Oregon Students Team up With Cornell Lab to Create Avian Art
Acorn Woodpecker by Kasiha Patte, Grade 7
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Tualatin Valley Junior Academy in
Hillsboro, Oregon recently teamed up to help students create a series
of bird portraits. Under the guidance of science teacher Phil Kahler
and art teacher Toni Kahler, each student chose a bird species to study
from among the Cornell Lab's research and citizen science projects. In
addition to learning about each species' biology and conservation, the
students created beautiful pieces of art. They used paint and gel to
create emphatic, textured surfaces that rise off the canvas to bring an
extra sense of life and motion to each likeness. See the student’s work
at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/page.aspx?pid=1455.
The students were introduced to the Cornell Lab's work through
BirdSleuth, one of the Lab’s educational programs. Mr. Kahler is a
long-time participant in BirdSleuth, which provides materials and
lesson plans that help teachers create inquiry-based lessons around
common, easy-to-see birds.
Article published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. To learn more,
visit http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdsleuth/texturedart.
