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Voices… from the Land Our school received a grant to participate in a very special Monarch Teacher Network project called "Voices from the Land". This is a project that is based on the eco-art of Andy Goldsworthy. This project combines art, poetry and technology. We have seen how Andy Goldsworthy's art connects art to nature and nature to art. We have also created eco-art of our own based on Goldsworthy's art. We will also write poetry reflecting on our eco-art experience and stay tuned for news of the book that will be published about our Voices project that parents will be able to purchase as keepsakes of our year in 5th grade. The book below was done by Marcos Garcia, my Mexican guide and dear friend. He visited la Escuela Telesecondaria No 296 in Zinacantan, in the state of Chiapas Mexico. The students and teachers are all Mayan. They used very colorful natural elements for their artwork and then wrote their poetry in Spanish and Mayan. It is truly an incredible book and it is the book that we received from Mexico, and ours was sent to them.
The inspiration for Voices… from the Land comes from the work of Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy. His preferred studio is the outdoors, especially where water flows, rises and retreats. Goldsworthy explores and uses natural surroundings and natural (found) materials to create sculptures and art in the outdoors. The sculptures appear natural but are often in stark contrast with their surroundings. Form and color are closely worked to produce ephemeral art, with materials arranged from large to small, dark to light, in cones, arcs, domes, towers, etc. Materials used include leaves, grass, stones, wood, sand, clay, ice, snow, icicles, twigs, thorns, mud, flowers and flower petals, pine cones etc. Seasons and weather determine the materials, subject matter and projects. Goldsworthy uses bare hands, feet and natural tools to prepare and arrange materials. His sculptures may last a season, a few weeks, a few days, a day or less. Ultimately the materials return to their natural state, leaving no trace of the artwork’s existence. He documents and captures the essence of these transient creations with photography. Goldsworthy reorganizes nature into forms which draw us to examine and discover the simple miracles of nature, connecting art with “the energy that is running through… flowing through… the landscape”. His work explores the fragile relationship between man, nature, art and the passage of time. It shows that humans have some ability to control nature, but in the end, nature controls us. By embracing the ephemeral, Goldsworthy embraces life. In his own words: “Each work grows, stays, decays… integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its height, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image.” “You must have something new in a landscape as well as something old, something that’s dying and something that’s being born.” “Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I tap through my work.” “My sculptures can last for days or a few seconds - what is important to me is the experience of making. I leave all my work outside and often return to watch it decay.” “I have worked directly with trees and stones in an attempt to tap into the life and energy contained within them.” “You feel as if you’ve touched the heart of the place. That’s a way of understanding. Seeing something you never saw before, that was always there but you were blind to it.”
Mr. Szuszkowski's Class
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