Nature Works- Inspiration from the work of Andy Goldsworthy and Georgia O'Keffee!

 The week of July 7-11th, 2014, students at the Corvallis Arts Center explored the wonderful world of nature through various art projects. In my class, we looked at the work of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist working with only natural materials to create unique and fantastic art. Students created sculptures using natural objects inspired by his art. Students brought found materials from home and gathered materials on site then worked together to come up with a group sketch of what the project would look like and what materials we would need. We then chose a site on the west side of the arts center to create our installations.

 In the second part of the class, we looked at the art work of Georgia O'Keffee, a painter also inspired by nature. The natural art of Andy Goldsworthy is shared with the world through photographs as many of the installations are made in remote areas or are fleeting due to the materials used. Instead of taking this route I decided to have students document their project by creating paintings that captured the feeling of the sculpture. Students did still life sketches of their project using charcoal, oil pastels and chalk pastels and then took the sketches in the painting room where palettes were mixed and larger paintings evolved. The following pictures show the process of building the sculptures as well as the final paintings that result.  Enjoy!