Art and land combined in Land Stories art program

Valerie G. Barnes Connell Jordan/Northern Advocate Participants were introduced to several different opportunities to learn about the land around them through a six-week art program, Land Stories. They added to a larger image of a moose, created by one of the leaders, Annalisa Heppner and painted rocks another week.

Inspired by concern over logging and peat moss mining concerns in the area, Annalisa Heppner and Larissa Muirhead offered a six-week art program, Land Stories, for children at the Alex Robertson Public Library in La Ronge.

The final week involved a public exhibit of the work done by the group.

“We were overwhelmed with all the things going on the in the. Province with forestry and I’m part of the non-profit, For Peat Sake, and being a part of that just opens your eyes to how difficult it is to get places protected,” Muirhead said in sharing the program with those attending the open exhibit.

“Part of that piece is inspiring young kids to care about these places really early on. It’s something that is near and dear to my heart, and Annalissa (too), so we just so we collaborated,” she added.

The program began with a bus ride to the beach where they, explored some water and aquatics, Muirhead said.

Each week at a theme and involved a different art medium and some weeks involved speakers coming in to talk about different aspects of the land and inspiring the children’s creations.

Over the six weeks they coloured, the different themes included water with Emily Wong, and another week was led by Miriam Körner, exploring the muskeg.

Plants and rocks were another, so they painted rocks that week. The last week they wrapped up all their projects ready for the exhibit.

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