Music Inspired by Nature

We drew parallels between Andy Goldsworthy’s use of natural elements in sculpture to composers’ use of natural sounds in music. After listening to soundscapes of several environments on Monday, we listened to Pierre Schaeffer‘s Etude des chemins, which creates rhythmic patterns from train noises, and Hugh LeCaine’s Dripsody, which is derived from a recording of a drop […]

Learning about Andy Goldsworthy’s Art

One of our favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy, also lives in Scotland.  We took a look at some of his work using natural materials as inspiration for our own creations.  We split into two teams and came up with some natural arrangements, making sure to use only elements from nature.  The kids made a realization that […]

Park Time!

We spent hours in the park!  Running across the fields and slopes, we imagined ourselves in Scotland where we visited the Scottish Highlands, rode on some Highland cattle and looked out for the Loch Ness monster.  The group absolutely fell in love with a wonderful spot by a vernal pond, where we set up camp. […]

Circle: Findhorn and ecovillages

Today we traveled to Scotland, where we discovered the famous ecovillage of Findhorn.  This successful community creates their own energy using windmills, grows much of their own food, and runs their own natural waste system that mimics wetlands.  We got to watch clips from a documentary about Findhorn to see what life looks like there.