BRDC and CCSA

In honor of Earth Day and the arts, BRDC collaborated with Deb Grief and the Grayson County High School's ECO Club, to share in the creative spirit of recycling with a purpose.  Given that BRDC has a strong commitment to the idea that science and art are artificially separated, and that we are better served when these similar skills of observation and documentation are recombined, the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts was a great place to spread 'the word'.

Sara Fennell, with the CCSA as a potter and all 'round enthusiastic person, organized this event with the assistance of Dixie Leanord, to ensure that all participants were comfortably accommodated.  Other offerings included kite construction and decoration and origami sculptures.  The ECO club is famous for its hats-from-otherwise-discarded-stuff, starting with newspaper and tape, moving into applied house-hold things like cut-outs from magazines, frills such as bottle caps, ribbons, packaging 'peanuts', and so on.  Kids love it. 

BRDC's Aaron Floyd and I provided a background of natural history illustration with several books devoted to that tradition, along with skulls, feathers, Native American projectile points, seeds, leaves, rocks and preserved butterflies for objects of study and models for sketching.  Aaron's approach is to demonstrate the basic principles behind transferring what one is looking at to the blank paper.  Starting with dimensions, then to basic shape, the conversation moves into detail.  Depending on patience, anyone can learn to graphically describe a leaf or frog without having to be an 'artist'.  The point is, being confident and aware of the value of this way of sharing one's discovery is within anyone's grasp.  Don't be shy.

Scott Jackson-Ricketts