FIELD STUDIES: DRAWING FROM NATURE

2016 Julius I. Brown Award

by Lyndsay Murphree

In July 2017, I led a two week high school class at Marwen, a non-profit organization in Chicago that provides art instruction to children from under-served communities and schools. The goal of this class was for students to understand and apply the principles of botanical art to their own art practice through watercolor, and learn about the native plants (and pesky weeds) of Illinois. The grant allowed me to provide excellent supplies, take field trips with the students, and frame their work for exhibit.

Though Marwen gives us a better than usual budget for supplies, I have never been able to provide professional level materials for the students. Every time I taught watercolor in the past I would have to ration paper, or try to make do with sub-par paper that falls apart after one layer. Being able to provide the students with a good supply of professional level paper and paint meant that they were able to experiment and make mistakes, which is so important in the learning process. They were also able to make more than one work of art which helped them practice their technique. I also made each of them a kit of supplies to take with us on field trips and keep after class was over.

We took two fields trips- one to Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods in Deerfield and one to Ragdale in Lake Forest, which is an artist retreat that borders the Lake Forest Open Lands. We had originally planned to go to the Chicago Botanic Garden but a massive flood washed out the roads and shut it down for a few days. It turned out for the best, though, as Ragdale is not typically open to the public and it gave them inspiration for what they could do in their future if they continued their practice. At Brushwood Center we braved the wet ground and took a walk in the woods, where I was able to spend quality time with the kids just chatting about life. Some of them talked about how nice it was just to get out for a walk. When living in the city it is so easy to forget there are open spaces nearby that are free and accessible. A few of them mentioned that they wanted to come back with their family, now that they knew they could. The ability to escape and sketch is a gift I am so happy I could share with the kids.

In order to help the students learn more about the plants they would be seeing, I had a number of field guides on hand for their reference. These became very popular with one student in particular, who became the go-to for plant identification. It was a regular occurrence to see her with a stack of five books on her lap. All the students got into the fun of trying to identify plants by their little details. I was never so proud as when I overheard a debate about leaf placement as two students tried to narrow down their subject matter. I’m pretty sure it was yarrow, if anyone wants to know the outcome of the debate.

Back in the studio, I abandoned all pretense of this being a strictly watercolor class and allowed the students to use whatever medium they wanted. I’m very happy I did this because they were better able to express themselves. I am amazed at how they honored their own styles while still maintaining accuracy in their representations. They were most definitely looking closely and practicing their powers of observation while out on the field trips.

One thing I am never able to do is provide frames for all the student work. There is a sense of legitimacy and value when you frame something. It was very important to me for my class to choose their exhibit piece and have it matted and framed and see their work through to an end. They all worked in a 5x7 format so the end result is a cohesive collection that looks curated. It was on exhibit at the Marwen summer term exhibition and will also be shown at another studio in Chicago in the early spring. We also made prints that many are selling at a Marwen art fair. All this combined gave the students the experience of what it would be like to be a working artist.

At the end of class I asked them to share what they learned so I could tell you exactly what they took away from the experience. They said that identifying plants is addictive. They became aware of the plants around themselves as well as the cons of invasive species. They liked trying new techniques, using toned paper, drawing plants in their own style and simply having the space to doing something they enjoyed. Without this grant, I would not have been able to get my students out into the prairies and experience the wonder of the natural world through their eyes. In conversation with another teacher she mentioned how one of her students only wanted to take photos of flowers and she couldn’t figure out why. It turns out that student had just finished my class, so I like to hope my love for this art form and subject matter rubbed off on other students in some way as well. The effort they put into their work, and their willingness to learn, is inspiring to me as an artist and as a teacher. Thank you for letting me share this experience with you.