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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85253680460?pwd=NnFDdCtodlYxcXFuQ0t1eVlIallIZz09

Meeting ID: 852 5368 0460

Passcode: 439028

at Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center and Stone State Park

 

The Nature Walks / Art Journal classes held in conjunction with the 20 Artists, 20 Parks exhibition are a collaboration between the Art Center, the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center and Stone State Park. 20 Artists, 20 Parks is on view at the Art Center from January 30 through Sunday, May 9, 2021. Bringing art and nature together first in the galleries and then outside—one of the few safe places to gather during the on-going pandemic—provides participants the opportunity to make new connections between nature, science, and art. Sketch pads, colored pencils, and drinks will be provided at no cost for participants, thanks to funding from DQ Smiles and Stories. *Registered children must be accompanied by a registered adult.

Participants will learn to carefully observe nature during the ranger/naturalist walks in the parks, thereby improving their field observations, skills they can carry back into their everyday lives. Artists will facilitate journaling by sharing examples of nature journals and asking, “What do you see? How can you best describe and draw what you saw? What are you curious about that you saw today? Can you draw the trees? How do you imagine trees communicate with one another? What would that look like?” Prompts will vary from class to class depending on what the walks reveal. Participants will have the opportunity to share their observations and artwork with each other and receive feedback from the walk facilitators. Each class is designed for the participants to work together to learn and to share their observations and creative ideas. The program will provide participants from the Siouxland region with an opportunity to see great artwork, experience nature more deeply, and to create their own nature journals. Please plan to see the 20 Artists,20 Parks exhibition at the Sioux City Art Center before participating in the Nature walk.

Through the nature journaling project, children and families will learn more about the many connections between art and nature. They will learn to pause, observe, and see more carefully as they draw what they discover on their walks in the parks. The journal program will provide participants and the walk leaders with a shared sense of community through a deeper relationship with two of Sioux City’s cherished local parks and with the artwork on display at the Art Center. Participants will learn through hands-on experience how careful observation can enrich their lives in everything they do. Celebrated naturalist and author, Terry Tempest Williams, writes eloquently on the relevance, even necessity, of parks, reminding us that all parks are “portals and thresholds of wonder … breathing spaces for a society that increasingly holds its breath.” (The Hour of Land)

"A Nature Journal is a place to grow your thoughts, feelings, ideas, activities, observations, and relationship with the natural world. And, it is an opportunity to interpret your inner thoughts out into the natural world and a space where the natural world can flow into you and leave a permanent mark." (https://vault.sierraclub.org/education/nature_journal.asp)