Canada 150 Poems

Below is a poem one of my students wrote for the Lieutenant Generals' school poetry contest this year. She chose to write about an indigenous painter who inspired her, and also created beautiful portrait drawing that accompanied this work.

​Alex Janvier
By C.W.
 
At a desk in the Blue Quills Indian residential school
sat Alex Janvier painting something cool.
 
The colour on his paintbrush danced across the page,
It’s like the yellow, red and blue were free from a cage.
 
The Alberta Institute of Technology gave him formal training,
After he graduated he taught to a University his painting.
 
The Federal Department of Indian Affairs
Commissioned him to make eighty paintings to share.
 
Later together a group of artists he brung,
For the Indians of Canada pavilion.
 
He now has a gallery in Cold Lake,
Still more art he continues to make.