Young people in southeast Saskatchewan had a creative start to their summer vacation during a three-day art camp in North Portal from June 21 to 23.
Between 10 and 15 young people from Bienfait, Roche Percee, North Portal and other communities attended the classes, which were led by Diana Chisholm, who is the artist-in-residence with the Estevan Arts Council (EAC).
While the students in Estevan weren’t finished classes until June 28, the students in some rural communities were done a week earlier, so Chisholm believed the timing was perfect for the camp.
Chisholm wanted to bring programming to youth in rural communities, since they often travel to Estevan for programs offered by the EAC and other cultural organizations in the city.
The camp started with some land art, in which participants gathered natural elements for group projects. Then they made flower pots for the community and some street and building art graffiti.
“We spent the morning making stencils, and then, in the afternoon, we took our stencils out and stuck them to the side of the old curling rink in the community,” said Chisholm. “We got permission to use the curling rink.”
They used brightly coloured spray chalks to create images of bugs and other creatures and characters.
North Portal artist Lindsay Arnold contributed to the programming and instruction at the camp.
“The kids had a lot of fun,” said Chisholm. “School is out and we had a chance to get outdoors and run and not have so much structure, so it was a nice way to start off … summer vacation for the kids.”
Chisholm has offered some programs in Bienfait at the library and at Weldon School, and had some studio visits in North Portal. But beyond that, this was her program offered in a rural community in the southeast, and now that the weather is nice, Chisholm would like to offer more programming to communities outside of Estevan.
