New Brunswick art camp combines creativity and important environmental lessons

An art camp in Salisbury, N.B., combines creativity and important environmental lessons. (Alana Pickrell/CTV Atlantic)

Summer vacation is in full swing across the Maritimes, but a group of young campers in Salisbury, N.B., have taken their learning from the classroom to the outdoors.

“I learned how to keep the environment clean by picking up trash and making it [into] a really cool sculpture and I learned that painting is really fun,” said 8-year-old Vayda Landry, who spent her week at art camp.

Since 2021, Arrow Amor has been running art camps in Salisbury for kids aged 6 to 14. While each week involves hands-on creativity, there’s always an underlying message that comes with each finished product.

“We often talk about ecological themes or the environment through our art camp and our projects,” said Arrow Amor founder Sarah Gaxiola.

“This week, we did sculptures made out of recyclable materials… and those materials would have gone in the landfill or sent to the garbage, and for them to be able to bring from their home, objects straight from their garbage and into a sculpture, shows them that you can imagine things in different ways and with your creativity, you can make a difference in the world.”

For Sarah and her husband Mitl, running an art camp is a dream come true. She says that art itself is a rich way to teach and it gives them the opportunity to approach more important conversations.

“This week, when I had some repeat campers from last year, we talked about the different techniques and different messages and they were very eager to share, ‘Oh, like last year when we did this,’ and I was like, ‘That’s exactly right’ and so they take those messages home with them and they really remember,” she said.

“It really sticks with them.”

In Highland Park on Friday, campers from the sculpture week were busy putting the finishing touches on their recyclable sculptures and the final dash of paint.

“I created my sculpture and I made some friends and I really just had fun. It was like the best week of my life,” said 8-year-old Reese Garnett.

“Just because it’s garbage, it doesn’t mean that it’s useless and you can just throw it away. You can reuse it and have different things, you can even create something very big, very small, whatever size you want and you can do anything with them,” she added.

On top of using recyclable materials to create masterpieces, the camp also incorporates different cultures into the lesson plan.

“We’re doing a special type of sculpture,” said 10-year-old Owen Lloyd, referring to Alebrijes, which are Mexican folk art sculptures.

“Basically, there was this artist who got sick and he was having these dreams and in these dreams there would be these creatures and they were all colourful and they would have different animal part variants, so that’s what we’re doing. So we started with all the recyclables and then we made our own sculptures.”

Each artist created something that was unique and original.

“I made the head of a bird with a snake neck and it has the legs of a dog, the body of a tiger and the tail of a monkey,” said Lloyd.

Many found a way to combine all of their favourite animals and colours.

“I created an alligator. I know this isn’t an animal, but I used a princess, and a lizard and a snake, a rhinoceros and a camel,” explained Garnett.

Meantime, Landry used it as an opportunity to be brave.

“It was a cow, mixed with a dragon and mixed with a jellyfish,” she said. “I don’t like jellyfish and I thought I could face my fear, and I like cows and I also like farms a lot, and my favourite mythical creature is a dragon.”

On top of being able to take home their artwork at the end of the week, the camp also provides inspiration for future projects that can be created with material found at home.

“It’s made out of a box, water bottles. There’s little cans to open and newspaper to cover it and paint,” said 8-year-old Olivia Poole.

Officials say that the camp sees participants from all over the area and it gives the children a chance to interact with people who they wouldn’t normally go to school with or see in their own neighbourhood.

From July 7 to 21, art camp is having a mural week, while July 24 to 28 will focus on ecological art. The week of July 31 to Aug. 4, arts and crafts will take the stage.

“Summer camp is such a impactful thing for a kid’s life, so for me, I think that’s a really great opportunity to talk about these themes,” said Gaxiola.

She says there is still time for people to sign up for the next three weeks. More information can be found on the Arrow Amor Facebook page.