by Heawon Chun, Senior Art Teacher
As I gain more experience and perspective about teaching art and the needs of the students, I am consistently drawn to taking the students out into nature as a stimulus for creativity and empathy. In our fast-paced world of technology and the critical focus on our environment, it seemed only fitting to have our lessons in nature about nature.
The term “Environmental Art Education” is gaining traction as an interdisciplinary approach to teaching environmental issues through visual art. The aim is for students to have the experience and bond, much like a relationship, in building their stewardship as protectors of their environment.
Empathy means “to feel within”. It is the reaction of an individual to an object or living being as well as being an aesthetic experience. This strong bond makes art education an essential element in developing empathy towards environmental concerns. Nature provides an inspirational starting point for creativity and imagination.
Each year, the Grade 12 art students are given the Multimedia Site Specific Video as their first project. It is a Self Portrait video based on two trips to the Carbide Wilson Ruins in Gatineau Park. On our first trip, students are led through a series of guided sensory experiences, such as lying on the forest floor, walking barefoot, and being actively engaged to respond to what their senses are experiencing with their eyes closed and body still. Another activity is for the students to be present and actively observe and sketch their surroundings with watercolours. This initial trip is to document the site and experience the abundance of nature as inspiration.
Once back at school, the students have two weeks to brainstorm, research and develop their ideas drawn out on a storyboard. There are many discussions, reflections, and critiques on how they will integrate movement or dance, sound or music, words or texts, and technical video considerations such as iMovie, Final Cut Pro, or Procreate Apps.
For the second trip to the park, students prepare and pack costumes, props, tripods, special lights, cameras, microphones to eagerly board the Elmwood bus for a half-day of filming and creating. Again, students rely on the help of others to videotape to include themselves in the footage. After a hard day’s work, students are excited to watch and edit their videos on their bus ride home. Back at school, students have ten classes to make a 1-3 minute experimental video. The scale of this project seems daunting at first. Still, students quickly learn the strategies of managing and working on their projects independently, driven by the excitement of their vision and creation.
The Multimedia Project concerns nature, society, the earth, and the environment that reflect their relationship with the world. Therefore, it is helpful to enhance the ecological relationship in a more meaningful way and increase the awareness of nature. For the future, the vision of the art dept is to adopt and integrate a more holistic approach to curriculum to include environmental art education as a focus.
Below are photos of this year’s Grade 12 students working in the park and some exemplars of the finished products from previous years. It is a wonderful testament to the incredible work our students are capable of creating.
Students sample Multimedia Videos: