Eco Art for Newcomers Artists: Ryan Ennis, Michelle Grahame, Nancy Holmes, Karen Meyer, Tanatswa Pfende, Natalie Rice, Logan Saunders, Laura Sciarpelletti, Kelly Shepherd, Amy Stetzl, Daniel Vineberg, Nik Vreugdenhil, Ali Young

Thanks to The Kelowna Downtown Knox Mountain Neighbourhood Association, The Welcome Wagon, Julia Prudhomme and Kristi Hemingson, and the Justice Institute of BC! Photographs credited to Julia Prudhomme.

The Eco Art for Newcomers is a pilot project designed to create an art package for a neighbourhood in Kelowna. Traditional welcome wagons visit new homeowners with information about a city as a whole. Our Eco Art for Newcomers will be a package of art that tries to attach new residents to their very specific new place—their neighbourhood environment. Along with stories and artworks focussed on their very own neighbourhood, the recipients of the package could learn about special places, local stories, buried history, and unique features of their new home. The art may convey information about such topics as water, sewers and run-off, how to live with wild creatures and nearby wildlife corridors, the type of soils and landscapes, names of mountains or water bodies nearby, birds, insects, bike routes, gardening, pesticides, native plants, land scarring, trees, erosion, weather, noise and light pollution, walks, seasonal cycles, etc. All information will be delivered in an entertaining, artistic, and thought-provoking way.

This project is being created by the students of Creative Writing 481 and two VISA 400 students. The students have chosen the North End neighbourhood of Kelowna as their research and creation territory.

Watch for upcoming events around this project!

Photographs credited to Ali Young.