Building a Community Art Garden: A Participatory Eco-Arts Based Educational Research Project

The purpose of this study is to explore how a community comes to understand their sense of place as they create a school art garden, and then consider their relationship to it, and to the natural world. Using qualitative arts-based methods of inquiry and A/r/tography, I weave and construct text and visual images, which portray human actions and experiences within the framework of Environmental Inquiry. As a participant, I also respond to the project through the creation of artwork. Rich community narratives and data analysis resulted in the following themes: Teaching and Learning; Activism; Connection to Nature; Health and Healing; Problems Facing Society; Food and Production; and Community. A discussion of the findings, along with recommendations for practice and research, complete the study. The discussion includes how to incorporate gardening into school communities, and how gardening assists with anxiety reduction and in developing positive life-long skills