Experiencing an Old-Growth Forest: An Immersive Nature and Art Workshop for Environmental Educators

Environmental education seeks to develop an engaged and environmentally literate citizenry for a more equitable and sustainable future (NAAEE). Environmental art education is an interdisciplinary field which utilizes environmental education and art education practices. Addressing environmental issues through artmaking can expand learner understandings and emotional connections to the natural world, fostering environmental literacy. Exploring concepts from environmental education and art education, this capstone project uses the sense of wonder (Carson, 1956), the live creature (Dewey, 1934) and aesthetic empathy (Haskell, 2018) as a framework for study. This professional development workshop for environmental educators is designed to introduce environmental art education ideas through experiential learning in nature and art. After one month of background study on the environmental issue of deforestation, participants will spend a day in an old-growth forest followed by a day of collaborative creative reuse, building a cardboard tree sculpture inspired by the poem Unchopping a Tree (2014) by W. S. Merwin. Reflection, discussion and further study will culminate in the development of a lesson plan one month after the workshop