Project Description

The below example uses the Creating ephemeral art lesson plan.

Inspiration for activities – dLAB Art in the environment

Land art – Working in the forest inspired by the landscape and the works of Andy Golsworthy.

Prior to this lesson students watch ‘Rivers and tides’ a wonderful documentary on the life and work of Andy Goldsworthy.

In the forest we first walk for 20 min and look, feel, taste and smell the woods.

We look at more work of Andy Golsworthy. We focus on the shapes of the work  (circles, spirals, arcades,….) and talk about the symbolic meaning of these shapes.

Each student looks for an interesting place in the forest to work (students can also work in pairs).

They can only use materials they find in the forest and are recommended to listen to the materials and make a shape.  While working some give meaning to their work. I encourage students not to think to much but to feel and let the materials guide them.

We work for at least one hour.

When everybody is ready we walk through the forest and watch all the art works. The viewers can tell what they feel when looking at the art work. The artists can talk about the process and the meaning of the work.

Since the art works are fragile and volatile everything is photographed.

The students take the photos with iPads. Some of the students make a photo collage with the app Piccolage. The other group makes a movie or trailer with iMovie.