Photo-Documenting Earth Art

Earth Art has a long history dating back many thousands of years. From the Nazca Lines in Peru to the great mound structures of North America, the Earth has been a ready canvas as well as a source of inspiration. Earth Art today uses found objects in nature to make largely temporary, even fleeting, works of art that are created outside.

Since Earth Art sculptures are most often site-specific to outdoor locations, and temporary in their design, exhibitions in museums or studios are normally not an option. To get around this, artists will often resort to photo-documenting their work and creating a book that the public can view. These books essentially serve as the museum for Earth Artists, and include documentation of all parts of the creation process, including sketches, thoughts, and photographs of the in-progress work. They also serve as a gallery for the final, completed sculptures.

At the completion of this unit, the students will not only create large, site-specific, outdoor sculptures using only materials found in nature, but they will also use their documentation of the creation process in the way of sketches, journals, and photographs to complete a class book. This book will be the record of their sculptures.

LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO EARTH ART

Students will:
- understand Earth Art Sculpture and its historic perspectives
- gain knowledge of important Earth Art sculptors, notably Andy Goldsworthy
- view works of important Earth Artists
- understand the objectives of the project
- learn the basic use of digital cameras

LESSON 2: BRAINSTORMING WITH NATURAL OBJECTS

Students will:
- learn to compose sculptures using natural objects
- develop multiple ideas techniques for future use

LESSON 3: CRITIQUE AND DISCUSSION

Students will:
- share their ideas, problems, and breakthroughs

LESSON 4: PREPPING WORK AREA

Students will:
- form groups of five who will share a camera
- find a location to create their sculpture and rope it off
- inventory available natural materials
- sketch ideas
- photograph area and materials

LESSON 5: EARTH ART SCULPTURE CREATION

Students will:
- using materials on hand, create their art work
- photograph their work as they progress
- journal their progress and thoughts

LESSON 6: COMPOSE CLASS BOOK

Students will:
- use their documentation (journal, sketches, photographs) to produce 10 pages of a book using Tool Factory Word Processor and Tool Factory Painter
- complete a class book to place in school library

LESSON 7: CRITIQUE AND CONCLUSION

Students will:
- show the completed book as well as their individual work
- share their thoughts on the completed project
- reflect on future ideas