CUSHING — The Georges River Land Trust (GRLT) is pleased to be partnering with LEAPS of IMAGINATION through youth arts programming at Langlais Sculpture Preserve. Fourth graders from St. George Elementary School enjoyed a day of outdoor exploration, art projects, mindfulness, and inspiration.

LEAPS of IMAGINATION brings local Maine mentor artists together with elementary school students and teachers in a collaborative school-day classroom program. Mentor artists interweave in-depth art making experiences with carefully chosen social justice and literature themes linked to the class curriculum. Our project empowers children to believe in their own capacity to create and to make change in both their local community and the larger world. Nancy Frohlich, founding director of LEAPS, has created innovative curriculum to ignite the imaginative spirit and inspire new ways of thinking.

Working with local elementary schools, this year's curriculum includes field trips to the Georges River Land Trust's Langlais Sculpture Preserve.
Working in Langlais' medium, on his home turf, next to his own studio, brought the artist to life for St. George School's fourth graders. LEAPS' mentor artists Susan Beebe, Avis Turner and Sarah Chadwick-Rogers had been planning this visit for months. Although adults had anticipated children's reactions, they hadn't quite envisioned how children would put the pieces together. Cynthia Trone began the day with a mindfulness practice for the children that set the tone for a joyful and peaceful day, grounded in the magic that emanates from the Langlais property.
GRLT looks forward to welcoming children from Thomaston and Cushing Elementary Schools later this winter, and will be introducing a nature and art summer day camp at Langlais Sculpture Preserve in 2018, in collaboration with LEAPS of IMAGINATION.

Organized in 1987, the Georges River Land Trust works to conserve the ecosystems and traditional heritage of the Georges River watershed region through permanent land protection, stewardship, education and outdoor experiences. For more information, please visit Georges River Land Trust's website (www.GeorgesRiver.org) or call (207) 594-5166 for more information. For more information about LEAPS of IMAGINATION, please visit https://leapsofimagination.wordpress.com/