 4M, 3M, 30), the grade 9 art class (AVI 10) and Mr. Brunton's grade 10 (HRE20) all worked on the installation. The students used themselves as life-sized models for sculptures that are displayed in wooden door frames.
Among the sculptures hang iridescent cascades of stain glass-like panels reminiscent of Mondrian design.
Facilities Supervisor, Gerard Dufresne, played an integral role in the design and installation of the artwork and these artwork displays couldn't be created without his support.
The display is quite amazing. We invite you to come and see it for yourself. Thank you to George Brunton, Nancy Prouty and all the students who put their vision and creative energy into creating another amazing visual display to welcome visitors to St. Thomas Aquinas High School.
Here are some behind the scenes pictures of the students creating the life-sized display: