In a bid to provide support to the less privileged in society, Blooming Greens School, Yaba recently put together an Art Auction Event, where proceeds generated would be channeled towards charitable initiatives. The theme for this ingenious initiative was “Artrageous Charity,” and artworks created by students of the school were put on sale for patrons, raising money to support the down trodden, while fostering creativity, innovation, and also teaching compassion.
CEO/Proprietor, Blooming Greens School, Yaba, Lagos, Mrs Susan Babatunde-Yamah stated that beyond raising money to support charitable ventures, the Annual Art Auction, which is currently in its seventh consecutive edition, teaches children to be compassionate and ruthful about others in their immediate community.
“This event is an avenue for us to teach our children how to share, and for them to know that there are privileged and less privileged people in the society who need their help and support. That’s the essence. In this school, our children are kind and supportive because we expose them to these things. We know that the real-life situations are not everything they see in school,” she said.
She charged all children to adopt a nature of empathy by offering support to people in need as often as possible: “The children here, have learnt that there are people out there who they need to support. My charge to all the children, not just here is learn to help, share and support. Of course, the adults around them should also play their part.”
Visual Artist and Art Instructor at Blooming Greens School, Adeniran Odumbo, acknowledged that a lot of planning and preparation goes into putting together the auction each year: “What we have on ground is a product of tenacity and consistency. The works on display are chosen from each term, during each session. We pick our best works from each term to arrive at what we have here today.”
“We have a variety of works on ground, with different styles, but also with similarities. We have paintings, we have collages. In collages, you explore a combination of different materials. There’s also art based on recycling. We also have drawings.” he added.
Young art prodigy, and student at Blooming Greens School, Zara Danyara, was among many whose artworks were put on display for the auction. She revealed that she drew inspiration for many of her pieces from African culture:
“I get a lot of inspiration from our art teachers basically, and then Africa – African women, African animals, African culture, African food and African delicacies. Everything about this continent. I also love making art about animals, not just African animals.”
She also noted that Blooming Greens School’s Annual Art Auction allows many students like her to give expression to their creativity, while contributing to a very positive cause.
“I really enjoyed this event every year, because not only are we expressing what we do, we are also helping those in need, the less privileged, those that don’t have much. We are using art and our creativity as a tool to help those that don’t have enough,” she added.
