Spend a day at the beach with Jane Dunlop-Stevenson for Hands Across the Sands, a fundraiser for the Queens County Food Bank on Sunday at Summerville Beach. (Rick Conrad

You can help turn a day at the beach into a work of art this weekend, and raise some money for a local charity.

Liverpool artist Jane Dunlop-Stevenson is organizing Hands Across the Sands: Art with Heart for the Food Bank on Sunday at 1 p.m. on Summerville Beach.

The idea is to draw 30-foot tall stick figures on the beach at low tide. You make a $20 donation to the Queens County Food Bank for each figure. And Dunlop-Stevenson and other volunteers will help you bring your beach art into the world.

“It started with a gentleman saying to me it would be neat to see people being drawn on the beach,” Dunlop-Stevenson said in a recent interview.

“And that led me to think of a picture of all these stick people and what we could do with it and it just evolved into let’s charge some money and help out the food bank and create this great picture.

“The original goal was to draw 150 30-foot stick figures at $20 a piece which would then (be) $3,000 to the food bank. We’re at a third of that right now. So that’s really good. I’m pleased with that. Just to envision 77 30-foot stick drawings is incredible across the beach, all holding hands, … with their feet in the water. It’ll be really neat to see the tide coming in and touching their toes.”

After everybody has drawn their figures, Dunlop-Stevenson will take drone footage of the whole scene and post it.

This is the first time she’s created sand art at Summerville with so many other people. But she’s a veteran virtuoso at creating striking short-term sand art.

Probably her best known work was a 120-foot-by-60-foot tribute to Olympic shot putter Sarah Mitton before this summer’s games. That one featured an 85-foot Eiffel Tower, a Canadian flag and the Olympic rings.

Dunlop-Stevenson created this tribute to Sarah Mitton this summer at Summerville Beach. (Jane Stevenson photo)

She’s also recreated the logo for the Liverpool International Theatre Festival. And she’s taken small groups to Summerville to create mandalas and other images.

But Sunday’s event promises to be her biggest group effort yet. She and some other volunteers will sketch out the heads of all the stick figures ahead of time. 

And participants just have to bring their own rakes to help give their pieces texture, so that they show up against the smooth sand.

“And they will rake the head and choose their design however they want it, however simple or dressed up they want their little person to be, it’s totally up to them. No perfection is necessary. If you have your little picture drawn and you know what you want to put in the sand, it will probably take you 20 minutes maybe to draw a stick figure. So it’s very possible to draw a few.

“Nothing has to be perfect. It’s all just for fun and to see this really cool art.”

Dunlop-Stevenson has set up a Facebook event, which includes a link to a Google registration form. You can go by yourself or get a team of five together. 

And if the weather doesn’t co-operate this weekend, they’ll try it again on Nov. 30. Look for updates on their Facebook event Hands Across the Sands: Art with Heart for the Food Bank.

“Bring your rakes, find some pictures online, bring your 20 bucks and bring your friends. … We can always be warm at the beach.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

QCCR acknowledges the support of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative.

Screen shot from Mayor Darlene Norman’s apology video on Region of Queens Facebook page

The Region of Queens’ mayor is apologizing after decorated rocks were removed from a local park.

A post from the region appeared online late Tuesday evening explaining the beloved rocks along with other decorations were cleared from Pine Grove park.

The post stated, “While some consider these items an added feature of the park, others feel they detract from the pristine natural setting.” Which is why municipal staff cleared them out that day.

A Facebook group called Queens County Rocks is responsible for placing most of the painted rocks in Pine Grove.

Jane Dunlop-Stevenson, the woman behind the group, says she wasn’t surprised the public reaction to the announcement was so swift.

“I knew it meant a lot to them,” said Dunlop-Stevenson. “I knew people wouldn’t be happy and they certainly did speak up in a hurry.”

The post was flooded with comments explaining how important the painted rocks were to many people.

A large number of the comments highlighted how Pine Grove is attracting more families to explore the woods to discover the painted rocks.

Mayor Darlene Norman says she never intended to upset so many people.

“On the times that I’ve walked through Pine Grove, I’ve never seen painted rocks,” said Norman. “I have seen plastic things on the forest floor bed, I’ve seen things nailed into trees and I’ve seen artificial stuff hanging from branches.”

Norman was concerned about the amount of artificial decorations taking away from people’s enjoyment of the natural environment in the park so she brought those concerns to region staff.

Tuesday, she was informed staff had cleaned out the decorations, including the hand-painted rocks during their sweep through Pine Grove.

“I said, you know, that stuff’s been removed, we should notify people so that it doesn’t continue. So we did the Facebook post up late, I think it might have been five o’clock, we sent it out and then it began,” said Norman.

A torrent of support for the painted rocks began to fill the post.

“I got home and I looked and I read. My stomach turned upside down and I recognized people’s names and I read their heartfelt messages about grandkids going, and you can’t get them out the door and how much fun they have and it went on and on and I thought, oh no, what have you done?” said Norman.

The mayor reached out to Dunlop-Stevenson to learn what the Queens County Rocks group was doing in Pine Grove, how much enjoyment people were getting out of the rocks and that Dunlop-Stevenson felt she was operating with the blessing of the previous council.

After a restless night of tossing and turning Norman says she got up early and headed into the office to make it right.

“I’ve hurt council. People are assuming this is another evil doing of the nasty Region of Queens. I thought it’s not fair. It’s not fair to them, it’s not fair to staff, I just need to do this video, apologize to people I’ve hurt, put my hand up and say, here is who started this,” said Norman.

The region posted a video Wednesday morning with the mayor issuing a public apology, explaining how the events unfolded and welcoming the painted rocks back into Pine Grove park.

Norman says going forward, the region would like to work with Dunlop-Stevenson’s group, and others who have a stake in the park.

The mayor would like to bring the talents of people throughout the community together to ensure everyone can enjoy Pine Grove.

Dunlop-Stevenson has accepted the mayor’s apology and is eager to work with the region of Queens to bring more events to the park.

“I see it all as a positive thing in the end because I think what people can learn from this is that little things that everybody enjoys, nobody ever talks about, so much.”

Norman says now that this has been resolved, she may get in on the fun.

“I may even paint some rocks ‘cause I love painting rocks and just put them in there,” said Norman. “No name on them, just put them in there on behalf of [Queens County] Rocks.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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