For the love of art

Jordan Pretchuk loves art.

An accomplished athlete who competed in curling at the Ontario Special Olympics Winter Games in Thunder Bay earlier this year, he showed his artistic side later in the year, taking part in the March of Dimes’ Warehouse Art project.

Pretchuk and several other budding artists transformed a large storage room into a work of art, featuring murals, paintings and paper mache owls and geese mounted on the ceiling.

“I like coming here. I like art. It’s fun and it keeps you busy,” Pretchuk said on Thursday at the official unveiling of the finished product.

Judi Vinni, the co-ordinator of Willow Springs Creative Centre, helped spearhead the project and said turning the large, garage-style room into a living canvas made perfect sense.

“We thought what a beautiful blank canvas. Why don’t we use it to make some big art, make it feel like a place where people would want to hang out in,” she said.

There were no real themes, although if one tried to peg what they accomplished, Vinni said an urban feel probably best describes it.

Essentially the artists were allowed to get creative, within the framework of the overall vision.
“The mural behind me is called Urban Freedom and Mobility. So that’s what we went with. The birds up above us reflect that as well,” she said.


“The art that is done here is an inclusive art class. Any adult is able to come. Most of the clients from the March of Dimes have various disabilities, so we just made sure the art was adaptable and they went to town and created all these pieces.

“There’s a four-panel painting, the big mural, the sculpted birds.”

Carol Kajorinne volunteered on the project and ultimately began leading the art classes.
It was a whole lot of fun, she said.

“I just loved the atmosphere here. There’s a lot of good spirits around and a lot of laughter and fun,” Kajorinne said.

“It’s just a great place to hang out.”

On Thursday the charitable organization celebrated the completed Warehouse Project, holding an open house and inviting the public in to view their creation.