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Katherine Custer

The project brought together more than 100 students from Seatack Elementary: An Achievable Dream Academy and the Environmental Studies Program. Inspired by the Virginia MOCA exhibitions Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman: Journey to Nature’s Underworld and Duke Riley: O’er the Wide and Plastic Sea, students explored environmental issues through art and science while examining the ecosystems and waterways that shape coastal Virginia.

Overseen by Virginia MOCA manager of school and educator programs Katherine Custer, the project began with observation. In the first year, students made their own nature journals with teaching artist James O’Connor, recording sketches, notes, and reflections during visits to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center, the urban wetlands surrounding Virginia MOCA, and the students’ community garden at Seatack Elementary. Through this process, students learned to slow down, look closely, ask questions, and consider the environmental challenges facing their communities.

In the second year, fifth graders drew from their journals to design a collaborative public artwork, working alongside teaching artist Jasmine Brown, their classroom teachers, and Virginia MOCA educators. High school students from the Environmental Studies Program joined as mentors during art classes to support the younger students. The result, Change How We Sea Life, is a sculpture addressing marine debris that encourages visitors to think about their relationship with the natural world.

Younger and older students learned from one another throughout the process, building skills and confidence along the way. Gifted resource teacher Marie Culver said, “I noticed that the children were maturing emotionally, physically, creatively, and they were actually becoming great collaborators and communicators with each other.”

To share the story behind the sculpture, Virginia MOCA presented Nature’s Witness: Field Notes, an exhibition of student journals, sketches, and process materials, alongside a short documentary of the students’ journey.

A journal, a nearby patch of nature, and some guided prompts for observation can go a long way toward helping students form a lasting appreciation for the natural world. How to Teach Nature Journaling: Curiosity, Wonder, Attention by John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren (Heyday, 2020) is a helpful place to start if you’re looking for prompts of your own. Take your students outside, even just to a flowerbed at your school, and give them time to look closely and put what they see down on paper. You may be surprised by what they notice and what they choose to make of it.

Katherine Custer is the manager of school and educator programs at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach, Virginia. katherine@virginiamoca.org. virginiamoca.org