From left to right are Stephen Johnston, Karun Koerning, Steve Joyce and in front Bella Lee & Summer Knowles. Photo: Andrea Knowles/Contributed.
Timberline Secondary School
Timberline Secondary’s new sculpture garden initiative grew out of the JRSP Educator’s Award given to Steve Joyce, teacher and leader of the school’s Outdoor Adventures Program. The award directed support toward physical arts at Timberline, extending the school’s long relationship with the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park into a student-created sculpture project.
The first work in the initiative, Cresent Moon Wolf, was created by students Summer Knowles and Bella Lee through the art metal program led by teacher Stephen Johnston. Johnston guided the students through the process of translating their design into physical form, including computer-aided design, plasma cutting, steel layout, cutting, and welding, while the students carried out the work themselves.
Johnston will continue teaching students to make sculpture, with the sculpture garden expected to expand annually. The initiative also involves trades students in the practical infrastructure of the garden, including concrete bases and fencing. Timberline’s Outdoor Adventures Program has visited the Park each fall since 2016 as part of its Comparative Cultures course, introducing students to Rubinoff’s work, philosophy, and the role of sculpture in human culture.
Timberline Secondary School is a public Grade 9–12 school in Campbell River, British Columbia, within School District 72. Its educational culture emphasizes innovation, inclusion, and preparation for the future, with a particular strength in place-based and experiential learning. Through programs such as Outdoor Adventure 11/12, Timberline connects academic study with the surrounding landscape, bringing subjects such as geography, comparative civilizations, English, and outdoor education into direct contact with mountains, waterways, community projects, and environmental inquiry. This commitment to learning through experience, place, and material engagement makes Timberline a natural educational partner for the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park and its broader vision of art as a source of knowledge.
