The region we live in, The San Francisco Bay Area, is beautiful and fragile and needs our attention and care. Discover the importance of water and the consequences of human activity on our watershed and on the ocean. From individual work to a group installation, campers make art and design projects, exploring mini-landscaping, basic circuitry and soldering, and graphic design. 

Part of the Art and Design Thinking Camp, a six week enrichment program in San Jose supported by the AYA (Alliance for Youth Achievement) . The A&D Camp is 6 weeks long, one art educators/instructors per week.
Week One: Art and the Environment.

DAY ONE

1. Make a mini mobile from trash collected around the San Francisco Bay.
Campers think about the San Francisco Bay and the important role each of us need to play to protect it.

First day of the camp. I brought to the students a large bag of trash collected in Sunnyvale, during a Coastal Cleanup. And I placed the content of the bag on the floor. We start our camp with a conversation about pollution in our watershed. What is our watershed? How does it get polluted? What can we do about it?

Using plastic trash pieces and special wooden lasered tags, each student make a mini mobile. The tags say “be part of the solution”, “Sign up for a cleanup”, “Help Save the Bay”, “San Francisco Bay”, “A Unique Eco System”, “A Fragile Ecosystem”, When you see trash pick it up!”.

2.Make a Terrarium. Human activity can affect the water cycle. Why is the water cycle so important for the balance of ecosystems?
Campers build a terrarium with small house plants, soil, charcoal and gravel. They decorate it with personal elements like rocks or pieces of wood, creating a mini landscape.

3. Cranky Contraptions – inspired by the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium San Francisco
A fun way to make simple mechanisms and motion. Campers explore up and down motion making contraptions from plastic trash collected around the Bay
to make a statement about plastic pollution.