Branksome Receives Historic $5-Million Gift: iCAST Building to Be Named for Karen Jurjevich
Branksome Hall News
iCAST Wood Shop and Metal Shop: Hands-on life lessons in 'seeing things through'
When Jed Lind considers the concrete foundation currently being poured for iCAST, he can envision the site of the Lind Family Artisan and Craft Studios on the West-side lower level.
“When we considered the various proposed places for potential naming rights, we felt we did not need to be front and centre” says the Toronto- and Los Angeles-based interior designer and artist.
Jed and Jessica de Ruiter’s daughter, James Lind, is in Grade 7 and has been at Branksome since Grade 4.
Partaking in the naming of the Wood and Metal Shops aligns with the family’s strong belief in the value of analog and hands-on creative construction to build both life skills and character.
Jed has had a long career immersed in the worlds of art and design and understands that women are still quite under-represented in hands-on building.
“It’s still a very male-dominated world,” says Lind. “Part of the Wood Shop program will be to bring in female furniture-makers, artists and other mentors in the field who are building beautiful things. I don't know of another space like it in this or perhaps any other school.”
Lind and de Ruiter stand behind the iCAST mission to smash the ceiling on the top STEM-related careers of tomorrow and help narrow the gender gap that presently exists in the hands-on building shops of art schools and subsequent professions.
“In these two unique rooms, confidence will emerge as students learn the value of seeing their projects through to completion,” says Lind. He speaks from experience, having honed his own craft as a sculptor after graduating from Upper Canada College and attending art school in Montreal and then grad school in Los Angeles. He only realized the value of grade-school access to hands-on Machine and Wood Shops when he held saws, welding and other interactive building tools for the first time while pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University. That experience was life-changing.
Coming from a family of art collectors, and owing to his familial heritage with Branksome Hall, Lind has a deep appreciation for the school and for Karen Jurjevich’s legacy. Jed’s mother’s three sisters attended Branksome Hall: Alix RANKIN Taggart'76, Sheila RANKIN Hall'71 and Cathryn RANKIN'69.
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to acknowledge this land on which Branksome operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and go to school on this land.
Setting the new standard for girls' education everywhere takes collective action. From all of us.
