By Jay Westman
Matthew Wilson has been adopted in Centretown.
He’s not an orphan, but the recipient of a new scholarship entitled “Adopt-an-Art-Student.”
Loomis & Toles on Bank Street, owned by Omer DeSerres Inc. out of Montreal, has announced that they will award an annual scholarship of $100 per month plus a $25 store credit to an outstanding first year student of the Ottawa School of Art.
“It provides support to students coming into their first year of full-time studies, and that’s a tough year for them to find support,” says Jeff Stellick, executive director of the school. “A lot of the scholarships that do exist are for second and third-year students.”
Wilson, 18, says he was surprised when he heard Loomis & Toles had chosen him, and says the money will be very helpful.
“It’ll help with supplies, and stuff like that. I’ll need paint and pencils and [other tools] for my program.”
Without the money he says he would have to find a job.
“And that would take a lot more time away from [my studies],” he says.
The strong initiative for the “Adopt-an-Art-Student” scholarship came from Karen Loofs, manager of the Loomis & Toles on Bank.
Loofs enrolled at the Ottawa School of Art 12 years after finishing art school in Victoria, B.C.
“In my 30s, I re-experienced the poverty of being an arts student like I had done a decade before,” says Loofs.
“It really is a choice sometimes of ‘am I going to buy this tube of paint, or am I going to have dinner tonight?’ It’s a really expensive line of study.”
One of the requirements of the scholarship is that the student provide some of his or her work from the school to be displayed at the Bank Street location.
“I think it provides good exposure. It’s a good opportunity to get their work up in a fairly public place… [Students] have to get used to having other people look at their work,” he says.
Wilson says he looks forward to providing the store with his artwork.
Although Wilson says he is unsure what he will do after he’s finished at the school, he says he hopes to study at Algonquin or Sheridan College next year.
“I’d like to get into animation, comic books or even art design,” says Wilson.