By Emily Clark, Sonoran Joint Venture and Kristen Sawyer, Ironwood Tree Experience

Despite the trials and tribulations of the pandemic, the collaborative partnership between Ironwood Tree Experience and the Sonoran Joint Venture found a way to bring birding, nature, art, and experiential learning to communities across Tucson. Throughout the course of the Youth Outdoors Experience Program (YAC), over 300 youth and adults partook in activities that ranged from family nature days to bird watching outings, to creative writing and artistic expression. Participants practiced new skills, developed friendships, and gained experiences in environmental education, conservation, restoration, and sustainable community development. Events culminated in May of 2022 with Creativity on the Fly, which invited students to paint, write, and draw about their experiences in the program. With a focus on the intersections of humans and birds, Creativity on the Fly themes centered around migration and immigration, nests and homes, and relationships and community.

The exhibition was a culmination and celebration of the shared understandings and personal reflections from the program as well as their lived experiences. Students received “bird baskets” full of learning and art materials, as well as their own pair of binoculars as their parting gifts. Please enjoy these wonderful submissions from Creativity on the Fly, whose participants ranged in age from 12 to 20. To learn more about the YAC program, visit our past article. Please CLICK HERE, or on the images below to access our pdf portfolio of the submissions.