Arts

In the arts program at IslandWood, the application of this learning is expressed in individual and collaborative art projects through guided exploration in creativity, inquiry, and discovery. It's a one-of-a kind opportunity for both intellectual exchange and creative expression that fosters an appreciation for the world around us.

What sets us apart?

The outdoors is the classroom.

Children and adults have an innate sense of wonder and excitement about the natural world. Our 255-acre campus and experienced faculty and artists encourage and support students in understanding their relationship with the forests, streams, marshlands, and marine environment around IslandWood. Through experiential and inquiry-based learning, students construct knowledge and gain an understanding about things like the sundew, (Drosera rotundaflora), a small insect-eating plant that grows in our bog, or the brown creeper (Certhia familiaris) an unusual bird that looks like a wren, sings like a warbler, and spirals up trees like a woodpecker.

Using the creative arts as the vehicle, students create a tangible expression of this newly constructed knowledge through one of the multiple disciplines offered through the IslandWood arts program: visual arts, performance arts (theater/drama, dance, music), literary arts (writing, poetry, art-based research), or interdisciplinary arts (video, film, photography, sound, animation, or time arts). Examples of such artistic expression might be creating of patterns on fabric that depict the local watershed using traditional and natural dyes, or a non-traditional nature journal created with the digital camera.

Integrating art, technology, and science.

We have developed a pedagogy that is interdisciplinary and inquiry based, exposing children to the range of their possible relationships with the natural world. As we integrate arts and science specifically, we are blurring the boundaries of both disciplines by teaching fundamentals found in both: natural history observation, sensory awareness, imagination development, and ecological knowledge.

Artist-in-Residence Program supports children's education.

At IslandWood, professional artists offer their knowledge and experience as they teach and create alongside children, adults, and families. Day and multi-day residencies will involve local and visiting national artists representing an intentional mix of disciplines and media.

Partnerships provide incredible educational opportunities.

There are abundant resources and expertise in our region's arts community and we are actively drawing from and contributing to this rich fellowship. Working with organizations such as the Seattle Arts Museum, Hugo House, Henry Art Gallery, Arts Corps, Woodland Park Zoo, Youth in Focus and Media 911 allows us to offer more resources and specialized residential education programs to our students.

Arts curriculum is integrated into the Graduate Program.

Our ten-month graduate program is based on the principle that a more sustainable future demands knowledgeable and reflective educators. One course, Art in Environmental Education, explores the creative process through hands-on learning. Students investigate cross-cultural views of aesthetic and ecological perceptions with an overview of the multidisciplinary arts, giving them a rich experience in critical thinking, multicultural understanding, and the creative process.

Valuing the Arts.

In addition to fostering creativity and an appreciation for environmental and cultural diversity, the program encourages children and adults to value their own creativity, as well as to value artists as important contributors to society.

The essential art experience for all children during the School Overnight Program:

• To create something with their hands;
• To tell a story through any medium or material about an animal, plant or culture they have learned about during the week;
• To take a risk and explore an art material they are unfamiliar with;
• To develop their imagination;
• To end every 4-day residency with some kind of exhibition or performance that synthesizes their learning experience.

For further information on the Artist-in-Residence Program or to request an application, please call our Arts Coordinator, Jessica Henderson at 206.855.4325 or jessicah@islandwood.org