SchoolArts - May/June 2011

artists were also able to make connections to spiral and concentric forms seen in everyday life, such as in snails, conch seashells, the human eye, or the center of a tree trunk.

Collecting as Preparation I asked students to gather natural materials on their own after school, around where they lived. I suggested looking for small objects such as twigs, pinecones, shells, leaves, petals, and pine needles, all of which needed to be small enough to fit into a quart-size plastic bag. I encouraged them to find materials that were on the ground rather than breaking them off from living plants. Students brought back their bags filled with natural objects, ready to make site-specific sculptures.

Creating Designs

We headed for the beach early one morning right after the park service groomed it, leaving us a pristine canvas. To start our activity, I gathered students and reviewed the forms they had seen in artworks by Goldsworthy and Smithson. I asked students to draw spirals or concentric lines into the sand, using their finger like a pencil. They used the objects from their bags to embellish their sand drawings.

I asked students about what would
happen if we left their artwork on the
beach. They responded, “The water
would come and take it away!” I shared
that this was a dilemma Goldsworthy
faced as an artist who made tempo-
rary artworks in nature. He had to
deal with wind, rain, snow, and ice,
all of which are temporary and chang-
ing. But this was what he loved about
working in nature. I then explained
that, to share his work with others,
Goldsworthy would take photographs
of it. He documented his forms so that
others could see his often temporary
artworks.

Documentation

We used our school’s digital cameras to document artworks. My husband, who is a teacher and photographer, shared some photography tips on site. He taught students how to focus their images before taking the picture and encouraged them to fill the frame. He demonstrated how to stand tall when taking their photos and to avoid what they didn’t want (such as their feet) in the photographs.

I printed out nametags for each student, and we included them in the photographs to identify each student’s work. Students took turns using the cameras to document their artworks. Once students had photographed their artworks, they picked up their objects and put them back into the bags. I then gathered the group on the beach once again to discuss what they had made.

Regan, kindergarten.

Andrew, kindergarten.

The following week I returned to the classroom with students’ photographs of their artworks. They were very excited and wanted to share their accomplishments with each other. We put their photographs on the board alongside images by Smithson and Goldsworthy. In looking at the work together, students were able to use new vocabulary to describe and create collaborations with nature or their everyday surroundings.

Alternative Locations Don’t teach near a beach? No problem! This lesson can be done in a sand box on the school playground, in grassy areas, or you can even bring nature into the classroom. I have worked with preschoolers to bring nature to them like Smithson did in some of his works. In one lesson, we used soda box trays filled with sand.

Aileen Pugliese Castro was a visual arts instructor at Arts Umbrella (teaching outreach at Lord Roberts Elementary School) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. aileen@aileenpcastro.com