Today was all about weaving. We played with different
materials and scavenged things from our own gardens to see what we could
potentially use as examples for our expected guests for the Saturday workshop. We are so excited to introduce these activities to our workshop participants
because we have all been impacted by taking time for art in the garden through
this Community Field Experience.
The joy of creating our prototypes and gathering things from
our own gardens to do so is that we are able to see the breadth of application
of our anticipated activity. The materials that were readily available in our
gardens were so vastly different but we were all able to create something
special. Additionally, we were able to play around with the idea of permanence and debated whether or not to include yarn as part of our workshop despite the fact that it is not found in the garden. We waxed philosophical in all of this as we thought about art for pleasure in the moment and art for lasting appreciation. The result of all this thought was that we have decided to leave the material choice up to each individual participant. We will have supplies of yarn should they choose to to create a piece that lasts a little longer once they have tested the projects with natural supplies. 
We have
come up with several options and ideas for our participants to take away as
they go and implement what they have learned in their own outdoor classroom
spaces. We can’t wait to teach what we know and learn from our participants as
well!
Lovely! And the debate about permanence/ impermanence is one that all ecoartists face. Many people create biodegradable artworks that are intended to go back into the earth (see Andy Goldsworthy's work, or Sharon Kallis's, for just two examples), but they usually document the pieces through photography for a somewhat more lasting trace.
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