Teacher preparation:

Overarching learning goal: By participating in this activity students will experiment with developing and applying techniques when capturing art from natural objects. They will consider how to display artworks in an exhibition, and will understand and communicate the role that natural objects play in their local environment.

Teacher content information: If creating and looking at art helps you to explore the world, then it makes sense that artists would incorporate the natural environment into their art. Increasingly, environmental art is being explored as a way of interrogating human relationships with the natural world and as a way of improving our relationship with nature.

However, not all environmental art is about taking environmental action. Broadly speaking, environmental art can be broken down into several loose categories:

Art that describes the natural world;
Art that celebrates personal engagement in the natural world; and
Art that directly addresses environmental issues (sometimes known as ‘ecological art’ or eco-art’).

A lot of environmental art is ephemeral; it is made to disappear or transform, much like aspects of the natural environment. Alternatively it is designed with a particular place in mind. Increasingly, environmental art is a collaborative effort between artists, scientists, or the community.

Student and classroom organisation:

Step 1.

Begin this activity by explaining to students that they will be curating an exhibition of art produced by the trees at their school.

How do trees make art? The artist Tim Knowles created tree signatures by dipping the leaves of trees into paint and then placing a sheet of paper within reach of the branch. The wind then moves the branch and leaves its signature on the paper.

The images below come from the website of Tim Knowles:

Step 2.

The task for students is to capture the signatures of a range of plants and other natural objects at your school and then to display them in an exhibition with the theme of "Saving Local Biodiversity".

In capturing the art students will need to:

Consider how to get the signature of natural objects (dipping leaves in paint, rolling painted pebbles across paper, dipping feathers or flower petals in paint etc); and
Record the name of the natural object on each artwork.

In creating the exhibition students will need to:

Consider how to display each signature (will you include a photo of the natural object alongside the signature, as Tim Knowles has done?);
Explain why this natural object is important to the local environment and the exhibition; and
Provide information on helping local biodiversity (exhibition guide or posters).

Step 3.

Capture the art and curate the exhibition!

Closing activity

Ask students to reflect upon the process of capturing the art and curating the exhibition using the questions on the student worksheet.

Autographs From Nature

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