Speed painter and motivational speaker visits Southern Aroostook Community School – WAGM

DYER BROOK, Maine (WAGM) – The Southern Aroostook Community School invited artist and inspirational speaker Rob Surette to come and speak to their students. Surette currently paints for Disney, DC Comics, Star Wars, Marvel, and other well-known companies.
Surette’s message to the students was about the importance of pursuing your passions, which was echoed by the school’s counselor.
“We have lots of assemblies and things but in a world right now where things can be so negative and discouraging, we wanted to have someone come and share messages of resilience,” says Jessica Greene, a school counselor. “You can be anything you want to be, just kind of positive, encouraging.”
Part of Surette’s performance included speed painting along to music and lights. He also shared inspirational stories, as well as his own journey to becoming a Disney artist.
“See in the darkness, and out of all the mess, hopefully comes a masterpiece,” says Surette, “and I think that’s a nice metaphor that life can be so hard and dark, but then ‘poof’, there’s always the hope.”
The school hoped the presentation would inspire students to be kind to one another and to not lose faith in their dreams.
“I want to inspire,” says Surette, “which means I want to hear that maybe one student left here feeling moved, or feeling so inspired that they have a new lease on life.”
Some of the students that attended the assembly spoke to WAGM after it was over.
Giavanna Erali, an eighth grade student, said, “I thought it was pretty great, it was really cool watching him paint and everything, and it’s really inspiring because I know that I can sometimes have a hard time getting things to look the way I want them to, but watching him go through the years as he draws and getting better and better inspires me that I can do it, too.”
“The presentation was cool, pretty nice,” added Shawn Grass, an eighth grade student. “I’ve never seen anything like it and I really enjoy art so it was cool to watch.”
The presentation was shown to kids in grades Pre-K through 12th grade.
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