Blog

Niam Jain Paints Raccoon Sculpture for CNE

In August of 2019, The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) placed 12 fiberglass raccoon sculptures around the Princess Margaret Fountain in Toronto. The purpose of this was to auction off the art pieces at an event to raise much needed funding for the community. Niam Jain was contacted by the CNE to paint one of the raccoon sculptures that would be auctioned off.

Everything began a month before the CNE took place. Niam set out to paint his raccoon in his unique layering style of impasto. Naim used a cool tone colour palette of various blues and purples with different accent colours. Niam’s attention to detail with his art resulted in over 40 hours of intense painting until he was happy with his final product and ready to present it at the CNE.

 

The raccoon was then installed at the CNE to be displayed for attendees to view before the auction. The project was celebrated with a closing ceremony at the CNE attended by politicians and the former Mayor of Toronto, John Tory.

 

 

The CNE’s choice of reaching out to Niam is an excellent example of the success events and companies can have when working with individuals with autism. The opportunities that neurodivergent artists receive are also capable for those with autism and through Niam’s hard work he showcased this.