This was a project initially approved by Jeff Brown for August 2020, and postponed because of COVID. I am faculty in the art department at Carleton College, Northfield, MN. I propose to live at the station – along with two undergraduate students – and draw in the field over a 5-day period, to focus on the connection between art and nature. There is a strong curricular tieback to my teaching Field Drawing and Observational Drawing courses, as well as directing an off-campus study program in the South Pacific largely focused on a consistent practice of drawing. I am especially interested in how to employ artwork as a way to better see and understand any environment. Drawing has the capacity to strengthen our ability to concentrate, heighten awareness, and affect how we can reach a different level of engagement with our natural surroundings. Our time at Sagehen Creek Field Station will be spent hiking and drawing in sketchbooks, trying to visually discover and document the surrounding Central Sierra Nevada landscape. Having time to intensely focus on the drawing process is a unique and productive opportunity. It creates new technical possibilities that I incorporate into my teaching examples and methods, a changed perspective on place and travel, and valuable educational opportunities.

Approved