December 2007- June 2008
Moultonborough Central School
Exploring Climates
A long term collaborative classroom installation that involves students in the differences between warm climate habitats and cold climate habitats. Students will engage in several literacy-based activities and many group art making adventures as the space develops.

June 2007
Ashland Elementary School, Ashland
\Grades 6 & 7
Global Warming: What will you choose?
Students began with a discussion of global warming, following up their morning viewing of “An Inconvenient Truth”. The group then brainstormed specific strategies that individuals can do to help address the problem in small ways, and continued the discussion in small groups, creating advocacy posters for their school. The workshop continued outside where three large collaborative teams designed and constructed sculptures made from natural materials including planted white pine trees.

June, 2007
The Community School, Tamworth
Grades 7-12
What is Eco Art?
During this three-week morning course, we explored the field of Eco Art, a branch of contemporary environmental art. The course centered around three main areas: academic discussion/research of Eco Art, hands-on application of several types of Eco Art, and the creation of a collaborative artwork. The course included field trips to The Loon Center and my outdoor studio/ sculpture garden.

We spent time examining statements and artwork by artists currently working in this field, and to take that investigation further, each student researched and reported on one artist- his/her artistic and/or environmental goal, the kind of art form the artist employs, the way in which she/he presents the artwork, and a particular artwork the student found interesting.

We created several individual and small group artworks, applying different facets of eco art including the use of natural materials, collaborative sculptures, researched advocacy projects on loons, drawing in nature, and site-based sculptures.

The largest portion of our time was spent on our collaborative public artwork. I think we all agreed that the dialogue and collaborative process took us to an end result we hadn’t expected at first, but one that made sense as it developed. From what several students reported at the end of the course, the project planning and the way it unfolded was both interesting and fun. We began with many environmental issues in mind, but as we talked, we found ourselves focusing on water issues, such as water consumption, water bottle recycling, acid rain, water filters, the politics of water, and the availability (or lack thereof) of water around the world. Our group process involved brainstorming environmental issues that touch Community School, discussing and sketching several versions of project outlines, locating an appropriate site for the artwork, researching information on water issues, designing the sculptural work and the experience of the artwork, drawing and re-drawing the project as it was refined further, weaving plastic, stapling plastic, building a waterfall made from 120 plastic water bottles, painting water facts onto large and small signs, digging a hole to represent a portion of the amount of water each person uses each day, and creating a short “infomercial” to highlight some of the issues. In the end, one of the hardest things for the group to decide on was the title. The project was so complex, with many issues and ideas, that it was hard to encapsulate it in a short phrase. In the end we settled on “Stream of Consciousness” which refers nicely to both the process of making the work and the water awareness we were hoping for.

July 2007
Amherst Street School, Nashua
Summer Program
Grades 1-5
Art Trail and Nature Scrapbooks
Each age group created sculptures from natural materials, sometimes building shelters for imagined animals, sometimes focusing on basic patterns and natural colors. As the works were completed, they were added to a cumulative indoor art trail, which totally transformed the classroom space. Students then constructed simple nature scrapbooks, adding small elements from the sculptures, combined with sketches of the animals and the sculptures themselves.

August 2007
Squam Lakes Science Center
Summer Program for children
Ages 6-10
Nature Scrapbooks
We began with a walk through parts of the Science Center, discussing and sketching animals, plants, and their environment. Arriving at Kirkwood gardens, students then created simple books combining their sketches, natural materials, and text.