{"id":25953869,"date":"2026-05-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/?p=25953869"},"modified":"2026-05-01T17:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T00:25:03","slug":"students-sisler-create-mental-health-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/students-sisler-create-mental-health-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Students from Sisler CREATE are raising awareness of mental health issues with these seven powerful illustrations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May is Mental Health Awareness Month<\/a>, and we're pleased to showcase a suite of powerful illustrations created by students in Sisler High School's CREATE program<\/a> to bring awareness to and understanding of mental health issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sisler\u2019s CREATE program<\/a> is an entertainment arts training program located at Sisler High School<\/a> in Winnipeg, Canada. Founded in 2015, the program provides high school and post-high students with educational and career pathways to the creative industries in Canada and worldwide. Students in the CREATE Program build foundational skills with hardware and software while using a wide range of creative toolsets, including Wacom devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to outfitting their lab with Wacom products, we\u2019ve worked with them for a number of years on a variety of projects. In 2022, a group of students and instructors presented at Wacom\u2019s annual Connected Ink event about their program<\/a> and how it empowers students to develop skills and make headway into creative industries. In 2023, in partnership with Wacom, students in the program worked for a year on a series of comics addressing teen mental health<\/a>. And to celebrate New Year's 2026, a team of three CREATE program assistants created an animation<\/a> showcasing the five new devices that Wacom released in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mental Health Awareness Month 2026, a group of students used their Wacom drawing tablets<\/a> to create illustrations highlighting mental health issues. Below, we're showcasing the students' work and their explanations for the issues they wanted to highlight through their art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"ClarenceHWacomMHIllustration\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist: Clarence H.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram: <\/strong>@clarence647_<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist's statement:<\/strong> I want to evoke the nostalgic feeling of childhood and going for a bike ride at the park with your friends. The feeling of having a community to support you is something that we all need. Especially while creating art, the characters in my piece are very care-free and just live in the moment. In the age of the internet, it\u2019s a great reminder of the importance of going out in nature and focusing on who and what is around you: great people and the beauty of nature. I wanted to especially show how art can bring people together. It is a shared experience that leads us to the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"EzrySchwarz_WacomMentalHealth(Re-Saturated)\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist: Ezry S.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram:<\/strong> @ezrydrawsoccasionally<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist's Statement:<\/strong> My piece is inspired by the idea of art as a comfort and an escape. In my drawing, \"art makes it real\" by allowing us to express and, in a way, experience the freedom we want from our struggles through imagination and creativity. We can use art to comfort ourselves and take our eyes off of life's difficulties, soaring above them all and then helping us find the strength to face our challenges. A lot of my inspiration for this piece also came from a desire to create something that I would enjoy making, in light of the busyness in my own life lately. I wanted this work to actually accomplish what it symbolizes, allowing me to slow down and be at peace, helping me to deal with the stress I've felt creeping in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"LouiseAlvarado_Wacom_MentalHealth_FULL\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist: Louise A.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram:<\/strong> @loudrawzz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist's Statement: <\/strong>For the Mental Health Campaign, I wanted to share the message that \u201cTo be able to accept help from others, you must help yourself first \u2013 and accept that you both need and deserve help.\u201d In my illustration, we can see the protagonists\u2019 reflection reaching out of the mirror to give herself a hug. Behind her are her friends, as well as photos of her friends around her room. Once she helps herself, she is able to see her friends through the mirror, who care for her and want to help her. She\u2019s not as alone as she thinks she is, so long as she accepts that she deserves to be surrounded by those who love and care for her. I would like to thank my friends who inspired this piece, and helped me get through difficult times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"wacom_illustration_haileybacala\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist: Hailey B.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram:<\/strong> @itstastefulltwigs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist's Statement: <\/strong>Recently, someone I knew passed away. Instead of dwelling on how the person was gone, we decided to remember all the memories. Photobooks and scrapbooks were looked at and stories were shared. I took inspiration from this when creating my illustration. The lady in the illustration is choosing to remember her grandmother instead of focusing on the fact that she is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thea<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist: Thea A.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram:<\/strong> @itositea<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist's Statement: <\/strong>The 52 Hz whale, dubbed the loneliest whale in the world, is an unidentified species of whale that communicates in an unusual frequency, meaning no other animals can communicate back to it. This whale swims through the ocean calling out to other animals, with no one responding back. Though this whale has never been sighted, we know of its existence because of its unique call. I have hope, in the vast ocean, that even the \"loneliest whale in the world\u201d has company, even if it communicates a little differently. Be it a school of fish, or a seafaring friend. No one deserves to be alone because their frequency is a little different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist: Mick M.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram:<\/strong> @mickroyce_art<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist's Statement: <\/strong>The motivation I had behind my artwork was to find a way to express myself and my own mental health journey. For this one in particular, I struggled a lot with loving myself and letting go of the mistakes I made in the past. I wanted to hide all the imperfections about myself, which in turn made me resent myself when I could still see those flaws. It took me a long time to discover how to grow with my shame and regret, not to hide it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That's why I chose the Japanese art of Kinstugi, where broken porcelain is painted with gold, which emphasizes the cracks instead of trying to make it like it was before. I wanted to show how I would treat myself back when I was younger. The gold represents that the negative impacts of life can make you grow into something stronger and more beautiful. The flowers, evening primroses, represent healing from past wounds and being a new you. The smaller one has buds and the older ones are in full bloom, to represent the journey of overcoming your struggles and being new. My purpose with this artwork was to connect to people who felt like they can't let go of their past, and tell them that it will take time and you are so much more than your flaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist: Jerzy F.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram:<\/strong> @jerzythecat<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist's Statement: <\/strong>This art piece is about finding peace during hard times. In this painting there is a man relaxing in a lake with the sun shining on him from the right while behind him on the left of the painting there are darker and cooler tones. This represents how even though life has a lot of stress and hardship, it is important to take time for yourself and do things that make you happy. I wanted to tell people that there is always going to be stress and worry throughout your life, but having something you enjoy doing and taking the time to do those things will make managing that stress easier. I was motivated to make this because I often get overwhelmed with life, but when I take a break to do something I enjoy \u2013 like hanging out with friends or playing guitar \u2013 I'm able to destress and handle things better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we’re pleased to showcase a suite of powerful illustrations created by students in Sisler High School’s CREATE program to bring awareness and understanding of mental health issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25953878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2317,2481,2330,2318,2656],"tags":[6174,6173],"class_list":["post-25953869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-drawing-painting","category-artist-feature","category-creative-education","category-creative-inspiration","category-education","tag-sisler-create","tag-sisler-high-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25953869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25953869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25953869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25953878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25953869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25953869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25953869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}