Nature/Humans – 2020 D-Eco-Self and Aslan Youth Ministry Collaboration

Each year, D-Eco-Self forms a collaboration between the Monmouth University Sculpture 2 students and the Aslan Youth Ministry ten to twelve year old group. Usually this is a series of 6-8 afternoon workshops that focus on a specific topic related to the Ecological Self. This year, Day 1 with Aslan Youth Ministry, we discussed humans and our relationship to nature. After being introduced to the project and the mission of Discovering the Ecological Self, both Monmouth and Aslan students gathered to come up with words that represented both nature and people. The goal of this exercise was to get all the participants thinking about what the distinctions between nature and our everyday lives were and if any, what overlaps there may be.  There were many words brainstormed but a few stood out amongst the rest. On the nature side, students said words like sun, wind, bees, stars, etc. For the human column, one of the Aslan children said the word “subjects.” Other human words included makeup, buildings, religion and technology. The concept of subjects really jumped out from all the rest because subjects within learning are purely a mechanism of human thought, many aspects of learning overlap but humans separate them for ease of learning.

After this exercise, Aslan children were partnered up with Monmouth students to either create a large drawing/collage depicting these concepts of either nature or humans. The nature drawing depicted things like mountains, fish, large animals, and even lightening. The humans group had images such as cars, artwork, money, and jewelry. Pairing the two side by side after completion allowed everyone involved to view the distinct differences and come up with ways to bridge them together. One student proposed “planting grass, flowers, and trees on the tops of buildings.” Others wrote that we should stop pollution of our air and oceans, have teachers bring students outside for class, and set up animal sanctuaries within cities. To wrap up our first meeting, we all said one thing we learned today from our exploration of humans and nature. Aslan students had very interesting things to say. One of the girls said that animals are going extinct and that animals are not surviving well in cities as more expand. Some of the other students said that they were not going into nature enough and that there are more ways to get into nature than they originally thought.  

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States this was the only session we were fortunate enough to have with the students. The university was promptly closed and for the safety of everyone, any further meetings with Aslan were not possible. The program will resume next spring 2021.

Student Scholarship Week – D-Eco-Self 2019

AR 218 Sculpture 2 Students participated in the 2019 Service Learning Scholarship Week Poster Session sharing their work about their D-Eco-Self collaboration project and artworks that they made with Aslan Youth Ministry and MU Science. Denice Michalchuk, our D-Eco-Self 2019 Research Assistant, created the poster, and Daniella Russo, our D-Eco-Self 2019 Project Assistant, presented to a packed crowd during the event.

To view pictures of images and artwork check out the gallery or read the blog posts!

A Walk Through Weltz Park 2019

We went for a nature walk through Weltz Park, where the science students identified different things that we had previously learned about trees. They showed us the different stages of growth in plants and trees throughout the park. Some of the new things we learned about trees were specific to this landscape. We learned about an invasive species in the park that kills trees. After learning about the nature in Weltz Park and coming closer to the end of the walk, we used tracing paper to make frottage, or rubbings, of fallen leaves and the bark on different trees. This is a technique of art that allows an artist to copy the texture of its subject. As a result, we felt closer to nature because we got to learn about the nature that exists locally in our community.

 

For a full gallery of images and artwork from the entire 2019 D-Eco-Self Trees, click here. 

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