EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAMS
 Historic &
Contemporary Landscapes of the Adirondacks and Hudson Valley
I am an active working artist (and a retired high school art teacher)
whose work focuses on wilderness landscapes of the Adirondack region. I
have done considerable research on historic artists of the region and
while my work is my own, I have certainly been inspired by some of the
same locations that they experienced.
In
my opinion, the arts are very suitable to being the interdisciplinary
vehicle that can link literature, history, economics, and social issues
to the environment – local and global.
I
have several different slide shows/powerpoints that essentially are all
related to the idea of learning more about your own environment and
history in order to learn more about yourself, the history of the
region, and as an opportunity to apply higher level thinking skills.
They can be custom tailored to be used with students in the Visual
Arts, English Language Arts, or Social Studies. My paintings can be
seen at SandraHildreth.com . I have received several grants in the
past, including one from the National Endowment for the Humanities for
summer research on 19th century landscape painters, and the results of
those grants are also on my web site at:
http://www.sandrahildreth.com/grants.htm. In addition to being a
painter, I’m also actively involved in the Adirondack Mountain Club and
the Adirondack Curriculum Project (adkcurriculumproject.org).
For
art students, the presentation/residency might involve seeing examples
of historic and contemporary works, doing some interactive interpretive
activities, workshop activities that might involve sketching and
composition techniques, painting or sketching outdoors, using
watercolors, oils, or acrylics, and/or working from photos. Students
could be developing their arts skills as well as learning how the
artists of the past have impacted social and historical events and what
that has to do with how we now look at the environment in this region.
There would also be an emphasis on helping students to look more
closely at the beauty of their own local environment that they see day
after day and seldom think about. Awareness of their role as stewards
of the environment often becomes part of the focus.
 In addition to
traditional landscapes, I have also developed my own unique approach to
creating “mandala paintings”. Based on Tibetan Buddhist mandalas, I use
the basic geometric structure but instead of filling them with Buddhas
and other religious subject matter – I fill my mandalas with Adirondack
landscapes. Buddhist mandalas have been defined as “the graphic
representation of the spiritual universe” – my mandalas represent my
spiritual universe: the Adirondack wilderness. I have successfully done
several mandala workshops with students in which they then collected
items and images that had special meaning and created their own
mandalas.
For
language arts students, the presentation would focus on examples of
historic and contemporary artwork of the region, and then a cooperative
group activity on how to interpret and analyze artwork. Students can
then do a variety of different projects that might involve reading
literature of the region and writing interpretive essays comparing the
art to the literature; writing original poems, essays, etc. inspired by
artwork; or creating a “gallery” or booklet that features art and
literature of a certain genre. There are obvious opportunities for
collaboration with an art teacher as well.
For
social studies or government students, the presentation would be more
fine-tuned to address the relationships between what the Hudson River
artists of the mid 19th century were creating compared to the economic
and social progress that was going on in the country. The fact that the
conservation movement in general, and the creation of the Adirondack
and Catskill Parks in particular, happened at a time when clearing the
land, building roads, cities, railroads, the Erie Canal, etc. was
preoccupying American society – is a unique turning point in the
history of New York State and the country. There is no doubt in my mind
that the arts directly impacted the early conservationists. Student
activities might involve research and writing illustrated
essays/powerpoints/web sites that look into the connection between the
arts, progress, and the environment of the region – and at contemporary
issues as well.
I look at my role as
providing the visual stimulation to inspire students to think more
about their own environment and their role as stewards. I would like to
think that my own work is helping to insure the continued protection of
the Adirodnack and Catskill Parks because it enables people who cannot
actually see the places that I paint, understand how special they are.
My presentations link past to present and encourage students to look
towards the future. They follow the concept of “place-based learning” –
in that understanding what is close to home helps young people develop
a better understanding of the rest of the world. They might do this
through hands on art activities, role-playing, writing, research, or
analysis – all incorporating skills that are important to students in
terms of meeting New York State Educational Standards.
Contact
the artist if you are
interested in having a presentation or artist-in-residence.
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