Fighting Eco-phobia with Bug Art

It seems most people have a bit of eco-phobia when it comes to bugs. Rarely do you come across a person that is completely enamored with our insect neighbors. This is the time of year where they are much more prevalent, especially after our recent wet spring.

I often get the occasional scream when a bee flies near Outside Art class. I try to encourage my young art students to carefully study them. Once in observation mode, all fear subsides. Students soon realize that the bee is uninterested in them and somewhat stupefied by the pollen they are collecting. Students can then really notice their amazing and aesthetic qualities.

Insects are truly beautiful with their iridescent colors, bright colors and fuzzy abdomens. Even the common housefly has the most gorgeous glimmer of iridescent green.

What is Sumi-e Painting?

Sumi-e is the Japanese term for a black ink and wash style of painting that developed in China during the Sung dynasty. (960-1274) It was developed and popularized further by a sect of monks called the Chan. The Chan were influenced by the Chinese folk religion of Taoism, which emphasizes simplicity and harmony with nature. Sumi-e was brought to Japan by Buddhist monks in the mid-14th century and highly embraced and expanded upon by the Zen tradition. Japanese sumi-e painting tends to push the limits of the art form in its vivacious brushstrokes and can be almost expressionistic in nature.

          

In an old Chinese legend, an artist named Zhang Seng You 張僧繇 was asked to paint a mural in a temple. He painted several dragons but left out the pupils from their eyes. The Abbot asked him why. Zhang explained that if he painted the pupils, the dragons would come alive. When the Abbot insisted, Zhang proceeded to paint the dragons’ eyes. As soon as he finished the pupils on one of the dragons, it roared to life and flew away in a thunderous flash of lightning!

This story embodies the philosophy of Oriental sumi-e. The goal is not simply to reproduce the appearance of the subject, but to capture its soul. To paint a horse, the sumi-e artist must understand its temperament better than its muscles and bones. To paint a flower, there is no need to perfectly match its petals and colors, but it is essential to convey its liveliness and fragrance. Oriental sumi-e may be regarded as an earliest form of impressionistic art that captures the unseen.

In its process and overall aesthetic, Sumi-e emulates the revered qualities of nature, such as contrast, harmony, vitality and simplicity. The art of brush painting, aims to depict the spirit, rather than the semblance of the object. In creating a picture the artist must grasp the spirit of the subject. Sumi-e attempts to capture the Chi or "life spirit" of the subject, painting in the language of the spirit

I love to teach sumi-e painting  to children and non-artists. The simplicity and ease of the media and serenity of the process always promises a rewarding experience for everyone. Go to my website at http://outsideartlessons.com/artwrkforadults.aspx or http://outsideartlessons.com/artwrhshpkids.aspx to see the next sumi-e painting class time. I try to offer them at least once a month.

 
(bottom: painted by Megan, 6 years, top: painted by Morgan, 10 years)
 

The Muse and Mystery of Flowers

Why are flowers so beautiful to us? They are designed to attract pollinators for reproduction, yet they attract us with their beautiful colors, shapes, patterns and smells. It seems that since we do not benefit the flower, it would not diplay elements that are so attractive to our senses. Artists throughout history have been inspired by the beauty of flowers. What artist has not attempted to capture the beauty of this spectacle of nature?

(images from a flower painting I was commissioned to do last spring.)

I teach flower painting throughout the spring and summer. The images to the right are flowers painted in watercolors by young artists named Claire and Drew in the Fun Flower painting class at Pickering Creek Audubon. To see more flower paintings from that class go to: http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=293410

Go to my website to find the next flower painting class or call to schedule one. I am planning to offer workshops at many of the beautiful gardens of the Talbot County Garden Club this summer.   http://outsideartlessons.com/artwrhshpkids.aspx

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Why Take Children Outside to Create Art?

In this day and age, there is an ever-pressing need to connect children to the natural world and art. Children today spend less time outside, and have limited or nonexistent art instruction in the classroom. These concerning trends contribute to growing problems of “nature deficit disorder”, and “biophobia”, as well as visual and environmental illiteracy. Children today can name multiple corporate brand names, but can barely acknowledge the art around them or identify the plants, and trees in their region. According to a Kaiser Foundation study, children also spend an average of 6.5 hours a day in front of electronic media while the National Park systems state that family attendance to state parks and national forests is in decline. Even recent legislation such as the No Child Left Inside Act, and in my home state of Maryland, Governor O'Malley's Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights seek to improve the lacking nature-connection in U.S. schoolchildren.

Children are the future stewards of our natural resources, and the future patrons of the arts. Figuratively speaking, they are the artists that will create the environment of the future. We cannot afford to graduate generations of children who are ignorant about the environment, and the arts. Because of this, it is essential that they establish primary meaningful connections to, and comprehensions of, art and the environment. Educators, child-care professionals and parents must strive to fill these deficiencies in environmental and art education by introducing children to the beauty, importance and functions of both nature and art.

Nature is an inspiring classroom for all ages, providing a peaceful environment which is conducive to creativity and discovery. It is also an excellent sensorial muse by which the elements, principals and expressiveness of art can be exemplified. Art creation itself allows for a higher-level cognitive, affective and psycho-motor domain attainments from Blooms taxonomy of learning, while increasing neural activity and intellectual growth in children. The study of nature through art allows the “student-artist” to experience, observe, value, analyze, synthesize and express his/her understanding of, and relationship to, nature and the environment. The examination of nature through artistic processes has been a constant in the development of artists and scientists throughout culture and history. From the ancient painters of the Lascaux caves, to the artists of the Renaissance and to the modern day artists, nature has inspired man to create in order to understand, and praise its wonders. As the great painter Francisco Goya explained, “I have had three masters, Nature, Velasquez, and Rembrandt.”

So, take the young people you know outside, give them a sketchbook and some pencils,  or send them on a nature scavenger hunt and have them draw or assemble their findings into a sculpture. Pull them away from their media devices and encourage them experience the natural world with all of their senses and respond to, as well as express their experience in a creative way.