An arts teacher at Westwood college, located about twenty kilometers from Montreal, is suspected of having put up for sale around a hundred works of art created by his students on his personal site without warning them, reports the channel Canadian television station CTV News.
The middle school students discovered their work available for purchase on the internet last week by searching their teacher's name on Google.
The man in question, Mario Perron, describes himself on his blog as a
"long-time art student"
and claims his works are in private collections in Canada, the United States, Spain and Italy.
On the professor's online site, the drawings are on sale for 118 Canadian dollars, or around 80 euros.
Other sites would have sold t-shirts, coffee cups or cell phone cases on which the works were reproduced, according to the Canadian media.
The price of these items could reach 27.5 euros.
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The portraits, more than 90 of which are still visible, bear the name of the students who created them, such as
The Scary Portrait of Emilia
or
The Scary Portrait of Julia
.
Since Monday, student artwork can no longer be purchased and automatically links to Mr. Perron's paintings.
Other social media accounts related to the professor's art have been removed, including pages on Instagram and Facebook.
Parents of students incomprehension
Michael Bennett, father of two young daughters whose works were put up for sale, expressed his disgust with the teacher before adding that this situation was completely
“unimaginable”
in an interview with CTV News.
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A incomprehension shared by other parents.
“It’s hard to believe that he (the professor) said to himself that he had the right to use and exploit the rights of these children and their artistic work for his own finances
,” criticized Joel DeBellefeuille, father of one of the children, with the Canadian channel.
“Imagine your 13-year-old son telling you when he gets home from school that his art teacher is selling his students' work for $94 without telling them? It’s completely crazy
,” he wrote on the social network X.
In a statement, the Westwood college explained that it was
“aware of the situation and takes these allegations very seriously”
, adding that an administrative investigation was “
in progress
”.