Category: Uncategorized

 

I was hoping a walk in the woods would help me regain focus for steady, solid writing.  I think it is okay that I was inspired to paint instead.

 

A bit of paper glued down to another surface.  Collage is simply that, and so much more than that, at the same time.  I’ve certainly come to appreciate the vision and intricate work involved with collage through my ongoing collaboration with artist Zoe Langosy. More to report soon about our next collaboration for 2013.  Meanwhile …

* here’s a wonderful essay by artist Camille Martin writing about The Collaged Brain in Talking Writing Magazine

* here’s a vintage post highlighting an early collaboration with Zoe as she took simple branches and sea shell images and wove them into cloth.

* you can also read more about Zoe’s creative process in this interview.

 

Odd items, I suppose, a tiny scrapbook of family pictures, the remains of my first and probably last attempt at eating escargot and a blade of grass picked up on the way home.

Leaves on the ground at the Middlesex Fells.

drifting down

covering the mostly naked branches of trees in the Middlesex Fells

mostly naked I say because up high leaves still bathed in the fading light

until even that light disappeared and all that remained was a transient glimmer of gold in the air

and a dusting of dark rose upon the land

… butterflies in a mobile that a friend gave to me several years ago,

dried flowers disintegrating at a wonderfully slow pace,

oak leaves shining like jewels in a coronet,

and water dissipating on a window pane.

What IS the art of wrecking, you might be asking yourself? Well, let me tell you…I have been asking myself that very same question over the last couple of months–after stumbling upon Keri Smith’s “Wreck This Journal.” After browsing the pages at a bookstore, and later returning to purchase Smith’s “How to be an Explorer of the World” (another highly recommended buy!), I decided that the “wrecking” activities in Smith’s journals could be PERFECTLY applied to artful explorations in nature (and the art classroom in general)!

 

Many, if not most art teachers have some sort of sketchbook for their students. These are often used for practice sketches, free draw activities, and notes. What if, instead (or along WITH) these sketchbooks, students had a Wreckbook for explorations? Once a week (or more) students would be given a prompt for one or two pages in their Wreckbook. This could be used…

After a few months’ hiatus, I am back and ready to return to my artful explorations in nature! The first few months at a new school proved to take up much of my time and creative energy—leaving little left to put into my blog. So, thank you for sticking with me and not unsubscribing 🙂

And now, onto some fun new ideas! Oh–and before I forget to mention it–my blog has officially passed the one year mark–Exciting! And now, the fun stuff—

First I’d like to share with you a project that my fifth graders recently worked on, exploring the ways in which artist Ben Heine explores the world through his cartoon illustrations!

Here’s an example of Heine’s work:

My kids particularly liked his work involving animals, such as this example:

Below are a few of my students’ examples. For this project, they chose a landscape photograph (most from calendars)…

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the subject of our newest artful exploration in nature focuses around the concept of a research workbook. What is a research workbook? How could this possibly relate to artful explorations? Well, my dear readers, let’s find out together! The journey begins…now!

1. The first and most important step to beginning a research workbook is finding SOMETHING to transform into your research workbook! I was able to find one fairly easily, as I tend to collect sketchbooks and notebooks from various travels and not-so-distant adventures.

2. After establishing the space that will be your research work area, think of a broad topic that you want to explore! Since this blog focuses on artful explorations in NATURE, my topic will be just that…natural. As an artist and nature enthusiast, I always seem to be drawn to trees. They are so expressive and interesting in their variety…

I love to travel, but it feels good to be back home. 😉