Noticing Nature at the OR
Noticing Nature Program 2018 brings Budding Artists to the OR site.
Following the historical dedication to public use of the OR setting, a local organization, the Yorklands Green Hub, brought families and art and nature together to heighten observational skills and explore nature's designs in Guelph’s historic setting of the OR.
In 2018, YGH piloted art and nature sessions for children called “Noticing Nature.” Children and accompanying parents were taken on guided nature-interpretation walks on the heritage site and led in discussions of their findings. They were then given drawing kits and invited to create detailed renderings of their preferred specimens from the walk.
Noticing Nature Program 2019 Delights Eyes, Minds and Hands as Nature and art capture the creativity of three generations.
The summer program, Noticing Nature, led by artist and nature-lover Marta Orlowska, provided summer mornings of exploration, discovery, creativity and fun at the historic Ontario Reformatory site. Each morning a group of children and their elders started with a song or two. Marta then led them on a walk along fields, trails or the water's edge to spot inhabitants of this nature-rich landscape. Under cedars or spruce trees. or along the Yorklands' walkways and stone walls, they looked for flora and fauna, and for natural materials to inspire the imaginations.
One cannot plan for natural delights like finding a turtle burying her eggs, then carefully patting them into the ground and covering them with old weeds before ambling back to the water nearby. Seeing a Monarch butterfly taking nectar from a flower near a chrysalis on another plant, and caterpillars on a plant nearby was unplanned noticing at its best.
Each Tuesday and Thursday of the program the kids of all ages with moms, dads, grandparents or aunts found something special to enjoy in the natural world of this site. Following the group walk, everyone settled in the shade on blankets as they were encouraged to do in decades past at this place. They shared art supplies and created lovely sketches or crafts to take home