Art and the natural environment: an overview.

The sunset lesson on pages 42-43 of this issue concludes the Art and the Natural Environment series that has run throughout this volume year. The series of nine lessons were presented under three basic environmental themes: Water, Land. and Sky. As you will see in the chart below, the curriculum includes more lessons and themes than were presented in SchoolArts this year. Two additional themes, Wildlife and Plant Life, complete the curriculum that I designed, and each theme includes five lessons.

The goals for this curriculum of five environmental themes ate increased artistic awareness, understanding and creativity, and expanded environmental awareness and involvement.

Art and Environmental Goals

I am passionate about landscape themes, and I paint the places I work to protect. My hope is to connect with others through art in a concern for our remaining world of wilderness, to share Rachel Carson's "sense of wonder," and to inspire students' aesthetic endeavors.

I initiated this interdisciplinary curriculum with both environmental and art goals to help students gain an awareness of California's San Joaquin River environment through art experiences. I worked to inspire student artists to create insightful images of the nature, history, and environmental issues of the riparian wilderness and wildlife.

Students learned about artists of water, wildlife, and plant life, and worked in the various media of pen, pencil, pastel, and watercolor. These young artists enlarged their perception of the river environment and celebrated that environment with their own creations, culminating in a museum exhibit. A weekend workshop for teachers was also conducted. The program was facilitated by a generous local grant with matching funds from participating schools.

As educators, we have an opportunity to teach our students about environmental awareness so that later generations can still see the beauty of a golden eagle in flight, feel awed before a giant sequoia tree, draw nature from observation, or paint their memory of a grand sky. There is so little time--the sky, air, water, and land on which we depend is being poisoned; forests are being logged; wilderness and wildlife ate being destroyed. This series helps teachers direct student awareness of our natural environment through art, learn about artists throughout time who have painted with a love of the natural world, discover their artwork, and express their own feelings about this little planet in a variety of art forms.

Many artists are working to restore balance in nature and alert public consciousness to a planet gone ecologically awry. Lessons include ideas for artist-teachers to expand their role to include a concern with restoring ecological balance. We can help students discover the natural world through this interdisciplinary curriculum, and offer ways to continue expressing the wonder of their own environment through art and community environmental involvement.

WEB LINK

Environmental awareness activities can be found at www.davisart.com/schoolarts.

More Lessons and Themes

Land

* Valleys

* Wetlands

* Desert

* Coast

Water

* rivers

* wetlands

* lakes

* waterfalls 

Sky/Air

* sunrise/sunset

* clouds/storm

* rain/fog/mist

* snow

Wildlife

* animals

* birds

* reptiles/amphibians

* insects/spiders

Plant Life

* trees

* flowers

* grasses

* shrubs

Heather Anderson is a former art teacher of Fresno. California.

Courtesy credits for selected images generously given throughout the series are due to: Billy Hassell (Cypress Stumps), Rollin Pickford (San Joaquin River Bluffs), Obata Family. Kim Harrington/Photographer (Lake Basin in the High Sierra), Jane Wilson and DC Moore Gallery NYC (Downpour). Much appreciation for editorial assistance is due to Phyllis Johnson.