A few photos , images and collages so far, that Bluecray has produced. Mainly for the Mt Warning Caldera Region, NE NSW and SE QLD, Australia. Plenty to look at – Butterflies, Benoit, a Bat but, sorry, no Bettongs….. yet. I wish that I had a quick camera reflex today – many different species of butterflies, flying past, through my home, through the garden – everywhere!
These are beautiful Al, really somepink else! I would like them on my wall please. Thank you. Tee hee.
Thanks Alison, I was talking to Jess about the value of “posters” as an environmental educational tool for small children in childcare work. She said that young children can get “lost” in a big picture with lots of beautiful detail, and spend ages looking and telling stories about what they see.
Pictures, as a starting point for a child’s education about our world, are valuable. Pictures, as symbols, can convey a massive amount of information, especially when put into an educational context and combined with a child’s creative mind.
I am glad that you like them!
I can see that children would not only warm to this idea but relish it and be able to use their own ideas and “pictures”. Jess could be the guide to ensure the end product uses their pictures but also looks really pleasing as well.
I see You’re in the bigger picture, there Al! – not to take anything away from “Minnie” taking centre stage in one of those collage’s up there…I did an environmental weeds workshop – about 15 years ago, and worked with year 7 school children at Brassall State School.
The students were blessed with a teacher who could mentor her class’s creativity through learning. We created posters of the local environmental weeds, compiled lists of alternative plants, interviewed nursery owners, collected samples and made a herbarium collection, from it all they created their own video, over six months of activity – everyone had alot of fun. My point was, tho – one of our “display” items was a huge collage, where different groups created different sections of collage. Each section was a “component” of Australian landscape, nearby to their school.
The students used natural and paper collected components as well as painting for most of the work, and created them, through the course of the weekly workshops. The teacher would incorporate fundamentals of syllabus, into the students’ workshops, as they progressed, through the year.
One collage was a suburban back yard, another grassland with trees, there was bushland that was being developed, forested areas and woodlands, and the beautiful, almost destroyed dry vine scrub of the Region west of Brisbane. When each group was finished, all the collages were put together into one big “story” .
We worked out, as a group, what order we would put them in. By this time, into the project, all the children were starting to “know” alot more….. And then…… we decided which segment should be burnt, to illustrate even more disturbance, in the landscape progression. They all put red cellophane into the section, and voila! They had created a story about how landscapes have changed, what caused many of the changes, what was happening to the animals and plants, and where and how the weeds were spreading.
It was a beautiful project , the video turned out great!- the students even won an award for their video in a a national landcare competition, and the local council invited them to put all their environmental weed displays into the main public council foyer.
And so, children are amazing, once let loose in the realms of creativity, and once passion takes hold, they just keep suprising us!!!
That’s why I love being around kids! No matter what, they always surprise and delight.
How funny! …….Because for both of us, our own creativity gives us surprises and delights!!! Must be that child within – playing again!! A bit like Jung, showing that play, as he would in the sands by his lakeside home, fosters a creative mind.