Desiree DeCoste
Beaver Staff
If you enjoy sketching and being in nature then the Bateman’s Sketch Across Canada Initiative is for you.
Residents in Greater Napanee can take part in the nation-wide initiative by picking up a free sketchbook at either town hall or the Strathcona Paper Centre.
Bateman’s Sketch Across Canada is a nationwide project by the Bateman Foundation. Working with Black Press Media they have produced 33,000 free sketchbooks to be distributed across the country, asking Canadians to venture outside and, in the words of Robert Bateman, “become bright-eyed three-year-olds again”.
Sketching nature promotes knowledge, understanding, and connection to the environment, and the act itself is a mindful one: taking the time to stop, look and sketch can be a useful tool for managing anxiety and depression.
As said on the Bateman Foundation website, Robert Bateman, founder of the Bateman Foundation, is already aligned with child-in-nature philosophies. He is associated in the public mind with pro-nature education by his work, writings and public speaking. He is widely regarded by the national and international conservation community as a “hero” because of his lifelong support and clearly articulated perspective. He is a natural and gregarious teacher and his artwork is vastly instructive. Finally, Robert Bateman is perceived by many to be one of the voices of reason and hope for healthy, rejuvenated and creative engagement with the natural world.
From the beginning of time we have been connected to nature, but for the first time in history, that connection threatens to be broken for most of an entire generation and perhaps generations to come. When children play in nature – climb trees, build forts and dams in creeks and go exploring – here is what happens: they have less obesity, less likelihood of developing attention deficit disorder, lower rates of depression and suicide, less alcohol and drug abuse, less bullying, plus, they get higher marks.
For more information on the Bateman Foundation and this sketching initiative please visit https://batemanfoundation.org