Art for Conservation

Birds have inspired art throughout the historical record and in cultures the world over. Birds can be found in the cave paleolithic paintings; the art of ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, the art of medieval Christians, straight through to the paintings of renaissance and impressionistic artists. In more recent history, birds dominated the art of early American naturalist-wildlife artists, including Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon. Today the works of painters such as Roger Tory Peterson and Robert Bateman continue to dominate the wildlife art scene.

Birds can also be found in the art of cultures from around the world. Birds figure prominently in Mayan and Aztec religious ceremonies and artifacts; in native American crafts such as drums, pipes, and rugs, and in the totems of Haida and Eskimo, as well as the Aboriginal Australian cultures. Among Northwest Coast Indians, the raven is the creator of the world. In American folk art, birds are represented in many diverse media including quilts, cross-stitch samplers, cuckoo clocks, and weather vanes. Today, the bird and wildlife art industry represents a huge and growing business that contributes large sums to the United States economy.

It is no wonder birds are found in such a varied and diverse array of art. Birds' freedom of flight has inspired a sense of wonder among peoples from around the world and throughout the centuries. For a growing number of children living in urban areas, birds may be the only form of wildlife they see - offering a rare and important connection to the natural world.

The arts-based activities contained in the Junior Duck Stamp curriculum are geared to helping children appreciate the natural world. The activities contained in the Art for Conservation section will help achieve the following objectives:
Field Journals

Grades: Primary, Middle, and Secondary

Objectives: As a result of completing this activity, students will develop field sketching technique using pencil and charcoal (ART), and sharpen skills of observation of the living and nonliving environment. (SCIENCE).

Materials:

Activity I: Field Journal Technique

1) Introduce field journal-keeping by having students first work in the classroom. Practice gesture sketching in quick, timed (5-30 second) sketches of stationary objects.

2) A further exercise leading to wild bird sketching includes quick behavioral sketches at bird feeding stations. Your school may have a station already, or you may wish to set up a station for your class. Sketching from slides and videotapes also can give students good practice.

3) Pure contour sketching is another technique which emphasizes observation. Start by sketching hand-held objects while looking only at the object, not at all at the paper, and drawing one continuous line for the entire sketch. Process should be emphasized over product in the practice of field sketching. Students may gradually modify the technique, peeking at the paper, so that they are looking at the object being sketched 75% of the time, and their paper 25% of the time.

4) Introduce students to their journals by providing blank notebooks. Ask them to note at the top of the first page the date, time, location, weather conditions, and any background sounds they hear (natural or man-made). Students will include this information on every new entry to the journals.

5) If possible, take your class outside if birds are present. Have students develop quick sketches of three to five different bird species before settling in on their species of choice. Encourage students to develop quick, simple sketches using the following beginning techniques for drawing birds:

Activity II: Field Journal Practice Exercises

1) Choose a specific place where birds are present. The important thing is that some birds are present to enable students to observe and sketch changes they witness over a period of time. This will help students develop an awareness of birds' appearance and behavior, as well as colors and textures of changing habitat conditions, and to record these changes in their sketches. (The location will most likely be your school yard and need not include a wetland or waterfowl, although this would be ideal.) Now, select one or more of the field sketching practice exercises below.

2) Ask students to draw all plants, or all insects, they can see in one square foot plot.

3) Have students identify a 5' x 5' plot in your school yard or at their home. Have them identify and sketch all they observe in the plot including weeks, leaves, flowers, fungi, seed pods, insects, etc.

4) Have students record stages of growth by sketching the same plant at different stages of development.

Activity III: Natural Area Field Trip

1) One of the objectives of the Junior Duck Stamp Program is to create naturalistic drawings and paintings of waterfowl and other birds. This requires opportunities to observe waterfowl and other migratory birds in their natural habitats. Look at a state or county map to determine the location of a nearby National Wildlife Refuge, wildlife sanctuary, state or county park, and/or nature center. You can also contact a local chapter of Ducks Unlimited or National Audubon Society to inquire of good locations to observe waterfowl and other birds in your general area. Zoos can also provide excellent viewing opportunities.

2) Remind students to bring their waterfowl project journals on the day of the field trip. Once at the site, have students develop sketches of plants and birds that they see using practice field sketching skills.

3) Have students disperse within a limited area for a limited period of time. If possible, have students develop sketches of waterfowl.

Evaluation:

Do students' sketches demonstrate a solid grasp of field sketching techniques? Do sketches reflect strong observational skills and ability to detect subtle differences and changes in nature?

Natural Sounds

Grades: Primary, Middle

Objectives: As a result of completing this activity, students will use music and language to communicate auditory observations (ART); and understand the importance of sound in observing the natural world, and birds in particular (SCIENCE).

Materials:

Instructions:

Activity I: Bird Songs

1) Hold a general discussion of the role of sound in our daily lives and in nature. Ask students which sense they rely on most heavily - smell, hearing, touch, or sight? Explain that bird watchers develop a strong sense of sight to identify birds by discrete markings such as color of wing bars and eye rings. Bird watchers also develop a strong sense of hearing to identify birds by their songs or calls. In fact, many expert bird watchers rely on their hearing to a greater degree than sight to identify birds.

2) Ask students to think about the bird songs and calls they have heard.

3) Darken the room. Tell students you will play a tape of bird songs. Encourage students to try to identify as many songs or calls as possible. After five minutes of listening, pause the tape and ask students the following questions:

a) How many different birds did they hear?

b) What other sounds did they hear in the background?

c) Which bird songs had they heard before?

d) Can they identify any of the birds on the tape?

Activity II: Onomatopoeic Poetry

1) Onomatopoeia (on-ah-mat-ah-PEE-ah) means to use language to describe what we hear. Words like swish, thump, and gurgle are onomatopoeia Ornithologists use this term to describe bird calls or songs. For example, the song of the American robin sounds like "cheerily, cheer up, cheerio, cheerily!" Even the names of some birds are onomatopoeia, such as veery, jay, killdeer and chickadee.

Ask students if they can think of any birds named by onomatopoeia. Note the examples included in the background section and ask students to list any others they can think of. Tell them that poets use onomatopoeia to enliven their poetry. An example by the famous naturalist John Burroughs follows in which he refers to the bluebirds " "turalee" flight note:

Bluebird

A wistful note from out the sky,
"Pure, pure, pure," in plaintive tone
As if the wand'rer were alone,
And hardly knew to sing or cry.

2) Play the tape again. Ask students to pay attention to any onomatopoeia they hear (for example swish, thump, and gurgle). Tell them to listen carefully because they will be writing short poems using onomatopoeia.

3) Assign students poems using onomatopoeia either as an in-class writing exercise or as a take home writing assignment. You could also have students write their onomatopoeia poems in small cooperative working groups. If you work with younger students, you could develop your onomatopoeia poems as a class.

Activity III: Sound Maps

1) Distribute 8 ½" X 11" paper and have students draw a large circle on a blank sheet, placing an "x" in the center to indicate their location as shown on the diagram.

2) Take students back to the location of your sensory field trip, (or to another predetermined location). Relative to their position, have them mark the location inside the circle of each sound they hear. These marks should be simple representative sketches or symbols to indicate bird songs and other sounds. Have them try to note the direction the songs or sounds are coming from, their loudness, pitch, melody, and apparent distance away.

3) Allow approximately ten minutes for listening and recording. Back in the classroom, hold a discussion to identify the loudest, the softest, most pleasant, mysterious, or annoying bird songs.

4) Pass out colored pencils, crayons, and other drawing materials. Have students complete their sound maps by "coloring in" the spaces between the symbols with other elements of the habitat. Display sound maps in the classroom.

Activity IV: Bird Music

1) Tell students you will play the tape one more time and have them listen very closely to one song.

2) Have students who play an instrument such as the flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, etc. try to emulate the bird's song on their instrument. Even if they do not own and play an instrument, students can produce the song's "beat" with their hands or simple percussion instruments. You may wish to work with a music teacher on this exercise. With some help, students might even try to develop simple musical notation of the bird's song.

Activity V: A Symphony of Animal Sounds

1) obtain a tape of "Peter and the Wolf" by the Russian composer Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953) which tells the story of the boy, Peter, and his three friends - the bird, the duck, and the cat.

2) Explain that "Peter and the Wolf" includes various musical instruments to represent animals: the bird is a flute; the duck is an oboe; the cat is a clarinet and; the wolf is three French horns. Ask students why they think Porkofiev selected the instruments he did for each character.

3) Play a portion of the recording and have students decide whether they want to perform the part of Peter, the wolf, the bird, the duck, or the cat.

4) Resume the recording and allow students to perform the role of Peter, the work, the bird, the duck, or the cat. Play recordings of other instruments and ask the students to describe what animals might be represented with each instrument.

5) have students create a mural of a background scene for their favorite scene from the composition.

Evaluation:

Were students able to identify any of the birds they heard on the tape? Did students' poems demonstrate an understanding of onomatopoeia? Were students able to communicate what they heard graphically on their sound maps? Were they able to emulate aspects of bird song on instruments? Were they able to visually represent a scene that they listened to from "Peter and the Wolf?"

Junior Duck Stamp Painting

Grades: Primary, Middle, and Secondary

Objectives: As a result of completing this activity, students will integrate all art and design principles previously introduced within a single painted or drawn composition, using a variety of technical art production skills (ART), and communicate knowledge of waterfowl anatomy and habitat (SCIENCE).

Materials:

Important note to teachers: The painting activity should be considered a culminating project for your Junior Duck stamp curriculum and would likely be your final class/student assignment. If entering student designs in your state Junior Duck stamp competition, please note that entry requirements may change from year to year. For information on obtaining current entry information, contact your state coordinator or the Duck Stamp Office at (202) 208-4354. This activity is presented early in the curriculum in order to prepare students for a final Junior Duck Stamp project. Whether or not entering your state's Junior Duck Stamp Contest is one of your students' goals, you may want your students to practice with these techniques throughout the course of the curriculum in order to link the class room learning activities to their final compositions.

Instructions:

1) Students will work with the adopted species and all the studies and reference materials already compiled in their journal projects.

2) Have students prepare a series of composition studies for their competition painting or drawing that considers the following issues. Are there one or several birds in the picture? Will they be in flight, on the water, or on the ground? Will the vantage point be from above, from below, or at eye level? What habitat will comprise the setting? Encourage students to study various combinations of these elements and finally select a strong composition, which also provides opportunities to focus on the anatomy of waterfowl, using artistic technique. Do not allow students, under any circumstances, to reproduce materials that are protected by copyright - this is against contest entry rules, and also discourages artistic creativity.

3) Next, have students select a medium over which they have some mastery, and execute the painting or drawing of their chosen design. Begin this work with enough time for repetitions if something goes wrong or if the student wants to try several different compositions or techniques.

Evaluation:

Does the composition combine biological accuracy and creative power? Does the composition integrate the waterfowl within a landscape habitat? Do the painting and drawing techniques accurately represent the waterfowl anatomy? Does the work convey an understanding of waterfowl ecology as well as mastery of design principles and art techniques? Does the student understand the composition requirements, and does the entry meet the requirement?

*If entering the design in your state's Junior Duck Stamp competition, be sure to use the current entry requirements.

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