 | The STEAM Centre in St. Thomas has just launched a whimsical series of animated mascot characters. Although they have only recently taken up residence at the Centre, they already have quite a story to tell! |
Known collectively as The Wildmakers, they are Juicebox the Turtle, Awuga the Coyote, Trip-Hop the Bunny, Notebook the Owl and Tilly the Kangaroo. The idea of creating and drawing the characters was inspired by a class taught by acclaimed graphic novelist Scott Chantler. He led a workshop last year at the St. Thomas Public Library and the St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre. One of the attendees, Clara Gunn, went home eager to get drawing.
Clara’s dad Andrew Gunn who is a STEAM Centre board member encouraged her endeavours. Her younger brother Charlie got involved too and their characters came to life, all based, except for Tilly, on forest animals. Along the way, they hatched the idea of making them STEAM Centre mascots. What better place for adventure! Andrew also engaged the help of a professional animator who helped define the look of the group. To make them fit right in at the STEAM Centre, their final forms became robotic – and each robot character has something that needs to be fixed.
Says Jessica Moyes, STEAM Centre Executive Director, “A big part of what we do here is encouraging our students to take things apart, to understand how something works and how it might be broken, how they can fix things and put them back together. So that’s definitely woven into the narrative of the characters involved.”
Nine-year-old Clara says that her first character was Aruga. What is he like? Says Clara, “He’s supposed to be the one to lead them. He has GPS to tell everyone where to go.”
Clara’s dad Andrew Gunn who is a STEAM Centre board member encouraged her endeavours. Her younger brother Charlie got involved too and their characters came to life, all based, except for Tilly, on forest animals. Along the way, they hatched the idea of making them STEAM Centre mascots. What better place for adventure! Andrew also engaged the help of a professional animator who helped define the look of the group. To make them fit right in at the STEAM Centre, their final forms became robotic – and each robot character has something that needs to be fixed.
Says Jessica Moyes, STEAM Centre Executive Director, “A big part of what we do here is encouraging our students to take things apart, to understand how something works and how it might be broken, how they can fix things and put them back together. So that’s definitely woven into the narrative of the characters involved.”
Nine-year-old Clara says that her first character was Aruga. What is he like? Says Clara, “He’s supposed to be the one to lead them. He has GPS to tell everyone where to go.”
Tilly, Notebook, Charlie, Clara, Trip-Hop, Awuga and Juicebox.
Andrew notes, “Now we have this little collection of characters and we will slowly integrate them into the space, to socialize it, especially for younger kids. We want to start some t-shirts, see what people like, see what they like about the characters and then let the community and kids coming in tell us what they want the characters to do and what they want them to be.”
T-shirt designs will be introduced via social media throughout February. Proceeds from all sales will support programming at the Centre and by wearing the shirts, everyone can promote St. Thomas as a centre for innovation in STEAM education.
T-shirt designs will be introduced via social media throughout February. Proceeds from all sales will support programming at the Centre and by wearing the shirts, everyone can promote St. Thomas as a centre for innovation in STEAM education.
Back row, L to R: Andrew Lumley, Rick Pardo, Bryan White, Sandra Poczobut. Front row, L to R: Sarah Macintyre, Andrew Gunn, Clara Gunn, Charlie Gunn, Jessica Moyes (Executive Director). Andrew Lumley, Rick, Bryan, Sandra, Sarah and Andrew Gunn are members of STEAM Centre Board Directors, (absent Mark Burgess, St. Thomas City Council representative).
With input from the community, The Wildmakers are sure to evolve in exciting ways. Born of art, story-telling and technology, it will be interesting to follow their progress as they have adventures and “grow up” at the STEAM Centre.
About the STEAM Centre
The mission of the STEAM Centre is to empower all learners and makers in Southwestern Ontario to create the future through play, ingenuity and exploration using STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) learning tools. In doing so, the Centre delivers a comprehensive educational model focused on developing the creativity and problem-solving necessary to explore ideas and foster growth. The STEAM Centre is located at 50 Wellington St, St. Thomas. Check out www.steameducation.ca and www.facebook.com/steameducentres.
About the STEAM Centre
The mission of the STEAM Centre is to empower all learners and makers in Southwestern Ontario to create the future through play, ingenuity and exploration using STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) learning tools. In doing so, the Centre delivers a comprehensive educational model focused on developing the creativity and problem-solving necessary to explore ideas and foster growth. The STEAM Centre is located at 50 Wellington St, St. Thomas. Check out www.steameducation.ca and www.facebook.com/steameducentres.
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