ArtPlantae Today

Environmental Education in the Inland Empire

January 11, 2016 by Tania Marien

Next month the Environmental Education Collaborative (EEC) of the Inland Empire will host its second annual symposium at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, CA.

The EEC formed in February 2015 when over 125 organizations participated in a strategic planning meeting near downtown Riverside. Quite a bit was accomplished during this one-day meeting and the Environmental Education Collaborative has grown steadily during its first year.

The EEC is lead by co-chairs Dave Ficke, Region 10 Coordinator of the California Regional Environmental Education Community, and Ginger Greaves, Executive Director of the Santa Rosa Plateau Nature Education Foundation. The purpose of the Collaborative is to:

Bring funding to the Inland Empire to increase environmental literacy in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Develop a network of environmental education resources.
Promote the programs of environmental education providers in the Inland Empire.
Monitor and influence environmental education policy in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Would you like to learn more about the EEC and support environmental education in the Inland Empire?

The Collaborative is seeking sponsors for their second annual meeting. All sponsorship packages include tickets to the symposium. To learn more about keynote speakers and to view the itinerary, click on the image above to download the event flyer.

To view sponsorship opportunities and benefits, download the Sponsorship package.

Posted in environmental education, Teaching & Learning |

Wildflowers of the Mojave Desert

December 22, 2015 by Tania Marien

Discover the plants of the Mojave Desert this spring in a weekend workshop offered by UC Riverside Extension. Here is what’s new at Classes Near You > Southern California:

University of California, Riverside
Extension Program

Botanical Illustration of Desert Flora
March 18 – 20, 2016
The class begins at 8 PM on Friday and ends at 4 PM on Sunday.

Learn how to draw artistic and realistic flowering plants in a manner designed to understand the form, function, and identification of native plants. Exciting hands-on experiences both in the lab and in the field amid native flora habitats.

Learn botanical illustration techniques in pencil, pen, and watercolor.
Focus on comprehensive line drawing stressing contour, volume and perspective.
Make drawings of minute structures to full-scale renditions of plants.
Understand how artistic and scientific skills work together.

This class qualifies for credit toward certification in Nature Field Studies at UCRX. This field class at the Desert Studies Center in the Mojave National Preserve and is operated by CSU Fullerton. The Center is located within the Preserve at Soda Springs (Zzyzx), about an hour outside Las Vegas and a three-hour drive from Riverside, CA. The course fee includes two nights’ lodging at the Center. Cost: $325

The instructor for this course is Donald Davidson of the Traveling Artist Wildflowers Project .

Contact Donald Davidson if you have questions for the instructor.

Posted in Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, travel |

Pencil and Paper

December 14, 2015 by Tania Marien

The online magazine, Art of Education (AOE), posted an article recently about pencils and paper. I thought this article might be of interest to those of you who lead sketching and drawing workshops.

Tracy Hare, AOE Content Director and middle school art teacher, wrote How to Choose the Right Drawing Pencil and Paper Every Time. In her post she provides two helpful guides. One is a guide to pencil hardness/softness. The second guide is about the content, finish and weight of papers used in the art classroom. Both guides are free and available online. Download the guides and make copies for yourself and your students.

About AOE
The Art of Education is a resource dedicated to providing “Ridiculously Relevant™ Professional Development” to art educators. The service they offer includes online professional development classes and an online conference for art teachers.

Posted in Teaching & Learning |

Sightings of global warming and nature

December 14, 2015 by Tania Marien

Photo courtesy Ruth Ava Lyons, all rights reserved.

North Carolina artist
Ruth Ava Lyons strives to create emotional connections between people, plants and nature. Her current exhibition “SIGHTINGS” travels to Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, NC next month. The show opens
on January 8, 2016.

The paintings in this exhibition reflect Ruth’s interest in the many ways global warming affects the natural world. Each painting focuses on an environmental issue (e.g., plastic in the ocean, Cryoconite ash degrading glaciers, coal ash spill affecting air quality).

Hide Brooks Gallery is located at The Steel Yard at Southend at 1910 South Blvd., Suite 130, Charlotte, NC. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Friday (10am – 5pm) and Saturday (10am – 3pm).

If you live near Boone, NC, you can view this exhibition now at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. It is on view at this location through Saturday, December 19, 2015.

Related

Posted in Special Announcements |

Botanical Illustration to Medieval Medicine

December 7, 2015 by Tania Marien

Download catalog

The Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG) offers several opportunities for the public to explore botanical illustration and its history. Interested individuals can attend special lectures, enroll in an on-site certificate program or participate in a distance-learning program.

Courses include plant morphology and workshops addressing the techniques used by botanical illustrators. Students will work in the following media: pencil, watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink, scratchboard, egg tempera and carbon dust.

This extensive program also features classes about related topics. Included in the 2016 Winter/Spring schedule are:

The Medieval Medicine Cupboard
Ehret & The Golden Age of Plants
Mysterious Yellows
Textile Design in the Arts & Crafts Style
Pysanky — Ukranian Easter Eggs

The DBG program also hosts classes with visiting instructors from all over the world. Teaching this year are Sarah Simblet, Hillary Parker and Christabel King.

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities |

Venoms, Poisons and Medicine

December 7, 2015 by Tania Marien

Dr. Alain Touwaide, historian of medicine and science, will continue his work at UCLA introducing students to the Medical Humanities. He is scheduled to teach two new courses during the Winter 2016 term.

In Venoms, Poisons and Medicines from Antiquity to the Renaissance students will learn how venoms and poisons contributed to the development of medicine.

In Books of Science / Science of the Book, students will learn about science communication and how scientific books were created. Students will take virtual visits to libraries across the world and gain hands-on experience analyzing books in the collections at UCLA.

Click on the links above to learn more about these new courses.

About Alain Touwaide
Alain Touwaide is the Scientific Director of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution. He has investigated ancient scientific books for over 40 years.

Related

Researchers study Renaissance herbals to preserve ancient traditions
Follow The Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions on Facebook.

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities |

Call for Artists at Denver Botanic Gardens

December 7, 2015 by Tania Marien

The Denver Botanic Garden has issued a call for artists for the 2016 Artist-in-Residence program. Resident artists are expected to contribute to the Garden by “interpreting the botanic gardens’ purpose as a place of preservation, conversation, education and diversity into images or works which bring others enjoyment and a deeper understanding of the environment some may never visit.”

Artists are expected to spend five days per week on-site during their six-week residency. Three residency opportunities are available: April 20 – May 29, 2016;
June 15 – July 24, 2016; and August 10 – September 18, 2016.

This residency opportunity provides a stipend of $3,000 to be used for housing and materials. To view details and eligibility requirements, download the call for artists.