Look around the walls of your classroom. Do you see pictures or paintings? Most of the art on show was probably created by yourself and your classmates, using imagination and your own hands.

Each year in Toronto thousands of school children make the best use of their imaginations and their creative abilities in workshops provided by an organisation called the Inner City Angels. These children work directly with professional artists on different art programmes.

Natalie McHaffie is one of the many professional artists who work with the Inner City Angels. “My purpose is to teach the children about design,” she says. “Once they learn how to put things together, they can use that knowledge for other things they may want to do, such as making a kite or designing a house.”

Recently Ms McHaffie worked with 16 children at St. Bernard School to create a wall painting in the hallway leading to the kindergarten classroom. Together they designed and did the wall painting during one school week.

When Ms McHaffie first met the student artists, she told them, “We must do a painting that will not only please the kindergarten kids but will also offer them information.”

Each of the 16 students was asked to imagine and draw ideas for the painting. After discussing the different ideas together, they chose the theme “The Four Seasons”.

Finishing the painting, four of the student artists had something to say about their experience.

Alfea: “You learn more when you do it yourself. As you go along you keep finding out things you didn’t know before.”

Mauro: “I like working in a group because you get more done than if you work alone.”

Paolo: “It’s been fun working in a group, not the same kind of exciting fun as when you’re playing basketball. When you do art, it makes you feel peaceful.”

Paulina: “You can learn from working with the other kids. By talking to each other you can find ways to do things.”

One day a very skilled artist met a beautiful woman who immediately became the object of his affections. As he observed her and spoke with her, he admired her more and more. He showered her with kindness and words of praise until she consented to be his wife.

Not long after they were married, however, the beautiful woman found out that she was more the object of his artistic interest than of his affections. When he admired her classic beauty, it was as though he were standing in front of a work of art rather than in front of a human being to whom he had pledged his love and promised his life. And soon he expressed his great desire to put her rare beauty on canvas.

“ Please sit for me in the workroom,” he pleaded, “ and I will make your beauty permanent. The work will be my masterpiece!”

She was humble and patient as well as flattered by his words, so she said, “Yes, my love. I will be happy to sit for you.” So the beautiful, young wife of the artist sat meekly for hours in his studio, not complaining. Day after day she sat patiently, smiling as she posed, because she loved him and because she hoped that he would see her love in her smile and obedience. She sometimes wanted to call out to him, “ Please love me and want me as a person rather than as an object !” But instead, she spoke nothing but words which pleased him.

At length, as the labor drew to close, the painter became wilder in his passion for his work. He only rarely turned his eyes from the canvas to look at his wife. As he stood there gazing at his beautiful work of art, he cried with a loud voice, “This is indeed life itself!” Then he turned to his beloved and saw that she was dead!

One August day this past summer, Richard Phibbs was taking photos of Hollywood's hottest couple, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. The next day,he was sprawling(趴）on the floor of a 6-by-6-foot animal-examination room at the Humane Society of New York(HSNY),photographing dozens of homeless animals for free.

For the past four years, Phibbs,famous for photographing celebrities,has photographed more than 360 rescued dogs,cats and other animals at the Humane Society in hopes of helping them find loving homes forever. Now 63 of those portraits are featured in a new book Rescue Me,detailing animal's miserable past and their new lives in New York City.

＂I was longing lo take a picture that does something more than sell clothes or sell a career, " Phibbs tells The Post. "In fashion,we're trying to make up fantasy and dreams. When I'm at the Humane Society, I use photography to speak the truth. When people look into the eyes of that animal,the spirit of that being is there. "And his photos work. The animals whose portraits are taken by Phibbs see a much higher adoption rate than others at HSNY,thanks not only to the photographs themselves but also to their high share-rate on social media.

＂Without doubt, "says Sandra Dereo, HSNY's executive director. "When we post one of his photos on Instagram or Adopt-a-Pet,it's like a flood. All of these people suddenly notice the animal. "

The photo shoots last anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes,and Phibbs will see dozens of animals in a single day. Each of his subjects is given time to adjust to his or her surroundings,so that they open up and let their personalities shine.

Whether it's a human or animal, I'm trying to get the subject to feel safe and to feel confident and comfortable with me, "the photographer says. "We're looking for that spirit,what makes them different. "While Phibbs may not spend hours with each animal,many of them still have a strong impact(影响）on him. "It's not uncommon for me to walk home,and weep the whole way. "