Botanicals and Biomes
This was a remote learning activity completed during the first COVID 19 quarantine.
During the pandemic, students examined Rachelle Dang’s Socrates Sculpture Park Installation, Seed Box: Trees of New York, and learned about botany’s relationship to colonialism. Dang’s sculpture includes live trees and large sculpted seeds placed inside an 18th century seed case. These seed boxes propagated North American vegetation in Europe and visa-versa, transforming their respective ecologies and food production.
To start the unit, students researched the processing and geographic origin of a spice in their pantry. They were encouraged to select their favorite spice or one that had cultural significance. Afterwards, they used it as a mark-making material. Students viewed Carrie Moyer’s multilayered paintings to exemplify composing an image with different marks. The final project was completed with organic and traditional art materials.
For the second project, they drew a tree in their neighborhood or from a place that is important to them. Looking at archigram and other architectural designs, they created a dream treehouse to live in during quarantine. They were encouraged to think of unique shapes that might best house their favorite activities.
See a portion of the lesson here.
7th Grade, Organic materials and mixed Media on Paper. Pencil on Paper
