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KINNGAIT/CAPE DORSET
Natural Arctic cotton may be white, but a mural depicting the plant became very colourful under the creativity of a group of children attending summer camp in Cape Dorset.

Gaisa Toonoo puts the finishing touches on a mural depicting Arctic cotton that summer camp children made late last month. - photo courtesy of Candice Waddell

The two-piece mural – one is 2.5 metres across and 1.5 metres high while the other is 1.5 metres high and 1.8 metres across – will be installed at the youth centre, explained Chris Reid, an artist from Brandon, Man.

The approximately 50 children between the ages of five and 12 who participated in the project last month decorated blossom shapes cut from wood with acrylic paint, she said. The mural features the ground, sticks to represent the stems and then blossom shapes.

"The finished project doesn't really look like Arctic cotton because it's all kinds of colours," said Reid. "The concentration was on mixing colours and getting the kids to explore using the paint. It's really, really colourful."

The project's goal was to be creative while having a local basis, said Reid. Last year's mural focused on animals in the landscape, so this year she wanted to go with plants, Reid added.

"I thought it was really successful," she said. "I hope the kids are proud of it because I think they did really well."

The mural project from Aug. 13 to Aug. 22 was done as part of summer camp, explained Taukie Taukie, child and youth outreach worker in Cape Dorset.

"Cape Dorset is renowned for its art from all over the world," she said. "Having art here as a project for the kids and to recognize (it) as a source for them to do if they want to do art and express their feelings with art, I think that's very important."

Tuumasi Thona and Maryann Adla both participated in the project. Both said they had fun and enjoyed painting the most. Thona, 11, said he used brown paint to add to the mural while 12-year-old Adla said she used blue.

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