Arboretum Summer Nature Camp 2014: 2014

On Monday morning in art class we made our very own SHADOW PUPPETS! This project was such a hit it turned into a two day activity!!!

Our classroom projector was the perfect light source for showing our creations off to the class and putting on original puppet shows!!!

Some puppets even had moving parts thanks to the innovative engineering skills of our counselors!

After an art history lesson and slide show on post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, we painted our own interpretations of "Starry Night".

Building messy, messy papier-mâché characters.

We just loved the look of the Chinese newspapers we used!

Classroom chaos!

Once our papier-mâché dried, it was time to paint. Thin layers allowed us to still see the Chinese characters for added interest.

One of our very favorite art activities at the Arboretum - NATURE INSTALLATIONS inspired by the amazing work of Scottish artist, Andy Goldsworthy. Campers learned the meaning of "ephemeral art", artwork that is fleeting, lasting for a brief time and is documented through photography. We discussed how Goldsworthy's installations are created using only organic materials he finds in the environment he is working in and how they change and deteriorate over time due to factors such as weather conditions, temperature changes and animal activities.

The prehistoric forest adjacent to Baldwin Lake is the perfect shady location for nature installations with plenty of materials to chose from and a gorgeous view of the famous Queen Anne Cottage, constructed between 1885 and 1886.

Paper Airplane Competition in Jenna's science class with runways and all!

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) at her home and studio in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

Last week I showed campers the work of Georgia O'Keeffe, an artist who has been deeply influential in my own work, specifically her bone, skull and antler themed paintings. I took this opportunity to show the kids images of my paintings in order to demonstrate to our budding artists how we can be inspired by artists, past and present, and encouraged them to interpret O'Keeffe's work in their own way. Bones especially intrigued O'Keeffe. She saw them as beautiful flowers of the desert and symbols of life. Much like O'Keeffe, I find my deepest artistic inspiration in the land, wildlife and culture of northern New Mexico. To share this passion with my students and give them more insight into O'Keeffe's work was a very meaningful and exciting experience.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Summer Days, 1936

"I have wanted to paint the desert, and I haven't known how. I always think that I can not stay with it long enough. So I brought home the bleached bones as my symbol of the desert. To me they are as beautiful as anything I know. To me they are strangely more living that the animals walking around -- hair, eyes, and all their tails switching. The bones seem to cut sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive in the desert even though it is vast and empty and untouchable -- and knows no kindness with all its beauty."

- Georgia O'Keeffe

Georgia O'Keefe

Deers Skull with Pedernal, 1936

"Sun-bleached bones were most wonderful against the blue - that blue that will always be there as it is now after all man's destruction is finished."

- Georgia O'Keeffe

Georgia O'Keeffe

From the Faraway, Nearby, 1938

Hilary Wootton

Extinction of the Schomburgk's Deer

www.hilarywootton.com

"I have picked flowers where I found them- have picked up sea shells and rocks and pieces of wood where there were sea shells and rocks and pieces of wood that I liked... When I found the beautiful white bones in the desert I picked them up and took them home too... I have used these things to say what is to me the wideness and wonder of the world as I live in it."

- Georgia O'Keeffe