Artist Aquil Virani integrates student participation into live painting at Southridge Secondary.

This community-based project, which I donated to the school upon completion, was a nice way for me to give back to the school in a creative way.

After three weeks of intricate painting, I finished the collaborative artwork. It involved a contribution from every single Southridge student from kindergarten to graduation. That’s around 700 doodles from the high school I graduated from in Surrey, BC.

It was interesting to see that the younger students were much more enthusiastic about drawing. The older students met the project with mixed feelings, sometimes reluctant to participate. I was fortunate enough to unveil the painting at the final awards ceremony at the end of the 2009-2010 school year. It now hangs in the school for all to enjoy.