It will help people see the ‘beauty beyond the beauty’ of the Avon River.
That’s how local resident Kevin September described his ARTxTERRA Land Art Festival, which won both the people’s choice award and arts, culture and placemaking award for the Flowing Futures: Avon River Design Challenge.
Run by Provocation Ideas Festival, the challenge asked how the river can evolve as a place for community gathering, ecological stewardship, and climate resilience.
Staff held an awards ceremony Saturday at the Copperlight, recognizing and awarding new design ideas for the river.
September told MyStratfordNow his idea focuses on art collaborating with the earth.
“The idea is to create a land art festival around the Avon River, where people can watch live builds and the installations are all made with natural, biodegradable leaves, branches, rocks and moss.”
He said the idea had been floating around for some time and it will run in the fall.
Provocation founding director Mark Rosenfeld described the benefits a land art festival can bring to the community.
“People seeing what can be done out of biodegradable materials, they can see the creation of art and its working with the environment as well, and it also leads to an appreciation of the river, of Lake Victoria, and the environment and how important that is.”
Rosenfeld said 37 proposals and 12 statements of interest were submitted for the challenge.
He said they were amazed at the range, the breadth and the possibilities for the ideas.
“A lot of those submissions, like Kevin’s, were cross-cutting so they looked at ecological health, ecological issues, art, community gathering spaces, accessibility and cut across all of those.”
He said only seven designs were awarded at the ceremony.
September said he wants to bring the festival to life.
For next steps, September and Rosenfeld will put together a funding workshop, get advice and reach out to partners to secure support for the project.
They hope to set up the workshop sometime in the early winter.
According to a media release, the other winners are:
(Flowing Futures Grand Prize) Flowing Features — Jordan Cook. A science-based and practical restoration framework that addresses
water-quality throughout the Avon River watershed and Lake Victoria. Rather than responding only to the visible symptoms of pollution, the proposal addresses agricultural runoff, sediment and nutrient loading, and disrupted natural flows, creating healthier aquatic habitats and long-term municipal benefits.
(Transformative Vision Award) Lakeside Reimagined — Anu S Kumar. A bold plan to transform the Lake Victoria waterfront into a
continuous, accessible civic landscape integrating native shoreline restoration, sensory gardens, cultural programming, year-round activity and community gathering spaces.
(Ecology and Climate Resilience Award) Stratford Floating Wildflower Islands — Jazlyn Burrell. A scalable pilot using floating platforms
planted with native wetland species to absorb excess nutrients, improve habitat for fish and pollinators, and create an outdoor classroom for community-based ecological learning.
(Community Connection and Accessibility Award) Forest Playground — Denise Iszczuk. A secure, nature-based riverfront play space for young children, using natural fencing and reclaimed wood to support imaginative outdoor learning, family access and intergenerational community participation.
(Postsecondary Innovation Award) Avon River Way Framework — Andra Popp, Sam Ma, Lulit Meraf, Sydney Robb, Khalil Heron and
Victor Constantinescu. A University of Waterloo capstone project presenting a corridor-scale planning framework that connects ecological restoration, universal accessibility, active transportation, public art and Indigenous placemaking through a phased, evidence-based implementation strategy.
(Intermediate School Vision Award) Avon River Fishing and Clean-Up Video Game — Cameron Fuhr, Zach Moses and Dominic Morris.
An interactive educational game that links fishing, litter removal and improved water quality, using
creative coding to help younger audiences understand pollution, native aquatic species and river
stewardship.
