Earth Art at Central Park

Yesterday, my students from the Beekman School and I went on a quest for twigs and branches in Central Park. Equipped with large black plastic bags and umbrellas, we scoured the area looking for a variety of natural objects with which to construct a sculpture inspired by the work of Deborah Butterfield. http://www.lalouver.com/html/butterfield_bio.html.

What amazed me was the enthusiasm my students showed for the project. Originally, I suggested the trip to Central Park to gather all kinds of objects from nature to create a two-dimensional earth artwork or miniature versions of the 3-D arches of Andy Goldsworthy. http://www.morning-earth.org/artistnaturalists/an_goldsworthy.html. In this scenario, each student would create his/her own earth art.

At the end of my presentation, I remembered I wanted to show them what Deborah Butterfield has done over the past thirty years using twigs, branches, and discarded metal to create visual manifestations of the spirits of horses she loves. That's when the direction of the project changed! My students became very excited to do a group project to construct their own horse. (Unlike Deborah's however, ours will not be cast in bronze.)

What I find so intriguing about Deborah's art is her unwavering devotion to this subject over three decades despite the direction of the New York and global art scene.  Her horses are abstract and capture the essence of the horse, not anatomical reality. For my students, this project has ignited their imaginations. We have studied the work of Deborah Butterfield, looking at different approaches. Should we have our horse standing or lying down? Should we attempt to make it life size or “pedestal” size? When we complete the horse, where should we display it? We would also like to adopt Andy Goldsworthy's approach of using only natural materials: no glue, no nails, as far as possible!

Besides aesthetic concerns, the project challenges students with regard to technical skill, teamwork and engineering. We have begun the project with a search for materials and our next steps include determining the strategy for completing the project as a group. The project also has also moved all of us, teacher included, out of our comfort zones!

Stay tuned for further developments and the finished product.

Pictured are my students Miriam, Sorawis and Refilwe.