|
 |
Forest Narratives
unveils at Peninsula State Park |
High school students explore
environmental and public art
June 6, 2006
FISH CREEK, WI - "This
artwork represents all of us... we've worked really hard," says Calen Merrill, a junior at Kewaunee High School
and a contributor to the Forest Narratives Public Sculpture Project, which unveils with the opening of American Folklore Theatre on
Tuesday, June 13.
The Forest Narratives
installation, adjacent to the AFT stage at Peninsula State Park, is the culmination of a unique collaboration stemming
from an artist residency project held in May at Kewaunee High School.
Artist Jodi Brey worked with the students, introducing the idea of environmental art as a relevant contemporary
art form. Bob Bultman, a local landscaper and ecologist who focuses on habitat restoration, was brought into the
project as an environmental consultant and installation technician. Students visited several environmental art
sites in Door County, including a privately owned installation in Baileys Harbor that Brey and Bultman were commissioned
to create last fall.
Once introduced to the site at Peninsula State Park, a hush fell over the forty-five students involved, and a tumble
of brainstorming ensued.
"It was one of those moments that I live for in teaching," says KHS Art Teacher Jennifer Paris. "They
really grasped the importance of this project."
In the following days, the students created a series of sculptural works out of 75 feet of chicken wire (armature),
1000 feet of steel wire, and a horse trailer full of dogwood-natural materials that the students gathered themselves.
Four art classes were involved, using collaborative methods to design and assemble the piece.
The Forest Narratives
sculpture was designed by Brey, Paris and the students to reflect on the variety of narratives that take place
within Peninsula State Park. The structures honor their location adjacent to the stage of American Folklore Theatre,
and the associated narrative themes of the Theatre in the Woods. Three characters bend toward each other, interacting,
as do the onstage AFT characters. Additionally, the flame-like forms invite viewers to reflect on the culture of
storytelling around campfires - a daily happening among park campers.
Forest Narratives
is the brainchild of KHS Art Teacher Jennifer Paris and Jodi Brey. The two began a series of meetings in December,
2004, and secured funding for the residency through a grant from the Northeast Wisconsin Arts Council.
Brey had a prior working relationship with AFT Executive Director Kaye Christman, and approached her about doing
the installation at AFT.
For Brey, who had just been named the recipient of the Fred Alley Visionary Award, it was a way of expressing gratitude
for the award. More importantly, it was also a way for KHS students to have their work seen by thousands of people
in a professional setting, and a means for students to be introduced to professional live theater. Every student
participant received complimentary tickets to AFT.
| "The sculptures far exceed our vision," says AFT Executive
Director Kaye Christman. |
|
When it came to Peninsula State Park Brey explains, "Initially everyone said we couldn't do it. Too much
red tape and so forth," but the Forest Narratives project received nothing but immediate support from Superintendent Tom Blackwood.
While he contended that he, "couldn't imagine what it would look like", he was "only encouraging"
according to Brey.
Student and organizational collaboration, environmental education, and public art are at the heart of the Forest Narratives project, steered
by a learning vehicle called visual art. In the end, it was the collaborative art making process that had the most
profound effect on the students.
Forest Narratives,
which attests to the student collaboration and pride, may be seen at Peninsula State Park, across the path near
the concession stand at American Folklore Theatre. The installation will remain through the fall.
Jodi Brey
and Bob Bultman
will discuss their approach to the cross-pollination of visual art, environmental learning, and collaboration in
a series of pre-performance lectures at AFT on Friday,
June 30. Discussions will begin at 7 PM and continue
on the quarter-hour until 8 PM. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.
LINKS:
American Folklore Theatre
JodiBreyDesign.com
Kewaunee
High School
|
|
|
|
Door
County Weather
|
|
Artists and Galleries
Campgrounds
Churches
Food
and Drink
Government
Health
care
Learning
Lifelines
Local Movies
Lodging
Realtors
Spa
Therapy and Salons
Web
Miscellany
|
In the week following the residency, local TV picked
up two KHS stories involving unrelated negative behavior by two students - but they completely missed the Forest Narratives story, which tells about the collaboration among almost fifty students, a non-profit
arts organization and a state park. The story had been sent to every local station weeks prior.
The decision for local media to pick up stories that negatively defined the school, versus the story of community
and collaboration, prompted discussion in art classes about the media, and about how our world is defined by what
we see on TV and read in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet. Students took it upon themselves to contact
the media to express their discontent.
"This is a great place to live and to go to school. We are about more than what the media has portrayed us
to be" they state. |
|
|
|
