Art and science in the USA
It has been a busy week for the art of John Dyer. Schools all over the UK study the artist for their course work. This week Millfield school in Somerset have been looking at John Dyer paintings for their GCSE art course and taking things internationally a first grade class in Atlanta, USA benefitted from a 45 minute questions and answers session with artist John Dyer on the art and science of the Amazon rainforest.
Tahtinen’s class are from a STEAM school at the Henderson Mill Elementary School in Atlanta, USA. STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.
The class contacted John Dyer to request a Skype video call for the class to discuss art and environmental issues connected to the rainforest. The class were inspired to reach out to the artist when they discovered the Spirit of the Rainforest art that John exhibited recently at the Eden Project with Amazon Indian artist Nixiwaka Yawanawá.
"I am a first-grade teacher at a STEAM school in GA. My students are working on project-based learning for animal habitats with a focus on the rainforest. We would like to skype with Mr. Dyer as part of their research and bringing in the art component." Celithia Tahtinen, Henderson Mill Elementary.
The artist and the class spoke for 45 minutes on a range of subjects. John described two of his rainforest spirit paintings, Yuxi Yuve and The Creation of Ayahuasca.
The children asked some amazing questions including:
How many trees are there in the rainforest ?
John felt was such a great question that there should be a counter on the world population web sites next to the current population. Sadly the trees counter would be decreasing as the people count rises.
Other questions included:
Why can’t a sloth survive in the arctic as it is covered in thick fur ?
What does it feel like to be in the rainforest ?
Is it wet or dry in all parts of the rainforest ?
Have you ever seen a sloth or drawn a sloth ?
Is there lots of noise in the rainforest? What kind ?
And many more..
The children asked about the water cycle, rainforests around the world, the canopy and about many of the animals, birds and insects.
John has a very good knowledge of the rainforest and happily answered the questions for the children and connected the questions to his own experiences of the rainforest in Brazil and Costa Rica.
The artist gave them painting tips and the children intend to do a set of paintings based on the rainforest and inspired by some of the children’s art that was inspired by John Dyer’s Spirit of the Rainforest Project.
