Giving Compass' Take:

• Students from Interlochen Arts Academy transformed their pine tree plantation into two art installations demonstrating a blended learning practice using ecological systems and creative arts education.

• How is this form of learning-- experiencing lessons through art and nature-- powerful for young people?

• Read about Tinkergarten, which developed an outdoor-based curriculum for kindergarten students. 

On May 9th, high school students from Interlochen Arts Academy and California artists Daniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien unveiled two large art installations created within the pine tree plantation on Interlochen’s campus in Northern Michigan.

McCormick and O’Brien, who collaborate on ecological art installations that respond to environmental issues many communities face, worked with Interlochen teachers and students throughout the school year on a curriculum for visual artists and math/science students called “The Art of Ecology” and “The Ecology of Art.”

The artists helped the students understand critical environmental issues from an aesthetic point-of-view, as they addressed the desired characteristics of a healthy forest versus the monoculture of a tree plantation.

“The students not only learned about biodiversity and the critical importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems,” noted Mary Ellen Newport, Director of R.B. Annis Math & Science Division at Interlochen, “but also how to express complicated issues through art. Experiencing the forest firsthand, helped the students understand the role art can play in raising awareness of actions needed.”

Read the full article about arts and environmental education at TriplePundit