Eco-Art: Garden Towers Project
This art installation celebrates ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½â€™s Community Learning Garden. Created in 2015 in the form of six small clay towers, it focuses on two of the garden’s themes: Environmental & Sustainability Education, and Aboriginal Education. As the Learning Garden is only visible in the warmer months of the year, the idea behind this installation was to ‘plant seeds’ for educational gardening all year round. For this reason it has been installed in ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½'s Library, next to the re-purposed card catalogue that now holds seeds for the Toronto Seed Library.
Each section of the garden towers was hand-sculpted out of clay by a member of the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ community, then glazed and fired. The individual sections were stacked into 'towers', each separated by a clay disc. This art installation is just one of many environmental artworks in the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ building; look for others in the classrooms, in offices, and in the main ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ stairwell.
This installation piece celebrates the Community Learning Garden, which is found in six large concrete planters at the front of the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ building (right in front of the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Library.) It highlights themes related to ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½'s programs: Indigenous Education, Equity & Inclusive Education, Holistic Education, Creativity in Education, and Environmental & Sustainability Education. The garden models the joys of bringing nature into better balance in the city, and aims to inspire members of the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Community to include garden and nature-based learning in their own personal and professional lives. .
Artists:
Teacher Candidates from ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½'s Initial Teacher Education Program: Annie Broadhurst, Lisa Perlman, Emma Pagacz-Guy, Vivienne Kang, Magdalena Slabosz, Alyssa Stoddard, Theodore Toulis, Jamie Wei and Jennifer Wessman.
Faculty from ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½'s Initial Teacher Education Program: Judith Burt and Jane Forbes.
Special recognition goes to ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ MA student Jennifer Ford-Sharpe and faculty member Hilary Inwood for leading and facilitating this project.
