Earlier this year, an artist living in the Saanich Peninsula was thinking not only of how the pandemic has impacted us all but also of how the isolation must be impacting our veterans and wondered how she could help.
“The veterans that I see who are doing what they can to raise money for other veterans really touched me,” says artist Odette Laroche.
So, Laroche conceptualized a large poppy mural and tasked her art students with creating one or two panels.
“I assigned everybody a space, and a photo of a painting of the Old Masters, and they transformed it into something that works for the poppy,” says Laroche.
Laroche had intended to sell each painting separately, with all money raised donated to the veterans, but she was so pleased with how the mural turned out and hopes not to separate the individual panels.
“It’s hard to break it up,” says Laroche. “I’m really looking for a corporation to purchase the whole thing, and then if they don’t want to keep it, they can donate it to the veteran’s new building in Esquimalt. I would like to see it bring in $10,000, as a whole art piece.”
Watch the video above for the full story or click here to learn more about the project.
Veronica Cooper
