Art for the sky.

A series of giant "sky salmon," recently formed by children on the fields of several elementary schools in Oregon and Washington, have a lineage that can be traced back at least a thousand years. On the parched desert plains of Peru and California, giant hummingbirds, whales, and geometric figures can still be seen etched upon the Earth. Why did the ancients create these geomorphs (drawings upon the Earth) that only make sense when viewed from the vantage point of clouds and eagles? Why pursue this art form today?

Last spring, in Bend, Oregon, 600 students and staff of Jewell Elementary School created a "human pointillist" version of this ancient art by forming a 200-foot salmon on their athletic field. Dressed in red and blue t-shirts sporting the leaping salmon design, students poured out of their classrooms onto the field like paint upon an empty canvas. This was the fourth day of my "Art for the Sky" artist in residency here, and fourth "sky salmon" elementary school project. As I watched the great fish take form below my perch high atop a bucket truck, I marveled at the tribal energy almost palpable down on the field as the children and teachers slowly came together as one.

Perhaps the ancients did their earth art as a way to create unity among themselves and with Earth. No one really knows. Whatever the reason, their images lasted hundreds of years, while our salmon, and other future animals I hope to create with schools, would only last an hour or so. Impossible to purchase, collect or display on walls, "Art for the Sky" bestows a powerful lesson on viewers and participants about the importance of embracing impermanence and relinquishing our attachments to things. Everything changes. Nothing lasts. "A good reason to appreciate every single moment of our lives," I tell the children.

Earlier that day a dozen third and fourth graders helped me arrange two years' worth of the school's lost-and-found-clothing into the shape of a compass rose in the center of the salmon and to highlight lines on the fish's face. In previous projects, colorful fall leaves and recycled cans were used for this effect, but I liked the extra-personal touch of using the children's lost clothing.

The janitor brought out a huge ladder and the children took turns going to the top to get a bit of the eagle's-eye view of their creation. During the interactive slide shows that I gave each morning that examined the ancient and modern history of this art form, I explained the importance of "getting above" our problems and seeing them with the eyes of a passing bird. "Putting on imaginary wings and seeing things from the sky, we can better see other people's points of view and various factors affecting our problems. Using our "eagle eyes" we can more easily find creative solutions than if we just stay on the ground."

"It helps to imagine looking down from above while painting the salmon on the grass," I explained to two fifth grade girls who helped me grid out the field during my first day at the school. We enlarged our salmon template of 1" (2.54 cm) squares into 16' (4.88 m) squares with a flag at every point.

During recess, children were encouraged to walk the salmon and try to make sense of the image upon the ground. Some teachers cleverly took the salmon template and assigned each student a separate 1" square to enlarge by drawing freehand, into a 7" (18 cm) square. All the resulting squares were assembled on the wall in the proper order making an extremely creative and fascinating classroom sky salmon!

As I watched the children and teachers line up excitedly in their appropriate places, I marveled at the extraordinary beauty of the salmon as the color began to breathe it into motion below me. Two small children, one dressed in black, the other in white, curled up inside a circle of black, white and yellow clothing to become the salmon's eye. Two red-tailed hawks circled above for awhile as the lines of the big salmon danced and shook until the principal gave the signal to lean forward in order to present the largest amount of color to the sky and the camera. Up and down they went as I took photographs from different angles. I reflected back a few months to the shots I took from a helicopter over another school in Canby, Oregon.

Hovering above the field I watched as the salmon came "undone" as the red, blue and white colored kids left the field. It was an apt metaphor for the wild salmon that are disappearing from Northwest rivers.

My ears are still ringing from the screams of joy from all the children as I shared the resulting slides with them during an assembly the next day. I made the mistake of asking them to judge with their cheers, the best one to enlarge for the school for a permanent display. It was solid pandemonium when their eagle-eyed view of the salmon became a reality!

For more information about art for the sky visit:

www.zerocircles.com/artforthesky .htm

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art.

Daniel Dancer is an artist living in Mosier, Oregon. He has worked with communities from Alaska to Alabama to create art upon the earth. [e-mail]