Artist Boat

"Processes of our Sea"

Artist Boat’s Eco-Art Program Coordinator, Lisa Reznicek, conducted an eco-art residency, The Process of Our Sea, with Matthys Elementary School in the fall of 2006.

Students met after school for 2 hours once a week to discuss character building and personal traits of Matthys Elementary students. Discussions on 11 topics such as trust and honesty were coupled with art lessons on drawing, clay, and painting. For every character trait, the students chose an animal that they thought represented that quality. After carefully drawing, the students then rendered their drawing into a three-dimensional piece of clay, which was then painted.

 matthys student

The project focused on marine life adaptations to the occurrences of the world’s oceans. Specifically, the lessons enhanced the student’s knowledge of their regional environment and local or migratory animals along the Texas Gulf Coast. Along with scientific experiments and discoveries, painting and drawing was presented in order to produce painted clay tiles. The tiles illustrated the abundant marine life found in various zones of the oceans. The pieces were then installed in mosaics at the Matthys Elementary outdoor classroom.

 ocean table
intertidal bench

Mosaic Bench of Intertidal Zone: where land meets water
neritic bench

Mosaic Bench of Neritic Zone: shallow regions over continental shelves
pelagic bench

Mosaic Bench of Pelagic Zone: open water of any depth
benthic bench

Mosaic Bench of Benthic Zone: seafloor

abyssal bench

Mosaic Bench of Abyssal Zone: benthic region in deep oceans