Last summer, a group of kids ran up to Dan Grima and excitedly exclaimed they had just watched a mother grouse followed by four babies.
“They were just enlightened by this experience,” says Grima, the Adventure Program supervisor at Grouse Mountain.
It was an interaction that spurred him on to help create a new summer camp on the mountain called Art in the Alpine.
“I’m always inspired when I’m on the mountain. It’s such a beautiful place to be,” he notes, adding he wanted campers to experience the beauty of the mountain and learn to record it in a way that made it easier for them to share.
“A lot of our camps provide an enduring memory,” says Grima, noting the art camp will allow kids to express and record those memories in different ways.
“All of our camps are united in trying to inspire youth to get outdoors, to make friends, connect with nature, and kind of just experience the scene, the beauty that is so close to the city,” he says.
“It’s just an inspirational place to have a camp.”
Art in the Alpine is new to the Grouse summer camp program this year, which also includes Adventure Camps for kids ages eight to 12, youth camps for kids 13-16, and junior camps for kids ages five to seven. The art camp will be offered in two age groups (kids and youth) for those ages eight-16.
Campers will learn how to sketch wildlife, wild flowers, landscapes and other scenery, along with painting, soap stone carving and journaling.
“We want to give the youth the experience to guide themselves along a journey,” explains Grima. He says he has a connection to certain areas of the mountain and hopes campers will connect with their own favourite spots.
Participants don’t have to be good at art to enjoy the camp, says Grima, and no experience is necessary.
“It’s just about being creative, having a creative outlet more than you have to produce something amazing.”
The pace of the art camp will be a bit slower than the adventure camps, but Grima says there will still be some hiking and exploration of what the mountain has to offer.
“That connection with nature hopefully if it’s already there a bit we can grow it and if it’s not quite existing just yet hopefully we can inspire them to love nature and care about it.”
This story originally appeared in the Nroth Shore News Summer Camps special section, which highlights local summer camps for kids.
