It's that time of year again, when North Shore residents descend on West Vancouver's waterfront in celebration of both community and art.

The 20th annual Harmony Arts Festival kicks off today and runs until Aug. 8. Festivities include a craft market, art exhibitions, portraits by the sea, a wine garden, cinema in the park, children's programs, studio tours and an extensive list of live performances.

"The incredible organization of it and what they offer as a festival in the Vancouver area I think is incredible -- everything that goes on and most of it is free or at a very, very low-cost. . . . I'm just so happy to be part of it," says participating artist Natalie Grambow.

The Sunshine Coast resident made her debut at the festival last year. This year, she's set to lead two environmentally themed art workshops, as well, will have her work exhibited at a group show at the Ferry Building Gallery.

Grambow, who has a background in interior design, textile arts, visual arts and photography, is also an art educator.

"I get very inspired and excited about people's creativity," she says.

People today lead busy lives, but when they take a moment to stop and focus on their creative side, amazing things can happen.

"To see that process happen as an educator is the most inspiring thing in my life," says Grambow. "I get goose bumps just thinking about it."

Working as an educator also provides a source of inspiration for her own art projects, she says.

This weekend, (Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, Aug. 1), from noon to 4 p.m. in a tent, located just south of the Ferry Building Gallery, Grambow will lead workshops, entitled Art for the Planet, seeing participants create eco-art from found and discarded objects. While similar to the workshops she offered last year, this year's sessions are focused on the creation of musical instruments; for example, wind mobiles or percussion instruments and hand drums.

"What happens is creativity starts to sort of flow and people just get really into it," she says.

Grambow's interest in focusing on the environment is a reaction to the view that certain items are meant to be thrown away and it's transfer stations' and recycling depots' responsibility to take care of them.

"In this case it's looking to what's already been made and what's already in our environment and world to create items with," she says.

She hopes the workshops inspire new ways of seeing found or discarded objects and their potential, giving them new life.

"I know last year, a lot of people came away saying, 'Wow, I never realized that a plastic milk bottle could be just cut open and painted and it could become a plant pot,'" she says. "Or, 'I never realized that all these old wires that are all rusty that I need to get rid of that are sitting in my garage could be made into a sculpture or a wind mobile.' So just a little bit of an awareness that all ages, children and adults, as to what is around us that we can access right away to create items or to create art, that's what I'm hoping that people walk away with."

Participants can bring their own items, though Grambow will have a huge selection available along with art supplies. The cost for each workshop, open to individuals of all ages, is $6.

In addition to the workshops, Grambow will have some of her work on display as part of the Harmony Showcase Exhibition, a mixed-media exhibition at the Ferry Building Gallery that opens tonight with a reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Other artists featured at the show, which will remain on display until Aug. 15, include Xwa Lack Tun, Kiff Holland, Alfonso Tejada and, Harmony's signature artist, Michael Tickner.

For more information and for a complete schedule of events and a list of featured artists and performers at this year's Harmony Arts Festival, visit www.harmonyarts.ca.