COMMUNITY DESIGN FOR A CARVED STUMP:
St John the Evangelist Catholic School

How we did it...

To prepare, we practiced memory drawings and drawing from life, and went on a field trip where we sketched lots of animals. Then we each chose an animal to design and, using references provided by the artist and the teacher, we each carefully drew the best animal we could. Tania drew this fine bird.

Then we went out to take a good look at the stump, and its surroundings. We listed all the things that were already present in the immediate vicinity and would not need to be on the carving. We noted that people inside the school needed to have a good view as well as people in the street. Eddy made a great drawing of the stump in its environment!

We measured the stump, and looked closely at the knots and bumps Debbie would have to work with when she is carving. We made sketches of the stump from all directions. Rosemary's drawing was so accurate, we photocopied it so that all the students could work from it to make their design proposals. These proposals helped us to settle on an over-all design. Debbie cut a big piece of pattern paper for us to arrange the plants and animals on.

With thirty drawings to arrange, it was up to Debbie to make the final placement decisions, This is no different than the way that a curator or art director works with adult artists.

click this button to see our pattern

This project was carried out by artist Debbie O'Rourke and Mr. Fusaro's class of St. John the Evangelist School under the Artists in Education Program of the Oario Arts Council.