Children from across Canada came together at the Palisades Stewardship Education Centre (PSEC) last week to spend time getting acquainted with the Canadian Rockies and stimulating their creativity.

The 14 young Canadians spent a week taking part in a variety of courses led by local artists as winners of the Robert Bateman Get to Know You contest.

Special visitors to this years program were Robert Bateman’s son, Alan Bateman, and his son, Jack Bateman. The pair travelled from Nova Scotia to take part in the five day program.

While some contestants had never been to Jasper National Park (JNP) before, one teenager – Megan Leitch – was a little more familiar with the surrounding environment.

“I think if anything, they got more out of it because they don’t live in Jasper and they got to see all the beautiful scenery. They all love the wildlife and would be excited to see the elk,” she explained.

“I guess it just kind of reminded me that Jasper is a very, very beautiful place.”

At 13-years-old, Leitch is an avid abstract artist from Jasper and is just one example of the various young inspiring artists. About 5,000 artists entered the competition.

The budding artists spent the week taking in the sites of JNP, while drawing, painting, photographing everything they saw. Jasper artists, of all kinds, were invited to the Palisades to teach the children specific skills. Thus, while some entered a piece of photography, their creative skills were adapted to the realm of acrylic painting and pottery over the week.

Despite Leitch’s love of abstract art, she also now has a variety of work - photographs and acrylic paintings - that she is also proud of.

“I have a photograph and a painting that I really like,” she said, “one is of a bridge (at the Palisades) except you’re looking at the bridge at eye level... and the giant painting of the feather.”

According to Jaime Nowell, school program co-ordinator for the RBGTKP, all winners over the age of 12 had the option to participate in the week long program as long as they could get themselves to Jasper. 

Participants in last weeks program came from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. For Leitch, this was one of the best parts of the week.

“My favourite part was meeting new people, and doing a whole bunch of different art.”

She and her fellow classmates also got to chat with Robert Bateman via video conference on Friday morning and the famous artists took time to critique artwork done by the children.

“He said he wished he could paint more abstract like that, or something like that,” she said about his comments on her work. “It was really cool.”

“He went over and critiqued our photos and paintings and poems... what he thought of them, and how we could have done better.”

The program that was put on for Leitch and her new found friends was a joint project between Parks Canada and the RBGKP. According to Nowell, they laid out what they wanted the week to involve and Parks just “ran off with it”.

“It was a great opportunity and we’ve actually got some feedback from some of the parents basically saying how much of a great opportunity this was and they had so much fun,” she said.

Her sentiments were echoed by Leitch, “it was really cool. It was a huge opportunity and I’m insanely grateful.”

For Nowell, the Palisades Education Learning Centre was a great place to hold the program because it aligns perfectly with the philosophy behind the RBGTKP.

“Parks Canada has been one of our partners for quite some time and James Bartram, stewardship education project lead with Jasper National Park, came up with this wonderful idea that we should offer a trip to the Palisades Education Centre, because the whole premise is to get outdoors and get to know your wild neighbours and the (learning centre) basically encompasses that by letting children get outside and enjoy nature.”

“I think the Palisades is one of the best ways to embody the Get to Know Program, and getting to know your wild neighbours,” she said. 

“They basically spent hardly any time indoors, they were learning about local plants and animals and how it affects bio-diversity.”

Bio-diversity was the theme for this years contest, so all contestants had to embody that theme in their artistic endeavours so that when the 2010 calendar for the competition comes out it will be in time for the Year of Bio-diversity, as declared by the United Nations. 

An ongoing partnership between Parks Canada and the RBGTKP, Bartram will be heading to Los Angeles to represent Parks Canada this weekend to help launch the United States program. 

“This weekend we’re launching our contest down in the state of California... it’s going to be very exciting. Parks Canada has really pulled through for us and now they’re really stepping through with us into the United States.”