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• The focus of my fellowship is on a painting unit with my studio art juniors that introduces them to Plein Air painting on the banks of the Muddy River, and the keen observation and immersion that it requires, similar to that of a naturalist or scientist. 

 

• For my fellowship, I attended a painting class at MassArt New England and applied this learning to a painting unit that I teach at Boston Arts Academy.  During the class, our focus was on the techniques of paint mixing and the palette, along with practice in observation, brushwork, knife and composition.  Though the observation and composition were practice, the use of the palette and separate mixing palette were new to me and something that I am applying to my painting unit.  I was also able to practice using different palette knives for mixing, and feel clearer about how to convey that in my teaching practice.  Expanding my artistic skill allows me to apply new techniques to the classroom, improving student work and outcomes. With more skills, students are able to use their artistic voice more effectively.

 

In my classroom, my calendar works so that I have tenth graders second semester, and the same cohort in the first semester of their eleventh grade year.  Because of this, I have been scaffolding myself at the end of tenth grade with painting in the rose garden in the Fenway, looking at roses and introducing painting technique and brushwork through close observation of a rose.  Following this in my student's junior year, I continue having students use the Fenway as inspiration by working on a plein air painting series on the banks of the Muddy River, which has recently been restored by a joint effort with the Muddy River Restoration Project with invasive plants removed, and new native plants planted, such as joe pye weed and button bushes.  We noticed this change last year as we walked to and from the Museum of Fine Arts, and how a Great Blue Heron took up residence again in our neighborhood.

 

In class, we are meeting with a naturalist from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy  who will be talking to us about the cleanup efforts and the history of the Muddy River and its environment, drawing connections between the work and process of conservationists and landscape artists.

 

This expansion of the painting unit to include more outdoor painting and connecting to the immediate wild around us is an important antidote for students: being outdoors (and not passive–on their screens), understanding that there is wildness even in an urban setting and identifying the collective efforts to preserve that wild that affect them directly.  It is my hope that I can connect to the Environmental Science teacher at our school and collaborate on a lesson together, connecting the conservancy and the Muddy River to student’s study of the natural world.

 

In our painting unit, students make the plein air paintings as a series of studies that will inform their final landscape paintings, which include a pattern of symbols that represent them.  Plein air painting requires close and careful observation, and in that “flow” (as defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) students become one with both the work and their surroundings. I feel this new addition to the curriculum is extremely important as it roots students to place and encourages them to look for and tune into the natural world, consequently activating themselves in it as a result.  This is an important evolution in my curriculum and the overall Studio Arts curriculum as a whole; one that I would like to see continue, even after my time at Boston Arts Academy. 

 

We look at the work of Kay Walkingstick and her depiction of landscape and the use of Cherokee symbol identifier as a way to talk about indigenousness and stewardship of the land.  As most of us are not indigenous to this particular land, I introduce this idea as a way of connecting us to place–even an urban place–and its gifts and our responsibilities to it.  As Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass says:

 

“Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit. To become naturalized is to know that your ancestors lie in this ground. Here you will give your gifts and meet your responsibilities. To become naturalized is to live as if your children’s future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”

 

Students read an article about Kay Walkingstick and her artist statement, and are using her landscape and symbol motif as inspiration for their own painting compositions.  They also read excerpts from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass to understand the concept of being naturalized and connected to the natural world. They will then write an artist statement to talk about this juxtaposition in their painting.

 

As young adults and citizens of the world, I want my students to feel proactive and empowered to have a voice through their work.  It is important to me that students feel activated in their community and compelled to act as change agents for issues that come up in their community and world.  As future stewards of our world, I am charging them to think deeply about the land and their part in it, and through reading and writing, consider how they can become active as naturalized beings in this landscape, preserving it for generations to come.