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Original article posted on The Temiskaming Speaker (Diane Johnston): https:\/\/speaker.northernontario.ca\/youth-leaving-their-mark\/\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Carter Antila Memorial Skate Park is now a hub for artists, whether on wheels or using spray paint. With a rider perfecting tricks in the park, Kasey Emmons-Burnett tried her hand at graffiti art on one of two plywood walls that have been installed overlooking the venue. (Staff photo by Diane Johnston)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TEMISKAMING SHORES<\/strong> \u2013 Graffiti has been reviled as vandalism, and it\u2019s been celebrated as public art.<\/p>\n Now, young people have a dedicated space at the Carter Antila Memorial Skate Park to make their mark in spray paint.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re incredibly excited to see what people come up with,\u201d said Jasmine Reil, fundraiser at the Temiskaming Art Gallery.<\/p>\n The gallery\u2019s proposal for a graffiti wall was among 28 successful applicants for a Planet Youth Timiskaming grant.<\/p>\n Planet Youth is a district-wide, multifaceted initiative dedicated to preventing substance use among young people and, in its words, \u201ccreating safe and inclusive spaces for youth to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n It launched a Youth Activity Fund and invited ideas to increase fun, engaging activities for the district\u2019s young people.<\/p>\n When the gallery heard of the fund, Reil said members began brainstorming how to engage youth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about graffiti walls? That\u2019s art, but it\u2019s still kind of youth-centric,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She described the skate park in Algonquin Regiment Memorial Beach Park in New Liskeard as the \u201cperfect\u201d location.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve already got people skateboarding, having fun here. Graffiti just really goes along with that aesthetic.\u201d<\/p>\n Two sturdy plywood panels were erected at the skate park.<\/p>\n On August 5, representatives of the gallery and Planet Youth showed up with pizza and cans of spray paint. The curious could draw inspiration from some instructional videos on spray-paint art, or they could just give it a try.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really bad at painting,\u201d said Kasey Emmons-Burnett of New Liskeard with a laugh.<\/p>\n But she painted some cat-themed images, and continued to embellish them.<\/p>\n Kyle Larochelle recently moved to Temiskaming Shores and, seeing the activity at the park, checked it out.<\/p>\n When he was offered a can of spray paint, \u201cI said, \u2018sure, let me try.’\u201d<\/p>\n He has done some work in the visual arts, but graffiti \u201cis definitely a different ballgame.\u201d<\/p>\n Hand movements must be \u201cmore fluid\u201d to get the effect you want, said Larochelle as he eyed a couple of stylized Pok\u00e9mon-inspired figures he\u2019d added to one wall.<\/p>\n The goal of the Youth Activity Fund \u201cwas to get more things going on for youth to help them connect to their community,\u201d said Erika Aelterman, a public health promoter with Northeastern Public Health and a lead with Planet Youth Timiskaming.<\/p>\n The community offers sports activities for youth, she said, but there could be more in the arts.<\/p>\n The graffiti project offers a space where youth can create, with intention and structure, said Archana Velu, also a public health promoter and lead with Planet Youth.<\/p>\n It\u2019s helping young people create something in the community that they\u2019re proud of, she said.<\/p>\n The walls are expected to be permanent, but the artwork won\u2019t be.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely encourage people to have fun with it. Every so often we\u2019ll paint over, start fresh,\u201d Reil said.<\/p>\n There are no rules, but inappropriate language and imagery are not allowed.<\/p>\n Graffiti artists can paint on the walls at any time the park is open, using their own supplies.<\/p>\n The art gallery will have staff and spray paint on site for a couple of hours every week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also hoping that, because there\u2019s a dedicated location for spray-painting and graffiti, it would encourage people to come here to do it rather than tagging businesses and telephone poles and stuff downtown,\u201d Reil said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Original article posted on The Temiskaming Speaker (Diane Johnston): https:\/\/speaker.northernontario.ca\/youth-leaving-their-mark\/\u00a0 The Carter Antila Memorial Skate Park is now a hub for artists, whether on wheels or using spray paint. With a rider perfecting tricks in the park, Kasey Emmons-Burnett tried … En savoir plus<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![](\"https:\/\/speaker.northernontario.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/TS-graffiti-wall-1.au_.13.jpg\")
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