It Never Rains but it Pours...

Great work Grade 5s!

Stream of Dreams was happy to visit Lawrence Grassi Middle School in Canmore for the third year in a row on April 11 and 12.  Once again the Grade 5s were the imaginative artists and their Dreamfish were added to the existing ones on the fence at the front of the school and on the west side.  Lucky neighbours who get to enjoy these growing murals!  The temperature was in the teens during our classroom day but of course we had to get a little precipitation during the install (actually quite a lot).  Fortunately the rain didn't dampen the spirits of our volunteers who persevered with wet gloves and sodden jackets.  Val wore a plastic bag as a penance for forgetting her raincoat.  Needless to say it was a pretty speedy install crew.  Thanks to teacher Nancy Pollard for welcoming us to her school again.  Back again in two years??

Splashy fish on a splashy day!

Northern pike are dreamy fish.

Stream of Dreams at St. Gerrard...

St. Gerrard shares their Stream of Dreams mural with South Glenmore Park.....

To snow or not to snow - that is the question!  It is a question we seemed to have asked ourselves at each of our late fall and early spring projects.  And amazingly enough - the answer is - not enough to deter an enthusiastic group of volunteers.  In the case of St Gerrard this included the staff (PD day), volunteer parents, and a group of willing students.  By noon the entire mural was complete and Val and Karen were left trying to recover from the whirlwind of activity!

Just a few of the amazing Dreamfish!

Instead of installing the mural at St Gerrard, the school decided that they wanted to make a contribution to the larger community and opted to place the mural at the entrance to the children's water park in South Glenmore Park.  What made this location particularly challenging was the number of signs (5) and garbage containers (2) that the mural had to work around.  The end result was an eye-catching and welcoming entrance to the water park.

Our valiant team of volunteers.

Thanks to the parent who cut out ALL the fish, and to the staff, volunteers, and students who welcomed us into the heart of their school and helped make this project both worthwhile and FUN!

Next time you pose for a picture in front of your mural don't say smile, say ONLY RAIN DOWN THE DRAIN!  You end up with a smile on your face and a great photo.

Two of the signs we had to work around!

Stream of Dreams at Ecole Edwards Elementary in Airdrie

The Stream of Dreams mural compliments the front of the school.

Funding for the program came from the Recycling program!

When did a little snow slow down the Stream Team and all the volunteers.

Just an example of the great work done at Ecole Edwards.

The Stream Team braved the elements and swirling snow on the QE II to visit the Grade 4 classes at Ecole Edwards Elementary in Airdrie.   Fortunately the skies cleared and by install day the sun was shining and temperatures were comfortably above freezing.   The warmth of our welcome here at this school more than compensated for any dips in the temperature. Thanks to all the students who so carefully painted their fish and to the parents who came out to give us a hand installing the mural.  Nose Creek has some new guardians!

2011 in Review

Stream of Dreams Calgary had its best year ever in 2011!

We visited Lawrence Grassi Middle School in Canmore (again!), GW Smith Elementary in Red Deer, and Glenbow Elementary School in Cochrane.  As these three schools were out of town we added on some significant driving time.  Luckily we didn't hit any snow storms and managed to get the murals up without any frozen fingers!

We completed the mural on the fence in front of Lawrence Grassi Middle School thanks to the Grade 5s and an enthusiastic group of parent volunteers.  Sensational views of Rundle and HaLing peak inspired our efforts.  The town supplied us with a great map of the storm drain system and teacher Nancy Pollard made it all possible yet again.

Retiring Vice Principal and art teacher Ken Young at Red Deer's GW Smith Elementary School had a mission to bring Stream of Dreams to his school before retirement and he achieved it!  The wonderful mural at the front of the school will be a reminder of his many contributions while at the school.  Look for his well executed scenery fish!

Glenbow Elementary was an interesting challenge....the school yard is immense and the site of the mural (where the school buses drop off students) is a significant distance from the school.  Walkie talkies saved the day and we could put in requests for more volunteers and and more hot coffee!  This was our biggest mural so far but we got it finished in one day thanks to help from parents, and teachers who contributed time from their PD day.  Thanks to organizers Colleen and Kara for their efforts.  Val was glad to touch base with teacher and environmentalist Kim Kendall-Knitter remembering shared times at the Calgary Zoo.

In Calgary we visited Altadore Elementary and the new All Boys program at Sir James Lougheed Elementary.

Thanks to the perseverance of teacher organizer Pam Clark (two years of effort), we finally made it Altadore Elementary.  Our Stream of Dreams mural is a great addition to the wonderful garden that already indicates the warm and caring nature of this school.  Thanks to the cheerful crowd that helped with the install and brought AMAZING snacks!

Sir James Lougheed is new school for principal guru  Dr. Garry Jones but his second SofD project.  It was great to see the All Boys program taking off - the boys certainly seemed to be enjoying it.  A small mural but one we hope we can add to in the future. Special thanks to the one parent who cut out ALL the fish.

Catching our breaths before 2012 takes off like a freight train.....
The Stream Team

Master Halco gets tied in!

Master Halco has long been the supplier of the wire ties that Stream of Dreams uses to attach painted fish to chain link fences.  Our local Master Halco has agreed to be a sponsor and has donated 5000 ties to our program - enough to see us through to the end of June.  That's a lot of twisting and turning!