“Letters of Orillia” spell opportunity at Lakehead University’s CampU

Lakehead University Orillia partners with Streets Alive! and local artist Paul Baxter to create the only matching pair of letters for the Streets Alive! festival. Paul will also lead a creativity workshop for CampU’s ArtsU week to help children produce designs for their very own letter sculptures. Sami Pritchard, Lakehead’s CampU Coordinator (l to r), Liz Ross, Lakehead’s CampU Director, Nikki McBride, Lakehead Communications Assistant, and Paul Baxter, local “letter” artist, reveal the preliminary designs on the “Letters of Orillia” sculptures.  

June 12, 2013 – Orillia, ON 

"Letters of Orillia" spell opportunity at Lakehead University's CampU

Lakehead University Orillia has partnered with the Streets Alive! Letters of Orillia art project and local artist Paul Baxter to design the only matching pair of letter sculptures for the annual Streets Alive! festival.

“Letter” artist Paul Baxter is designing the letters “L” and “U” in recognition of Lakehead University Orillia and its food service provider, Madison County Food and Beverage Co. Inspired by the phrase “the sky is the limit,” Baxter is turning the two, 6 foot high and nearly 200-pound metal sculptures into masterpieces that will appear at the Streets Alive! launch in downtown Orillia on June 22.

“I was thrilled to learn that Lakehead University had chosen my design for their letters,” said Baxter. “The University means so much to Orillia and I am honoured to be able to work with such a dynamic and important member of the community – it’s a very exciting project!”

The University is also excited about the oversized letters and will be incorporating them into its ArtsU camp as part of CampU, the day camp running at the Orillia campus this summer.

The arts-themed day camp, taking place July 8 to 12, is designed to expand children’s knowledge of art mediums and methods while building leadership skills. “The Letters of Orillia project is a perfect way to add a creative, fun activity into the week,” explained Liz Ross, Lakehead Orillia’s Athletics and Recreation Facilitator, and Director of CampU.

The project will include a workshop with Baxter as a guest artist. “Paul’s workshop will focus on how to turn personal inspirations into artistic designs, offering CampU participants the opportunity to work with an established artist to produce their very own creations,” said Ross.

Using their new skills and with professional guidance, CampU participants will create individual designs that will come alive when they transfer their creations onto a scaled-down version of a “Letters of Orillia” sculpture.

Camp staff will be on hand at the Streets Alive! kick-off event on Saturday, June 22 in downtown Orillia to help showcase the “L” and “U” and the summer arts camp opportunity.

CampU also offers Super Science, BizKids and Nuts for Nature camp weeks. For more information, visit the Lakehead University website at http://orillia.lakeheadu.ca/camp-u/or contact Program Director Liz Ross at 705-330-4008 ext. 2116, or orathlet@lakeheadu.ca.

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Media:  For more information, please contact Lakehead University’s Communications Officer, Kathy Hunt, at 705-330-4008 ext. 2014 or kjhunt3@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University is a comprehensive university with a reputation for a multidisciplinary teaching approach that emphasizes collaborative learning and independent critical thinking. Over 8,700 students and 1,850 faculty and staff learn and work at campuses located in Orillia, and Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is home to the west campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Lakehead University promotes innovative research that supports local and regional socio-economic needs. In Orillia, development continues on building a campus that meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) standards. For more information about Lakehead University, visit www.lakeheadu.ca