ArtRadius Saksala

international artist-in-residence program in rural Finland

Landmarks: Nature, Art, Schools
Nature Based Art Environments for Learning

Poetry of Earth – The Nature of Words

Common Ground: Community Biodiversity Gardens

Biodiversity Gardening: Crafting Nature
Biodiversity Week 2008

Pamela Whitaker works in Ireland as Groundswell and she would be interested in developing her work with children in two areas, as an outcome of the artist-in-residence period:

1. Family Art Retreats

An opportunity for families to work within forest settings in order to generate artworks for home based art galleries. Family Art Retreats, could develop occasions for families to work together as individual artists, collaborating with nature, to portray feelings, thoughts, and physical actions, in the making of art works on paper, and sculptural forms. Creative writing and the taking of photographs would also be encouraged to enhance the experience of families working in the forest together. I believe the idea of a family retreat links art therapy, with health, well-being, and community arts. The art mediums I foresee exploring are simple folded handmade books, relief prints, writing, drawing, and making small portable sculptural objects to be taken away or left within the forest. The children and families will not be ‘taught’ how to make their own art, but rather have an opportunity to explore materials and nature, and express their own experiences.

2. Nature Based Art Installations for Classrooms:

I will also use the residency to develop ideas for schools, particularly in the form of classroom nature-based art installations that encourage imaginative learning. This proposal is based on reviews of international research studies, which suggest that when children are in contact with nature a variety of social, intellectual and sensory skills are enhanced, which improve their capacity to learn more effectively. This part of the residency will be devoted to developing a model for teachers to replicate, so that children’s art could be made within a three-dimensional artistic area. Children could retreat into the imaginative and sensory qualities of this creative space, and hopefully experience its positively affects upon their learning potential.

Collon National School and Stephenstown Pond Children’s Gardening Project – Circles of Life

The Willow Dreamcatcher, Environmental Art Workshop

St. Brigid’s Festival, Gardening at Imbolc

I am Nature, I am Art
The Apple Tree Foundation, Roden House, Dundalk

A child in touch with nature, inspired an outdoor art studio and the creation of the "Hands of Earth Gallery" part of the Sticky Fingers Children's Festival in Ireland. The outdoor studio offered children and their parents an opportunity to work in a forest surrounded by mountains. Making contact with trees, moss and earth encouraged children to feel the life and growth of nature. These feelings were then used to make art filled with the vitality of the natural world.

Pamela Whitaker

Arts Council Finland

AllaprimA foundation the Netherlands

AREFS taide ja kulttuuri ry

copyright

zoeken

zomergasten

kunstenaars

omgeving

email

art links

HOME

search

summer­guests

artists

surroundings

email

links

privacy

etsi

kesävieraat

taiteilijat

ympäristö

email

support