Mini-stories Celebrate Art in the Garden Success

This year, ten Madison-area school gardens were blooming with artistic inspiration. The Art in the Garden Project, coordinated by WSGI's parent organization, Community GroundWorks, helped students, faculty and families from each school to collectively create inspiring works of art in their outdoor learning spaces. The Art in the Garden project was made possible thanks to generous funding from the Madison Community Foundation and the American Girl ‘s Fund for Children.
 
Each school formed an Art in the Garden team made up of teachers and parent volunteers to coordinate the project. Most projects were collaborative, creating lasting works of art that involved dozens of students, or even the entire school over the course of the year.  

Each school submitted a mini-story to be displayed along with photos of their art project at a special Art in the Garden Exhibition at Madison's Overture Center for the Arts. We've included the stories and photos from the exhibit below in celebration of all the schools' success!

Lincoln Elementary

We worked with local woodworkers to build a giant weaving loom in our garden. This fall, students will harvest natural materials in and around the garden to create group weavings.  This will provide the opportunity for all four hundred students at our school to participate in interactive outdoor art that also pulls in lessons in social studies and science! Next spring, we will begin growing specific plants in our garden to use in the loom, and will also experiment with growing plants for natural dyes.  

Crestwood Elementary

We installed an outdoor stage at our school. Over one hundred fourth and fifth grade students decorated small chalkboards with mosaic tiles that will serve as announcement boards as the stage is used. A space was left for building a ramp entrance to the stage to make it wheelchair accessible. We plan to plant shade-friendly clematis vines to climb up the old baseball fence that forms the back of the stage. While we wait for the clematis to establish itself, we will yarn bomb the fence and plant flowers along the retaining wall.

Lapham Elementary

"It All Begins with a Seed,” offered K-2 students the opportunity to contribute to two permanent art installations in our garden: a Welcome Sign and a Living Stage. First, students created their own ceramic "stamps" with nature-based themes. The stamps were fired and used by students to design the terra-cotta tiles that now hang in our garden. Students enjoyed the creation process, and the chance to contribute to something that will last for years to come. One young boy, when asked what he thought of seeing his tile on display in the garden, said: "Before I was sad I couldn’t take my tile home but now it’s in something bigger and it makes me happy to see them all together.”

Toki Middle School

We collaborated with local sculptors to create a sculpture with an eighth grade class for our garden. Students worked with the sculptors to create the design and learn about the artists’ welding process. Students who saw their “piece” out in the garden were excited, and instantly asked to take photos to share with friends and family.  Many parents, teachers, and students have responded positively to the sculpture in our garden space, and are visiting our garden to see it. We are continuing to expand our garden, and the sculptures set the theme!

Orchard Ridge Elementary

We created an outdoor performance space in our garden, decorated with a student-made mosaic. After viewing images of other mosaics from around the world, students drew maps of where they wanted the space to be and what they wanted it to look like. We compiled student ideas and presented them to our garden committee and principal. During the winter, students created ceramic tiles to place in the mosaic. This spring, we all worked together to assemble the mosaic on our new stage!  In future years, this space will be used for students to create their own stories, music and movement either in organized performances, or spontaneously at play.


Marshall Early Learning Center

We used our Art in the Garden grant funds for several different projects. First, each classroom designed and painted a Peace Pole to display along the garden entrance. We also created an Up-cycled Bottle Tree. Students painted and cut old plastic bottles to look like flowers, and then attached bottles to “branches” created by the high school woods class. The finished “tree” was mounted on an existing pole from the old playground in the center of our garden. One child drew the bottle tree on the cover of his take home folder and said the tree makes him feel peace. Under the tree after he printed his name he wrote, “I LOVE SCHOOL!!!”

Van Hise Elementary

We designed and painted a mural on a wall near our garden, in an area  we are developing for thoughtful reflection.  The process began with children drawing pictures in art class to come up with the design. We also began a tradition with our Art in the Garden mural this year by having our fifth graders paint a rock with their name and a symbol that represents them.  These rocks were weatherproofed and there was a ceremony where students placed their rock in the space by the mural. We are excited to watch our “rock collection” grow and evolve as students reflect on their time as students at Van Hise!


Spring Harbor Middle School

Every year our eighth grade class gives a ‘class gift’ back to Spring Harbor.  This year all 88 students collaboratively decided to use our Art in the Garden grant funds to design a memorial arbor for Vickie Woodward, our former 7th grade teacher who passed away two years ago due to cancer. After measuring the dimensions of the garden, students created blueprints for the memorial arbor in Google Sketchup. The winning design was selected on the criteria of form and function. 

Prairie Elementary

Students at Prairie created a variety of Art in the Garden projects, including: Recycled bird houses with ceramic “totem poles”, mosaic stepping and sitting stones, and beaded wind chimes. Classrooms worked collaboratively to create the different projects. Students enjoyed working on group projects, and were excited to envision the final results in the garden. Our projects involved over six hundred students, as well as dozens of parents, teachers, custodians, and local business owners from the community around our school.


Lake View Elementary

Working with local artist Henry Hawkins, we created a mural that reflects our students, staff, families and neighbors. The mural tells Lake View’s story, and includes images of children planting milkweed, monarchs dotting our gardens, Earth Day at Warner Park, faces of the neighborhood, laughing children running in the woods, bees pollinating apple blossoms, teachers and students working together on outdoor projects, and more.  Over 275 students and 150 parents were involved in generating ideas for the mural. The eco-artistic design sends a clear message about the diversity of our community and its commitment to academic excellence, the arts, health and wellness, and the environment - while honoring our culture, history, and future.