Into The Brush - Saving the Future of Wilderness One Stroke at a Time

Come up and stay with us for an Into The Brush art camp experience.  Learn the basics of painting plus become introduced or re-introduced to the joys of wilderness while staying in a nice, housekeeping cabin.  I think it's going to be a lot of fun for our new art students!  It'll also be an adventure and hopefully something that you'll want to do and share with friends and family for years to come!

Despite what the media says along zealot extremist environmental organizations, wilderness today is quite fine. It's doing well.  very little pollution if any is affecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. Wild animals are still running around. In some cases, it's a little TOO fine - meaning no humans are going to it anymore - it is not down to zero use but the number of humans seeking wilderness in northeastern Minnesota is tumbling.  Supposedly, there used to be 250,000 visitors per year to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the mid 90's. In 2013 the actual number is 114,000 participants and in 2014, it dropped to 97,000!  That is an alarmingly low number relative to the 250,000 back in the day.  We're still waiting for the government to release the 2015 numbers. I expect them to be lower and will post them when I get them. 

Don't you find it a shame that interest in the natural world is dwindling only to be replaced by the digital world and all of it's cheap distractions?  I know it bugs me and that is why I've started the Into The Brush art camp program. The "interest-in-wilderness-death-spiral" needs to stop.

We are going to save the FUTURE of wilderness, one stroke at a time.  Just think about that.  You go on an experience, paint some pretty cool stuff, go outside and play and have a really relaxing time at it.  You then go home,  & hang your cool painting on the wall.  Your friends want to know more about how it was that you did that, along with where was that beautiful place, and before you know it, you are telling the whole story about your Into The Brush adventure.  When they see that you could do it and had a blast, some of them might begin to turn a blinder eye to their electronic distractions.  Maybe they'll want to experience wilderness as well.  If everybody and his/her brother enjoys wilderness among the mature adults, what might the immature adults think?  Those are the ones who will be making the decisions of the future.  It's a lot harder to destroy a place that you like.  Observation + paint = fantastic experience.

If we don't get the word out to people who can think rationally today about the threat of "lack of public interest" for tomorrow, we are going to have a real problem.  Today's kids aren't going to care one bit if the water is drained from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to grow crops in the Heartland of the US where they are literally running out of water in 2016.  That is but only one disastrous possibility that will affect the wilderness of today if we don't get people back into the brush.

The only way to  actually save the future of wilderness is start re-introducing people to it.  Into The Brush seeks to expose students to bettering their observational skills, while applying basic painting skills using the surrounding wilderness of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for inspiration. It will be unique way to get back into the brush and see what one has been missing for all these years!

Find out more at our Northwind Lodge site:  Click Here