Louis Bockner
News staff
In 1974 two very different brain-building creations were born. In Hungary, a small cube that has entertained, educated and frustrated the human race ever since, and in rainforest woods of Metchosin, a learning institution dedicated to offering free education to young, brilliant minds from across the globe. Now, almost 40 years later, they have come together in a big way.
Last night Pearson College student Leo Yousif, 18, unveiled his latest creation – a larger-than-life mosaic portrait of the school’s namesake Lester B. Pearson comprised of 1,200 Rubik’s Cubes.
“It’s great to have Pearson fill up a room with his energy,” says the Syrian born second-year student. “He’s such a recognizable face in Canada and the embodiment of peacemaking.”
The project, which took roughly 75 hours to complete, was done with the help of 20 other international students, an aspect the school’s communication manager Benoit Charlebois thinks is especially relevant.
“I find that this exemplifies the values that Pearson College teaches our students,” says Charlebois. “Values of service, creation, collaboration, and respecting our differences. It is truly an example of those values at work.”
He adds that the cultural melting pot that is Pearson College offers a safe place for students to explore, study and create with other youth from all classes, races and countries, essentially offering a macrocosm for global peacekeeping issues.
Yousif, who can solve a Rubik’s Cube in roughly a minute, says he believes it is the largest piece of Rubikscubism – the art of making mosaics from Rubik’s Cubes – in B.C. The cubes are on loan by the Rubik’s company, a good thing considering their price at $10 per cube. The downside of the donation is the cubes must be shipped back to the company in a month.
The artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Max Bell Hall at the campus on Pearson College Drive in Metchosin until mid-May and will be accessible to the public.