Sense Fair

Written by: Ava Puhlmann

Edited by: Vanessa Vamvakaris

Photos by: Claire King

On November 5, Mr Petz’s grade 12 Interdisciplinary Studies class held their very own Senses Fair to mark the end of their unit; Reality and The Senses. The task: Compose an elaborate display to “touch” (pardon the pun) on the five senses. 

Interdisciplinary Studies is a course, designed by Mr. Petz himself, that focuses on five units that are not typically taught. These units are philosophy, cosmology, reality and the senses, ethics, and psychology. Reality and the Senses is exactly how it sounds. It dives into what is real and not real, the subjective and the objective, and how the world we see is not necessarily “real.” Additionally, it focuses on the senses and how they function, in order to create this reality. 

For the project, students had to compose a display that hosted art items, music, and food items. Students created paintings, sculptures, pieces of music, interpretive pieces, baked goods, drawings and more. The items associated with this display were required to showcase this flavour and place the viewer in the world, and perspective of this sense. 

Some of the foods created included mint-pesto chicken pasta, lemon cookies, maple bacon sweet potato, and cinnamon buns. Throughout the fair students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the senses of many specific flavors. 

An example of this was the flavour vanilla, completed by Claire King, Kaiha Jaaj, and Venus Ramm. They baked vanilla cake pops, vanilla fudge, and vanilla cookies. Their art pieces consisted of paintings of pictures associated with vanilla, and their chosen songs were Winter Wonderland by Laufey, What Was I Made For by Billie Eilish, and Where You Lead I Will Follow by Carole King. 

The Senses Fair was a success. Students left the classroom with smiles and a flavourful experience.