Essential Questions

1. What can art teach us about nature?

2. What are the elements that build a strong career? 

3. How can studying ecology shape the way we view the world?

Learning Intentions – Upon completing this Module, students will:

1. Describe ecology.

2. Appraise and practice close observation and taking time to explore curiosities.

3. Relate the process of change and improvement.

4. Employ art to communicate messages about important phenomena, ideas, and issues.

5. Interact with digital storytelling as a learning tool.

6. Construct a narrative explaining how certain organisms live and interact with other organisms and elements in their environment.

7. Develop painting techniques and engage in wildlife art.

Success Criteria

1. I will take time be curious and observe.

2. I will commit to doing at least one thing that cares for nature.

Learning Outline

This 3.5-hour module is on the video presentations by Carel Brest van Kempen. It can be taught as a whole learning experience, or in chosen sections as time allows:  

• 10 minutes: Launch Activity–Pre-Viewing: Video I: The Ecology of the Classroom 

• 10 minutes: While Viewing– Video 1: Art & Ecology Collide

• 10 minutes: Post-Viewing– Video 1: Small Changes Lead to Big Outcomes

• 15 minutes: Pre-Viewing –Video 2: What Matters to You, Matters

• 20 minutes: While Viewing– Video 2: The Artist and the Animal

• 15 minutes: Post-Viewing– Video 2: Visualizing the Story

• 5 minutes: Launch Activity– Video 3: Distance Makes the Heart Grow…?

• 15 minutes: While Viewing– Video 3: Looking at the World Close-Up

• 15 minutes: Post-Viewing– Video 3: Looking Ten Times Two

• 60 minutes: Demonstration– Narrative on Ecology: What’s Going on in this Painting?

• 60 minutes: Making Connections– Arts Integration Project - Let’s Paint Ink-Wash-Wildlife Style!

Launch Activity–Pre-Viewing: Video 1: The Ecology of the Classroom

[10 min]

[Learning Objective 1]

Procedures:

• Hook: Ask students to describe the ecology of this classroom. If students need help tell them that the ecology of the classroom is how students and their teachers interact both with

• 1. the classroom environment

  2. with each other within this space.

     Suggest that they describe the ecology of the classroom like a story.

• Tell Students: We are going to watch a series of videos featuring painter Carel Brest van Kempen. Read the unit and/or module introduction aloud to the class. 
  

• Tell Students: Every environment is composed of living and nonliving parts, and in every environment, the living and nonliving parts interact with each other in a variety of ways. Ecology is the scientific study of these interactions.

While Viewing: Video 1: Art & Ecology Collide

[10 min]

[Learning Objective 1, 2, 5]

Procedures:

• Give students the Shoots & Ladders Student Worksheet and have them read through the questions under the Video 1 section.
  

• Play Video 1: Meet Carel Brest van Kempen: Art & Ecology Collide (8:34 min) and tell students that after watching they will have a few minutes to answer the questions. 

Post-Viewing: Video 1: Small Changes Lead to Big Outcomes

[10 min]

[Learning Objective 1, 2 3]

• Tell Students: You just heard Carel share his lifelong interest in ecology and his journey to becoming a professional painter. 

• Give students 5 minutes to answer the Video Section 1 questions. Discuss.

  1. What is ‘Ecology’ and what about it has fascinated Carel since he was a kid? Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment; it seeks to understand the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them. When Carel observes nature he sees the elaborate stories it tells. And the closer he looks, the better the story. 

  2. What metaphor does Carel use to explain his journey to becoming a professional painter? Explain. Carel explains his journey as a painter as a series of steps- On any given step you plateau for a while, but with practice, even though you might not see daily progress, you will eventually advance to a higher step and keep climbing. Sometimes change takes a long time. Often change requires persistent effort. Small changes can compound themselves and with time those small changes can lead to big outcomes.

Pre-Viewing: Video 2: What Matters to You, Matters

[15 min]

[Learning Objectives 2, 4]

Procedures:

• Hook: Tell students about something that matters to you and people who have influenced you to improve. (eg. Cooking, Skiing, Gardening, Antique Car Collecting, Interior Design, Writing, Green Building, etc.)

• Think-Pair-Share: What matters to you?

  1. Think: Give students 3 minutes to free write about something that matters to them and who has influenced them. (Optional) Use the prompts: I like…. I am curious about…)

  2. Pair: Put students into pairs and let them discuss their ideas for a few minutes. 

  3. Share: When the class comes together, invite volunteers to share.
     

• Tell Students: In this next video, Carel talks about those who influenced his painting and ultimately played a big part in his improvement and career as a professional artist, starting when he was a little kid. 

While-Viewing: Video 2: The Artist and the Animal

[20 min]

[Learning Objective 5]

Procedures:

• Ask Students: How is Carel’s wildlife art different from other wildlife art you have seen? (Do a Google search and project some wildlife art.) Carel paints detail and his paintings represent the diversity and interconnectedness of ecosystems. Though he takes a few liberties, mostly his paintings are accurate depictions of the world around us. In contrast, typical wildlife art is the opposite in that it doesn’t represent the world’s diversity. 

• Tell Students: In this next video, Carel talks about the canon of wildlife art and how he never fit in. It was one artist’s influence in particular who gave him the confidence to ‘paint outside the box,’ and paint how he wanted to paint. Towards the end of this video, Carel reveals his method.
  

• Play Video 2: The Artist and the Animal (10:59 min)

Post-Viewing: Video 2: Visualizing the Story

[15 min]

[Learning Objective 4]

Procedures:

• Ask Students: What did you learn, find interesting, or surprising? Discuss.

• Tell Students: Carel sketches and paints nature as a way to help him understand the story it tells: “My paintings always start with a story and then move from there. Sometimes it's very clear in my mind, I can envision the composition and just sit down with pencil and paper and do a few sketches and work it all out.”
  

• Have students reread what they wrote in the pre-viewing section. Direct them to take a few minutes to think quietly (they can close their eyes) and visualize what matters to them. They can visualize something in the past, present, or future.

• On the Shoots and Ladders Student Worksheet in the space provided under the Video 2 section, have students do a quick sketch of their feeling, or visual. 

• Tell Students: Carel then turns this sketch into a painting, but you can do whatever you want with it. Allowing yourself time to observe, and explore your curiosity is valuable in itself. In this next section, we will do just that. 

Pre-Viewing: Video 3: Distance Makes the Heart Grow…?

[5 min]

[Learning Objectives 1, 2]

Procedures:

• Hook: Ask Students: 

  1. What are things you like to look at up close? Why? Discuss.

  2. What could be the result of looking at nature from far away only? (from a plane or car, for example?) You remain emotionally removed and miss a lot. 

• Tell Students: In the next video, Carel talks about how his curiosity leads him to observe nature close-up, and how he is rewarded.

While-Viewing: Video 3: Looking at the World Close-Up

[15 min]

[Learning Objective 5]

Procedures:

• Play Video 3: Looking at the World Close-Up (14:40 min)

Post-Viewing: Video 3: Looking Ten Times Two

[15 min]

[Learning Objectives 1, 2]

Procedures:

• Ask Students: 

  1. What did Carel say makes him the happiest when people are looking at his paintings? Discuss. When someone spots one of his paintings from across the room and is intrigued, they get closer and closer until their noses almost touch the painting as they notice more and more.

• Tell Students: We are going to do an exercise called Looking Ten Times Two, intended to give you time to be curious and help you make careful and detailed observations. 

  *The Looking Ten Times Two concept was developed by Project Zero, a Harvard Graduate School of Education initiative.

• Share the Utah Thrive 125 Final Painting with students. Remind them that Carel was commissioned to do this painting (called “One-Hundred Twenty-five Years Of Utah Ecology”) for the Utah celebration of 125 years of statehood. 

  1. Ask students to look quietly for at least 30 seconds, letting their eyes wander.

  2. Have students list 10 words or phrases about any aspect of the work in the space provided on the Shoots and Ladders Student Worksheet.

  3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 and try to add 10 more words or phrases. (If a list of ten items seems daunting, have students choose five things to notice.)

• Share the Utah_Thrive_125_Map with students. Can they identify any of the landmarks or species? Give them a few minutes to see if they can add to their observations. 

• Share the Utah Thrive 125_Legend with students. Give them 5 minutes to use this as a reference to learn more about the painting and the ecology of Utah. 

Demonstration: Narrative on Ecology: What’s Going on in this Painting?

[60 min]

[Learning Objective 4, 6]

Procedures:

• Tell the students: When Carel explores the planet’s ecology, it conjures a flow of scenarios and stories in his imagination. Painting is a way for him to record these narratives and work out the details. His paintings depict a story about how the subject lives and interacts with its environment and other organisms.

• Explain to students that their task is to construct a narrative that explains the interactions among organisms and “abiotic’ (non-living) components depicted in one of Carel’s paintings of their choice. Examples of types of interactions could include competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial.

• Share the Carel Brest van Kempen: Artist Statements handout with students. This document lists all of Carel’s paintings included in this unit alphabetically by title with an explanation below. These ‘Artist Statements’ include notes on content, purpose, and inspiration. 

• Project each painting in the Carel Brest van Kempen Paintings folder and have students reference the corresponding artist statement. Ask each student (or they can work in pairs) to choose one painting on which they want to write their ecology narrative. 

• Give students time to research at least 2 species in their selected painting (they can use Carel’s explanation as a jumping-off point). 

  
  

• Craft a 2-3 paragraph narrative based on: 

  1. What they see happening in the painting

  2. Their research about the species involved and the relationship between these species and their environment. 

  *Remind them to incorporate the ‘abiotic’ features of the painting as part of the narrative.

• Present their narrative to the class either on a PowerPoint slide or by projecting the painting on a big screen and presenting it to the class. Have the audience discuss the ecology after every presentation. 

Making Connections: Arts Integration Project – Let’s Paint Ink-Wash-Wildlife Style!

[60 min]

[Learning Objective 5, 7]

Procedures:

• Ask Students: 

• We are going to paint using a technique Carel talks about in Video 2, called ‘ink wash.’ Can anyone recall what ink wash is and how Carel was introduced to this painting style? Ink wash is like watercolor painting but with Black India ink. The first ink wash paintings Carel saw were a series of bird ink washes by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Show students Black-Casqued Hornbill Ink Wash- One of Carel’s ink wash paintings.

  1. What did Carel say about the process of improving as a painter?  Improvement takes time, even though it often appears to happen suddenly. It takes practice.  Carel used the metaphor of slowly climbing steps.
     

  2. Share painting supplies with students found in the materials section of this unit under ‘Arts Integration Supplies.’ Tell them for the first step, using a pencil, they will trace Carel’s sketch of the ring-tailed lemur onto their watercolor paper. 

  3. Share a printed version of  Cpbvk-Lemur_TraceableSketch with students and have them trace the sketch onto watercolor paper.

  4. Tell Students: Now we will watch Carel’s demo video to learn how to do an ink wash:

• Play Video: Ink Brush Painting Demo (8 min).  (If possible, give students a second piece of watercolor paper to practice on, allowing them to experiment with the ratio of ink to water on the paper while watching the video.) 

  5. Share Carel’s finished ring-tailed lemur ink wash Cpbvk_Lemur_Final_Inkwash with students and tell them this is the end goal.

  6. Tell Students: Now you can begin. Painting takes practice so don’t expect perfection right off the bat! Just try your best and have fun. *Make sure you don’t use too much ink right off the bat. If you go too dark you can’t go back. Just a couple drops on your palette to start and dilute with ample water. 

  7. Have students showcase their ink-wash wildlife paintings. 

Dig Deeper

Invite students to “dig deeper” on these topics by providing additional options for research and reflection about ecology to spark interest and awareness.

Try-it-Out: Carel Brest van Kempen said that learning to paint was like literal steps. You practice but don’t feel like you are going anywhere. But suddenly you reach the next step and the hours, days, months, years of practice pay off. Then you plateau for a while and so on. Do you have a story to share that fits Carel’s step metaphor? Do you have a passion that needs your attention? Carel’s message is do what you love and do it passionately and consistently, and you WILL see results. Just Try it out!

Articles

• Give a Hoot: How to Protect Owls in Your Own Backyard (8 min read)- The plight of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped New York’s Central Park Zoo last year, showed just how tough it is to survive in a world altered by humans.

Books

• Bewilderment by Richard Powers. A great story about a parent and child fascinated by the planet and ecology, struggling with realities of climate change. Bewilderment Book Review HERE

• Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmmerer. Robin Wall Kimmerer's A series of linked personal essays that will lead general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. 

Lesson Plan Ideas

• Ecosytem in a Bottle (Great Lesson Plan on Teachers Pay Teachers)

• Ecology Explorers- Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation

Websites

• HawkWatch International- An organization conserving raptors around the globe. Their mission is to conserve our environment through education, long-term monitoring, and scientific research on raptors as indicators of ecosystem health.

• The National Audubon Society- The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need throughout the Americas, through science, advocacy, education, and conservation. 

  • John James Audubon’s Birds of America- An extensive art collection of Audubon’s work.

Films

• Whale Rider - (101 min) Tells the story of a girl destined to break the confines of her culture by becoming the chief of her Maori tribe. 

• Winged Migration- (89 min) Documentary on the migratory patterns of birds, shot over the course of three years on all seven continents.

• The Invisible Extinction: (85 min) Two globetrotting microbiologists race to save our vanishing microbes.

• The Seeds of Vandana Shiva (82 min) How did the willful daughter of a Himalayan forest guard become Monsanto’s worst nightmare? The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the food justice movement, and inspired an international crusade for change.