Uncommon Common Art Education

Environmental art education as part of the annual Uncommon Common Art (UCA) project. UCA

works with area school to promote outdoor activity and visual art.

Part of the discussion should center around what is ephemeral and the idea of leaving the artwork

behind for others to discover or for the natural elements to disassemble. Discussions may go

further into the idea that many things are temporary and that sometimes art is about the making

and not the finished product. Also the idea of giving selflessly to the community.

Before heading outside decide what you will be gathering as your materials and what you will be

doing with those materials. It is suggested that you do not gather everything but choose one or

two things, for example just red leaves or just sticks. What you gather may be dictated by what

you decide to make.

Encourage students to make something that is found in the natural world not commercial icons

such as smily faces. Remind students that this is a group project and cooperation is a key

component.

Once you are outside gathering materials encourage the students to examine the leaves, sticks,

pine cones, etc. to chose carefully these are your art materials. Depending on the age of the

students you may have them work on the project in shifts,

Bring a camera and document the gathering of materials the progress of the build and the final

project. The photographs are the only thing you get to keep.

You will find curriculum outcomes for art, science, health, and physical education. Some

unexpected outcomes may be found in your math and social studies curriculums.

Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens ~ Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens

Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, native plants, gardening, ecological gardening

The Irving Gardens is an important partner in the Uncommon Common Art project. The

Gardens has been both a supporter and host of our installations since the beginning in 2008; as

well as the location for our increasingly popular children’s camps. The Irving Gardens provides

both a learning experience and a gallery for the children’s environmental art installations.

Thanks to generous support from the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and

Heritage, Uncommon Common Art was able to lead an environmental art project with every

classroom at Wolfville School.

The public school in the small community of Wolfville, Nova Scotia is fortunate to house both

the elementary and middle school under one roof. This fall UCA founder Terry Drahos worked

with every classroom from Primary to grade 8 in creating environmental art installations at the

Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens.

The Irving Gardens is just a short walk across the Acadia University campus and each classroom

was lead on a walking field trip through campus to the gardens. Along the way the students

gathered sticks, leaves or rocks to use in their class’s installation. While at the Irving Gardens

they met up with horticulturist Melanie Preisnitz. Melanie talked about the Irving Gardens and

explained to the children why and how the leaves change colours.

The following are photos of all of the classes installations

The work, more work, and the final art piece.

Ms. Sheffield’s grade 7 class worked seamlessly as a team to create this giant sunflower using

yellow leaves gradating to orange near the pine cone centre. Their design took full advantage of

both the colours and textures of the natural found materials.

The work, the fun, and the final art piece.

On the last day of this two week project the kids are still coming up with great ideas on how to

celebrate the local environment. Ms. Rushton’s grade 7 class made this beautiful able from red

leaves. Nothing could be more appropriate for the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.

The work, the design team and the finished project.

Ideating in the classroom Ms. MacDonald’s grade 8 came up with the idea to make a tree out of

fallen branches and leaves. Working as a team to gather both sticks and leaves the group built a

well thought out homage to the beautiful Acadian forest which defines the Nova Scotia

landscape.

As you can see by the photos this class worked hard and played hard all at the same time.

Ms. Fulton’s grade 8 class took an natural yet patriotic theme with their installation. Using the

image of the Canadian flag on their iPhones students recreated the iconic maple leaf and then

filled it with mostly red maple leaves (there are some red ivy leaves in there too). The large red

maple leaf decorated the quiet lawn of the Irving Gardens for a few days until the winds swept it

away.

The work and the final art piece. Note, it was crazy hair day at Wolfville School so their are a

few unique hairdos in some of the photos.

It was also windy the day Ms. MacDonald’s grade 7 class made their installation, so they wisely

chose rocks for their medium. Hiking up to the woodland trail just south of the Irving Gardens

the students used their muscles to pile rocks into a yin yang symbol.

The work, the wind, time with Melanie hearing about changing leaves, and a portion of the final

piece before it blew away.

Ms. Kennie’s grade 6 class battled the wind the day of their installation. They took on an

ambitious project of creating a continuous line of leaves across the great lawn at the Irving

Garden. Divided into three groups they fought the wind working from each end and the middle

trying to connect the line before it all blew away. Their installation was truly ephemeral not

lasting long enough to get a group photo with the artwork.

The fun, time with Melanie learning about plants and the garden, the work and the final piece.

Basic Color Theory

Colour theory encompasses a multitude of definitions, concepts and design applications.

Ms. O’Malley’s grade 6 class has a lot of talented artists. They worked beautifully as a group to

create this giant red spiral. Before leaving the classroom the group decided that high contrast

would have the best impact, choosing to gather red leaves to be displayed on a bright green

background.

The work, the fun and the final giant leaf.

Ms. MacLeod’s grade 5 created a giant leaf from leaves. This class did an amazing job of

gathering thousands of yellow leaves to make one big installation. They worked diligently as a

group to slowly fill in their creation.

The work, the fun and the Fibonacci installation.

Fibonacci Sequence

Mr. Belliveau’s class inadvertently created an installation that reflects the Fibonacci sequence

that is found throughout nature. The students were asked to gather sticks of all lengths. When

they reached the location for their installation the children sorted the sticks by length. once

sorted they arranged the sticks in a spiral with the shortest sticks in the middle graduating to the

longest sticks on the outside.

The work, the fun and a star is born.

Ms. Brown’s grade 3 class created a giant star our of yellow leaves. It was a challenging

installation because the wind was working against us. The children choose a perfect spot

sheltered from the wind and with a dark background to contrast the yellow leaves.

stop 6

The work, some fun, exploring UCA installation 6 by Jessica Winton, and the final installation.

A natural path was created by Mr. Pinch’s grade 2 class. The children gathered sticks of all

lengths and widths. Then working as a team laid the sticks end to end to form a single line that

wound through the grove of trees that stand on the north lawn of the Irving Centre.

The work, the fun and the results.

We divided Ms. MacNeil’s

grade 1 class into three groups -

yellow, orange, and red, with

the criteria of gathering those

coloured leaves. The class

worked in their groups

carefully arranging their

brightly coloured leaves to

form a beautiful medallion in

the walled garden of the Irving

Centre.

The work, the fun and the results.

Round and round, Ms. Carey’s grade primary and grade 1 class gathered sticks to decorate the

two small Maple trees on the great lawn of the Irving Gardens. The arrangement of sticks looks

either like an elaborate root system or a wagon wheel.

The work in progress, some fun and games, and the final project.

From small to large, Ms. Moore’s

primary class gathered sticks of all

sizes and widths. The children then

sorted them by length to make an

installation that is reminiscent of a

xylophone. Just a happy coincident

that the children are working on

sorting in math class.