Young Nature Artists Emerge

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by Melinda Tuhus | Jan 30, 2007 3:22 pm

(2) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Environment

structure%20and%20four.JPG What could have been so exciting to these participants on a New Haven Inner City Outings trip that they insisted on staying outdoors for more than two hours (when the wind-chill temperature was 13 degrees) busily collecting sticks, stones and pine cones?

p(clear). Ten girls from Farnam Neighborhood House in Fair Haven and four adult volunteers began their day-long trip one recent Saturday on the coldest day of the year so far with a two-hour workshop on animal tracking.

p(clear). tom%20p.JPG East Rock Park naturalist Tom Parlapiano (pictured) held their interest as they conducted various N.S.I.‘s (nature scene investigations) indoors, then led the group on an expedition through the park to identify tracks in the “wild.” They learned lots of other things along the way, like which animals lives near the river and that the roots of trees spread out underground about as far as the branches do overhead.

p(clear). After warming up during an indoor lunch, the group headed off to Quinnipiac University in Hamden. There, in a lovely pine grove separating two parts of the campus, is a collection of “nature art”—constructions made of rocks, sticks, cones and other natural materials put together in beautiful and interesting ways. It was the final exam in an art class several years ago, and the ICO leader (yours truly) had been wanting to take a group there for a very long time.

p(clear). The girls got the concept immediately and set to work in teams of between two and five, with the enthusiastic participation of the adults on the trip, to create their own masterpieces. Five of the girls refused to take a single warm-up break and kept expanding their project. The final result appears at the top of this story, along with the artists Jazmine, Crystal, volunteer Claire Davis, and Nicole.

p(clear). selinnette%20and%20rocks.JPG And here’s Selinnette’s description of her creation: The three rocks in the small circle are the babies, and the big circle marked by other rocks is what protects the babies.

p(clear). This pine cone and pine needle “flower” is the result of Nilda’s continued efforts to bring to fruition the exact concept she had inside her head. (She’s on the right in photo, with help from Bianca, left, and Edaisha, center.)

p(clear). jessica%27s%20group.JPG Here’s another tipi-like structure, but the special feature here is the circle of white stones inside the circle of larger rocks. Creators are Jocelyn, Bianca and trip co-leader Jessica Rostow.

p(clear). It wasn’t just an exercise in creativity but in cooperation as well. “Each group worked together, generating ideas, making decisions and modifying them, as necessary, and that ultimately culminated in their masterpiece(s) of nature art,” wrote new ICO volunteer Christine Castles in her trip report. Click here to learn much more about both the tracking workshop and the art project.

p(clear). As a testament to the interest and toughness of these girls, ages 8 to 11, after spending most of the day outside in the freezing cold, several of them still wanted to hike up to the castle atop Sleeping Giant State Park, next door to Quinnipiac. The freezing leaders had to convince them that would have to wait for another trip.

p(clear). Anyone interested in volunteering with ICO or signing up your youth group for a future collaboration, please e-mail here.

Comments

posted by: Cedar Hill Resident on January 30, 2007 3:59pm

Yaaa I love this!!!!! We have East and West Rock right here in New Haven tooo. It would be a great thing to see these works of art along the trails that are so vastly used. I may try to use this idea with my area kids and our greenspace group.

posted by: Fair Haven resident on January 31, 2007 10:22am

This was such a lovely experience for these girls. They kept on talking about what they learned all day long. Thank you for this opportunity. They can’t wait for the next one to come!

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