Walking along the beaches at Grand Mal and Duquesne Bay with Tutor Ursula Williams, the students soon learned to keep their eyes on the ground and were pleasantly surprised at the variety of shells, stones, pieces of glass and other materials used to make jewellry and other creations that can generate an income. While in Pearls, the students found several pieces of Amerindian carvings, which will be presented to the Grenada National Museum.

Along with Ms. Williams, the students are benefiting from the experience and talents of local artists Gordon Hamilton, Kenneth Noel and Suelin Low Chew Tung during the five-day intensive day Camp, which ends on Friday (July 20)

In addition to the morning and afternoon teaching sessions, the students have an interactive lunch break focussing on different types of crafts. On Tuesday, Ms. Debra Mason of Caribbean Naturals exposed the ACE Campers to a variety of craft items created from local natural materials, including calabash, bamboo, seeds, grasses, coconut shells and banana leaves. On Wednesday they will learn about Origami, the art of making objects from paper.

Ranging in age from nine to nineteen years, the ‘ACE Campers’ were selected based on their ratings in local and regional art competitions and in collaboration with Ministry of Education Art Director Mrs. Lisa Francis, who is also Chair of the Patron of the Arts Fund Management Team.

The Patron of the Arts Fund was established with proceeds from the sale of the ARD Art Adventure 2006 commemorative calendar. The ARD Art Adventure used art as a therapeutic tool to help students deal with the trauma of Hurricane Ivan.