"The Scarecrows in the Garden"

The 5th and Middle School classes are participating in the annual Scarecrows in the Garden event at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

http://atlantabotanicalgarden.org/events-classes/events/scarecrows-garden

Each class submitted a scarecrow that they designed and created themselves.  This year, they created sculptures in the style of the American artist, Mark Jenkins.  He is most famous for his public installation pieces, made entirely of packaging tape.

http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com/storker.html

To create their unique pieces, the students first decided who would be casting parts of their body and who would be assisting with the wrapping of plastic wrap and tape.  Those who eagerly volunteered were first wrapped with plastic wrap then wrapped with clear packaging tape.  Students were disappointed that they could not make casts of their heads, but just the thought of that and all of the possibilities would make me cringe.

After we had all the pieces we wanted to work with, we laid them out on 3 tables and made sketches of the possibilities.

The two classes had very different sculptures! It's amazing to see what they can come up with on their own.

I have to admit that this lesson and project didn't turn out like I had imagined or planned, because there were some technical difficulties with the whole wrapping and cutting process.  I was beginning to feel like this project was going downhill, but then I stepped back for a moment and just observed the students at work.  They were engaged, they were working together, they were problem solving, they were thinking outside of the box, and most importantly of all, they were really enjoying the process and proud of their work! 

It was a learning process for all of us!

The scarecrow exhibit will be on display throughout the month of October.  The exact location of the students' scarecrows are not available to us yet.  When I know that information, I will create a post about it.