I first encountered the work of Andy Goldsworthy in a film clip during a leadership seminar led by Margaret Wheatley. It immediately struck me as something that teachers should know about. Soon after, I found a photograph of a child's stone spiral constructed next to the cover of Goldsworthy's amazing book, A Collaboration with Nature (1990), and I soon started introducing the images and materials to students in my curriculum courses.
Recently, in the process of developing a photo-presentation for a workshop for teachers, I became enamored by all of the spirals in nature: from snail shells to galaxies, seed patterns in a sunflower head to fiddle head ferns, a ram's horn to the petal patterns of a rose.
The spiral is one of the most ancient human symbols and was described mathematically by the ancient Greeks, including Archimedes. I like them because they are simple and elegant, and children are naturally drawn to them- they love snails and curly snakes and anything that loops around. It's a form they can make using a variety of media and materials.
Check out spirals in google images, then go on a spiral hunt in your school yard. Introduce photographs and natural spirals to the children and see what happens. It's a lovely way to help children connect to the natural world.
Go to flickr.com and search on dgmurphy2002 to see some photographs of Goldsworthy-inspired art by student teachers.
Recently, in the process of developing a photo-presentation for a workshop for teachers, I became enamored by all of the spirals in nature: from snail shells to galaxies, seed patterns in a sunflower head to fiddle head ferns, a ram's horn to the petal patterns of a rose.
The spiral is one of the most ancient human symbols and was described mathematically by the ancient Greeks, including Archimedes. I like them because they are simple and elegant, and children are naturally drawn to them- they love snails and curly snakes and anything that loops around. It's a form they can make using a variety of media and materials.
Check out spirals in google images, then go on a spiral hunt in your school yard. Introduce photographs and natural spirals to the children and see what happens. It's a lovely way to help children connect to the natural world.
Go to flickr.com and search on dgmurphy2002 to see some photographs of Goldsworthy-inspired art by student teachers.
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