Three local artists will have their original artwork installed at the Clairmont Adventure Park as part of the County of Grande Prairie’s Art for the Park project.
The winners are Daelyn Biendarra for her entry titled “Dream View,” Cassidy Guenther with “Skateboarder.png” and Quinn Goldberg with “Fox Mountain.”
“We’re excited about bringing a splash of colour to the park and also encouraging the community to take pride in their park because it’s very much central to the hamlet of Clairmont,” said Christine Rawlins, parks and recreation manager with the County of Grande Prairie.
Developed in 2014, the Clairmont Adventure Park is home to a skate park, spray park, outdoor exercise equipment and greenspace. The Clairmont Agricultural Society operated the venue, with county funding totaling $640,000, until the county took over operations early 2020.
In May, the county called on submissions from young artists to help beautify the park.
“We just felt that it had a lot of potential to be a multi-generational community hub, but it needed a little bit of TLC (tender loving care) and some further investment, I guess, of time and creativity because it looks very industrial at first glance,” Rawlins said.
“We felt there was a lot of potential there for the community to take pride in the park, so we thought this was one of the first initiatives that we could launch to help meet that goal.”
A panel of judges chose the three submissions for Site 1, which is along the wooden residential fences on the park’s east boundary.
“They wanted to select pieces that represented different, some that were sort of modern or more futuristic, some that were something a little bit more traditional,” Rawlins said.
“We were looking for some diversity in what would actually be posted there.”
Artists also submitted concepts/ideas to be developed into an art for installation at Site 2, which is along the fences around the Clairmont Adventure Park. Goldberg was also the Site 2 winner for her of a Honeybee Conservation Education Project.
Her idea involves placing cut outs of bees—likely to be made out of wood—and other important pollinators along the chain link fence at the park. Residents will eventually have an opportunity to contribute to the project by painting individual components.
The county is now in the process of printing the three winning art pieces onto boards, which will be installed in the park this summer. Rawlins stated that there was no specific timeline for the Honeybee Conservation Education Project, but noted it would be an ongoing project.
All artists who submitted work were entered in a draw to win a $100 gift card. The draw winners are Christina Read, Douglas Rieger, Daelyn Biendarra and Chaney Tidd.
The public is asked to follow the county’s social media should they want to contribute or participate in the art projects for the Clairmont Adventure Park.