Each year, over many months, the students explored a small wetland area south of Madison. At this "pothole," they collectedaquatic critters, sketched plants, tracked mammals, and counted the many species of animals who inhabit the area.
Each year, the students worked as traditional watershed scientists, collecting and counting their data, attempting to answer the basic question, "Is this a healthy ecosystem?" The teachers involved in this project believe that there are many ways to interpret and make sense of human experience. They believe that an aesthetic response to the natural world can add appreciation to understanding, creating an experience that is not possible through scientific endeavors alone.
The student's work Combined art, science, poetry, writing, and the study of culture, the project represents many ways of "knowing the pothole".
While visiting the pothole, students drew field sketches of the flora and fauna around them. Their sketches were later refined in the classroom, creating "field guides" that documented each trip.
While in the field, students also captured the feelings and emotions of their explorations, writing sensory images which were later crafted into haiku and free verse poetry.
In REACH class, students learned about calligraphy, investigating the many ways the art of lettering can convey the meaning of language. They took a field trip to the University's rare book collection to see how calligraphy and lettering made books into objects of art. Poems inspired by the pothole were then hand printed in styles that echoed the emotions conveyed in the poems.
In art class, students studied the indigenous plants of Wisconsin's wetlands and looked at examples of bead work by Wisconsin Indian Nations. They discussed the use of plants including food, medicine, and shelter. Students then designed their own bead work applique pieces.
Art used at the '94 Yahara Watershed Fair
In this way, the Lincoln Wetlands Project will continue, providing important longitudinal data on the species of the wetland, Just as importantly, the project will create a rich aesthetic profile of a small natural place south of town.
It is this aesthetic response that will linger the longest in a child's life. With wetlands threatened throughout the world, "artscience" may just hold a valuable key in the future of the environment.