By Tyler Christiansen
STEM Innovation Academy Jr. High Options

On a practically perfect day last week, our STEMIA Architecture students set out on a walking field trip through downtown Calgary to explore public art and architecture with a creative lens. The goal was to observe four elements—emotion, texture, shape, and pattern—across various installations and buildings. Each stop focused on one element, and students were encouraged to sketch, reflect, and interact with the space in small, intentional ways.

We began at the Calgary Central Library to study patterns, followed by The Bow Building where students identified shapes in architecture. At TELUS Sky, they explored surface textures using pencil and paper, and finally, we visited the Family of Man sculptures to interpret emotion in art. Each space challenged students to see more than just a building or statue—asking them instead to notice how art interacts with the city around it.

We ended the day at Prince’s Island Park, where students used the inspiration and sketches collected at each stop to create a final piece of art. They selected a spot in the park, then designed a work that combined all four elements. This activity brought together observation, reflection, and creativity in a way that helped students connect more deeply with both the city and their own artistic ideas.

Feature Image attribution: Ron Cogswell from Arlington, Virginia, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons