Canada's first children's art gallery opens doors in Saskatoon

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The first children's art gallery in Canada has opened its doors in Saskatoon.

"I saw some galleries like this in other countries and thought it would be really great if Canada had one and I believe that celebrating art is a great thing," Monique Martin said.

The official ribbon cutting for the Children's Playland Art Gallery took place at Market Mall this morning. Students proudly displayed their artwork in the new gallery as onlookers admired the mixed media works.

"It's really good for Saskatoon because right now we have the new Remai Modern Art Gallery going up and we are going to become an international player in the art world," Martin said. "And I think we're now on a new level with Children's art."

Martin is an international artist and the woman behind the project. She is also an art instructor at Georges Vanier Catholic Fine Arts School.

The first exhibit, Violins, will feature 27 artworks by artists from Georges Vanier Catholic Fine Arts School. It will remain on display for a couple weeks before rotating in a new exhibition.

The initial theme came from a fundraiser that she took part in with the Saskatoon Symphony where she was asked to paint a violin with a theme.

"A lot of times, when I do projects in my own art world, I try to include my students so we drew and painted violins," she said. "We celebrate sports all the time but we don't celebrate children's art as much as we could, so that was my goal behind the whole project."