The windows of the Moose and Goose in downtown Thorold have undergone a Christmas make-over, and it’s all the work of two talented Thorold Secondary students: Emily Ngo and Cassidy Senior.
“It’s a classic holiday theme with the moose and goose for mascots,” Ngo tells ThoroldToday. “We did a moose playing a hockey and drinking a beer, and then a goose in an elf uniform and also a goose ice skating.”
It was the venue’s owner and current City Councillor Mike De Divitiis, who reached out to Thorold Secondary School looking for artists.
“Years ago the kids used to paint the windows in the downtown,” he says, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “I thought it would be nice to get them to start painting the windows in my place and maybe next year we can do more of the downtown.”
When Thorold Secondary Visual Arts Teacher Kim Duggan heard that De Divitiis was looking for young artists, she got excited.
“There’s tons of very talented kids here,” she says. “It’s nice that we actually have this opportunity, getting our work and the kids out into the community.”
While Duggan made herself available to assist Ngo and Senior, the two teens did it all by themselves.
“They went down, measured up the windows and then they drew it out on large pieces of brown paper just so they could see if the composition was going to be any good,” says Duggan. “The designs are all their own and they’re painting them.”
The students draw the outline of their designs on the windows with dry erase and white chalk markers, which they then fill up with acrylic paint.
“It can get kind of difficult using the outlines and using the paint on top of that,” says Ngo. “From the inside it looks okay but from the outside it looks a lot better.”
So what’s the secret to a successful drawing?
“You have to really look at what you’re drawing,” says Senior.
“And go with your gut and what you want to design,” adds Ngo.
De Divitiis says the artwork has exceeded his wildest expectations and he’s hoping to get Thorold Secondary involved again to paint his windows for Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day.
“The students love it and they get to show their work,” he says. “There have already been compliments. People love it.”