After examining the influence of Shinto beliefs on Japanese art and tradition, we looked closely at Zen Buddhist beliefs and Zen influenced practices such as the tea ceremony, meditation in zen gardens, ikebana flower arrangement, calligraphy and wabi sabi-- appreciating the beauty of imperfection. We practiced looking for wabi sabi beauty around us, pointing out parts of trees, … Continue reading Enso and Zen Buddhism Beliefs
In just a few days, some of us had grown confident in identifying certain plants and their benefits. On our walks, we found plenty of jewelweed, burdock, plantain, dandelion, beechnut, paper mulberry, basswood/linden, wood sorrel, mugwort, lady’s thumb, violets, goldenrod, blackberry and more! We also learned to recognize some poisonous plants such as poison ivy, … Continue reading Plant Identification
We travelled to Japan, where we encountered the rich traditions and beliefs of the Shinto religion. We learned about Shinto’s deep reverence for nature, and the belief in benevolent kami spirits which are venerated throughout Japan with shrines and yorishiro (objects used to invite benevolent kami spirits into a space). We examined some rituals that … Continue reading Shinto beliefs, traditions and Torii gates
We found unexpected delight in our park’s many Burdock plants. Burdock burs stuck sweetly to our fingers and clothing, and we realized that they are also great for sticking together to create larger bur clumps! We invented a fun target practice game called “Burs-Eye”, where we tossed our sticky burs to catch onto our natural … Continue reading “Bur’s Eye” Game
We learned about ancient Egyptian scribes, their tools, and their important role in documenting what we now know of ancient Egypt. After investigating the step-by-step process by which the papyrus plant becomes usable as a writing surface, we used actual papyrus to practice composing our own sentences using Egyptian hieroglyphs. In addition, we learned about … Continue reading The Scribes of Egypt and the Book of the Dead
We learned about the Haudenosaunee, a federation of five Indigenous tribes (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora people) in what is now Upstate and Western New York. They are often known by the French appellation ‘Iroquois’. We learned about the concepts of autonyms and exonyms, which are names that people give to themselves … Continue reading Haudenosaunee Pottery
Using mortars and pestles, we ground up rocks, lapis lazuli gemstones, shell, charcoal and other hard natural elements to create natural inks and watercolour paints. We used palette knives to mix these ground up pigments with a natural binder used during Renaissance times-- made from egg whites, honey, gum arabic, and clove oil. After we … Continue reading Creating natural inks and watercolor paints
Spark Arts 2019 Week 2 – Myth and symbolism This week, we explored myth and symbolism and discussed how traditions across the world have used myths to help explain natural events, beliefs and behaviors. We found that many myths use symbols to express meaningful concepts. As a group we analyzed the symbol of Zeus’ thunderbolt, … Continue reading Spark 2019 Week 2
Land art On our first day together, we looked at aesthetically pleasing land art created by artists such as Nils Udo, Harvey Fite and Andy Goldsworthy. We noted that these artists used natural materials to build with, such as flowers, leaves, sticks and rocks. We also looked at work by the artists Adam Frezza and … Continue reading Spark 2019 Week 1
In our second week of Spark 2018, we've been exploring the traditions of festivals around the world. As our exploration took us around the globe, we found many commonalities between festivals: the continuation of tradition from one generation to the next; the chance to come together as a community to celebrate prosperity and good health; … Continue reading Carnivals and Festivals Around the World: Spark 2018 Week 2
