EMILY HSUEH
SHAWVILLE June 16, 2021
While the dining room at Café 349 is once again filling with patrons, they are in for a treat as the walls are covered. . .
with colourful art. Customers visiting the restaurant on Main Street can browse the gallery showcasing art from students at Pontiac High School alongside pieces from other local artists.
Jadwiga Dunin-Borkowska, the art teacher at the high school and the organizer of the exhibit, had been putting it all together for the last few months. She noted that in the past, there have been exhibits for PHS artwork at the Stone School in Portage du Fort, but this year the café was recommended to her by Nancy Dagenais in February and she could not pass it up.
“We didn’t do one last year, but two years before we did one at Portage. But that was just a weekend thing,” she said. “That was really nice, but it was really short. So this is nice because it’s almost two months long. I thought it was a great idea, great for the kids and they’ll enjoy it.”
The show was installed at the end of May and will adorn the café walls until the end of July, with new works being added until school ends on June 23. It features artwork of all kinds from students ranging from grades seven to 11.
Dunin-Borkowska noted that the pieces displayed in the café were created by students who shown dedication, effort and passion in their work. Some of the pieces are up for sale, while others will be brought home by the artists following the exhibit.
“It encourages them, it hopefully gets them a little more interested in art,” She said.
