This week the collaboration between science students and art students began. Two groups of students from Ms. Lebiszczak's class came to present their Warman water testing findings to my Art students. My students were interested in the results. As an observer, it occurred to me that the collaborative process that is beginning between the science and art class adds a sense of purpose to what is being learned and shared between groups. Having an audience matters and knowing that one science student's work has implications for an art student's work creates purpose and adds meaning to the learning process.
Yesterday we gathered our two groups together and the science students shared facts about water with my art students, who will now create acrylic artworks that express clear messages about water. These artworks will line Warman High School's hallway as an art exhibit and collectively communicate messages about water back to Warman High School's student population. Some of the artworks' messages will be literal; for example, raising awareness about the average Canadian's water consumption per day (329 litres); others will communicate a social justice narrative about water; for example, there are many boil water advisories today on reservations across Canada - access to water is not equal amongst Canadians (you can see a boil water advisory map of Canada here). Art students will be creating works in the style of Luba Lukova. When they are finished we will meet up with the science students one more time and together apply UV media to the artworks - the UV media allows students to further communicate their narratives, but only lights up under a blacklight which means viewers must interact with the art if they want the full experience and, in doing so, they become engaged in their own learnings. We finished yesterday's lesson by reading Joanne Robertson's picturebook The Water Walker, which is a true story about Josephine Mandarin, and Ojibway woman who loved Nibi (water) so much, she walked over 10,900 miles to raise awareness about the importance of it.
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AuthorSarah Gerrard teaches Visual Arts 9-12 at Warman High School. She recently received a grant from the Prairie Spirit Schools Foundation to infuse her courses with STEAM. Archives
January 2019
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