Thursday, June 27, 2013

Plastic Ocean Art --Art and Science Integration!


 What is art? What is science?How do we determine the difference or similarities of an artist and a scientist? How can both art and science work together to engage our students and show them that there are layers and connections beyond the subjects that are often segregated at times in schools. 

Currently I am taking an Art and Science integrated graduate course at Kutztown University. We have discussed topics this week based on the integration of the two concepts combined to both advance our students in ways of thinking, seeing, and understanding their world and their place in it. 

Below is an artist I discovered towards the end of the school year that I shared and discussed with my 5th grade Art and Tech students. We had a conversation on our EDMODO site  in addition to looking at objects and things found in our homes that are usually discarded. We discussed new purposes and functions for them, in addition to other science topics that related to our views of the video. 

Maybe you can get your students thinking more about plastic and the pollution in our oceans.

Bonnie Monteleone has been to three oceans collecting plastics 100s to 1000s of miles from land and are found here in this art show. Using the well recognized, "Great Wave" by Hokusai circa 1830s, Monteleone illustrates a very different ocean than what Hokusai saw 180 years ago. Each of the 4'x5' panels morph away from the original until it is unrecognizable in the last image depicting the North Atlantic heaving plastics onto Bermuda's beaches. The title is "What Goes Around, Comes Around meaning plastics get lost at sea, then return to us either in our fish or on our beaches. The centerpiece is a 6' long by 3' tall interactive sculpture of a wave made from bottle caps and plastics found on Wrightsville Beach, NC. This portable art show intends to express the ocean's beauty against the disturbing reality that our sea are being trashed. Five wooden windows are mounted with photos from the voyages along with explanations of each canvas positioned above crates filled with the items found in each work. It serves as an educational tool for explaining the problem with plastics in the ocean through discovery. For more information visit www.theplasticocean.org

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