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Bridging the Age Gap: Florence Plays Ball

ARTIST:
Dianne Perry & The Reed Family

SENIOR:

Florence Hynes

ARTFORM:

Visual Arts

ABOUT THE ARTWORK
 

Florence Plays Ball
When Florence met the young artists, she inspired us to create theatre, and an art project – so
that’s what we did! Florence was matched with the Reed Family, Katelyn, Andrew, Jared and
Bryan, guided by teaching artist Dianne Perry. There were so many ideas after talking to
Florence that we could not decide what to do, so we did a little bit of everything! In our piece
we tell the story of Florences life in a small play inspired by the stories she shared with us when
she was little, and created an art project to gift her as a keepsake too.

We created a Newfoundland in wood, combining the colors of her original painting “Memories
of Home” by Shauna Darbyshire. We learned how to transfer a picture via a grid system, how
to use a Dremel, and experimented with color theory. We created the Steel Alberta Rose with
the help of Jeremy Gillespie and his welding machine. Our script for “Florence Plays Ball” cast
the whole family in a play that commemorates her journey across Canada as a young woman
adorned with some funny moments she experienced. The play ends with a real life baseball
game with Florence hitting it out of the park!


The gift we presented to her is of her beloved Newfoundland, but with a little twist; a Steel
Alberta Wild Rose mounted at the top. Florence often said “Home is where the Heart is” and
we chose the Alberta Wild Rose as a reflection of how we saw her – A delicate and beautiful
flower that had a will of steel. We also wanted to gift her a bit of Alberta, because after all,
Home is where the Heart is, and right now we are very happy that you call Fort McMurray
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