On November 29 and 30, we had Maria Michails, artist in residence from Art Gallery of Southern Manitoba in our school. Together with some of the high school students, she constructed a generator while the rest of the school worked on structures. They were allowed to use only natural materials and found objects, even for the joints. They ended up weaving pieces together, tying them or attaching them with clay. Later, they wired up the structures with mini lights. When you turned the crank on the generator, it produced the electricity needed for the lights to go on.
I wasn't able to watch her whole presentation about her art but what I gathered from it is this: mostly she produces work that is somehow connected to the environment and sustainable development. She studied farm communities in Manitoba and built a hand powered generator at the Art Gallery of Southern Manitoba that irrigated a 'crop' of wheat when you cranked it. Her other works are based on similar ideas.
Anyway, our kids decided for their structures, they were going to build a miniature Bethlehem. They had all kinds of structures, wells with a real crank to pull up the pail of water, tents, a barn with a manger, sheep on the hill and other paraphernalia. It was placed on a 'hillside' which was in reality a four foot stump from a tree that our art teacher brought. They attached the lights and when your applied muscle power, the generator produced enough electricity to light up the whole 'city'.
I found the whole idea fascinating and even more so when I realized that Bethlehem means "the house of bread." So, what I got from the work of art is that we, as a community, need to share this house of bread, i.e. the message of Jesus', with the world.
I wasn't able to watch her whole presentation about her art but what I gathered from it is this: mostly she produces work that is somehow connected to the environment and sustainable development. She studied farm communities in Manitoba and built a hand powered generator at the Art Gallery of Southern Manitoba that irrigated a 'crop' of wheat when you cranked it. Her other works are based on similar ideas.
Anyway, our kids decided for their structures, they were going to build a miniature Bethlehem. They had all kinds of structures, wells with a real crank to pull up the pail of water, tents, a barn with a manger, sheep on the hill and other paraphernalia. It was placed on a 'hillside' which was in reality a four foot stump from a tree that our art teacher brought. They attached the lights and when your applied muscle power, the generator produced enough electricity to light up the whole 'city'.
I found the whole idea fascinating and even more so when I realized that Bethlehem means "the house of bread." So, what I got from the work of art is that we, as a community, need to share this house of bread, i.e. the message of Jesus', with the world.