I fell in love with Andy Goldsworthy's art work when I first saw it in a creativity class I attended some time ago. When he creates, he experiements with various natural materials, such as stone, grass, flower, feathers, snow and clay. Since his work is "mortal", he would use photography to capture them. In fact, the wearing away of the product is part of the projects.Many schools have included an "Andy Goldsworthy" unit in thier art curriculum; students are encouraged to create an art piece from natural materieals, like Goldworthy did. The process of gathering material is an important step; somtimes, it takes a long time for him to find the most appropriate size and colour pebble or feather to complete his art work. No matter how difficult, he insists to search for that perfect piece from nature, there is nothing artificial about his art work.
I think this is such a brilliant and environmental curriculum idea! Children can literally start creating from scratch; they come across the mortality of nature as they experience the creation process. I can't find any excuse to NOT start this at a young age - young children are natural nature-lovers, they may have better idea of where to find a missing piece.
Below is s a slideshow that documents a Goldsworthy art project prepared by a group of 6th grade students. It's a joy to watch them create works of art made of what they have found in their school's backyard! I hope you find it as inspiring as I do.
You may visit the MEET THE GREAT ARTISTS page to find out about other artists!
