Prior to the pandemic, we had arranged to have Sam and Walter come to our school as our artists in residence.  We were fortunate to receive an Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant as well as commitment from the Edgemont Parents' Fundraising Society.  When it became apparent that we were not able to have visitors in our building, we had to get really creative!  Meeting online, we learned about Sam and Walter's passion for music and story telling. They led our students through the creative process of story mapping, authoring and composing soundscapes to enhance our stories.  

Wandering with Wonder is the story of Wonder, a girl who is blind, discovering who she is in the world and what is truly important in life. Through lessons from the animals, she is guided and accompanied on her learning journey.

Finding ways to share our creation has been challenging.  There are so many aspects to the final product that celebrate the involvement of over 600 in-person and online students as well as their teachers.  Students have listened in their classrooms and on National Indigenous People's Day, stations were set up for students to take a listening journey on the land to inspire reflective drawing and writing. We now offer it to the world here on our website. We hope that visitors to our website will be able to close their eyes and enjoy Wonder's world and connection to the land through the beauty of stories and sounds.  

We are grateful to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Edgemont School Society for their funding of this project. 

Artist Notes: 

Thank you very much for the opportunity to work with your staff and students during this very interesting time in history.  Walter and I learned a lot from this process and we are very grateful for the opportunity.

I went on a walk this afternoon to listen to the entire audio walk from beginning to end and I loved it.  Your staff and students truly rose to the occasion and created something very memorable.  On a personal note - when I was listening on my walk today I could hear the background noise from the house of the student who recorded Frere Jacque and it made me smile.  This is a true testament to the resilience of the young people in our lives who have kept on keeping on during this trying time.  

Both Walter and I were so inspired by how much material your students created for their stories and music.  Your staff and students touched our hearts and Walter and I must have talked 5 times a day about how we could make the stories and soundscapes include as much of the student’s creations as possible over the last 10 days.  I think we have made well over 2000 edits.  

I hope you will enjoy listening as much as I did.

All the best,