Art for Gorillas

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Jun 30 2008 | By: Julie

THANK YOU, Theresa, for your March 6, 24, 31, April 17, and May 1 donations. Team AoC truly appreciates your kind generosity!

Recently I read Origins Reconsidered - In Search of What Makes Us Human by Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin. I learned a great deal as well as thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. However, Part Six: In Search of the Future, contains one particular sentence which continues to resonate within me, “The night sky is full of unanswered questions.”

One Saturday and Sunday not too long ago after students put away their art materials and were returning to their seats for our few remaining moments of closing remarks, I found myself asking the children if they gazed into the dark night sky and if they did what did they think about. I assigned the students a little homework which entailed looking at the sky before going to bed and asking themselves three questions - questions about anything.

Here are just a few questions that students shared the following week:
When the moon is not full, does this mean the moon is broken?
Can stars fall down?
If a star falls down, can I find money at the place where the star landed?
Are there people on the moon?
And probably the most asked question was about rain.
Where does rain come from?

Valerie, Eric, Fahad and I answered some of the questions as best we could, but the primary purpose for the exercise was to provoke curiosity as well as accepting that not all questions have one finite answer and many questions may never arrive with conclusive answers. Isn’t life about asking questions? In turn, do we not spend a lifetime sifting through and exploring only to be spurred on by more questions?

We are into our second year of Art of Conservation classes and almost every group of students will ask, “Where do gorillas come from?” So continuing with life’s questions, we presented our current students with three questions:

1. When was Planet Earth formed?
2. When did life begin on Earth?
3. Where do gorillas come from?

Please join us as we explore together in the upcoming blog.

And thanks, Dr. Leakey, for your inspiring and insightful words.

Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC), Mountain Gorilla Vet Project, Inc. (MGVP), Team AoC (Team Art of Conservation)

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Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Jun 18 2008 | By: Julie

Lesson Where Art Shows the POSITIVE Impact of People on the Environment

Art student’s express more views on how they think people can protect the environment as opposed to being destructive.

A photo of volcanoes resting inside a national forest while cultivation threatens to enter. A view from a classroom in Kinigi.

Drawing of a woman working in the fields.

Another picture of a woman tending to her crops, perhaps this is corn.

Figure planting a tree.

Holding a seedling.

Shingiro Art of Conservation class.

More again soon,
Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC), Parc National des Volcans (PNV)

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Category: Art of Conservation (AoC), Community Based Tourism | Date: Jun 16 2008 | By: Julie

Thanks, Paula, Sheryl, Wanda, and Antonio, for your recent comments! It’s great to hear from you all.

Does a country at PEACE help MOUNTAIN GORILLAS? I would say so. The children at Nyabigoma Primary School who are participating in Art of Conservation classes illustrate people caring for people in their drawings as a way of depicting people’s positive impact on the environment.

Recently, at Nyabigoma Primary School, Team AoC had the pleasure of speaking with the governor of the Northern Province of Rwanda, Boniface RUCAGU, as well as the mayor of Musanze District, Celestin KARABAYINGA and Director General of ORTPN, Rosette Chantal RUGAMBA. The governor points to a drawing on display made by one of the children and asks me what it means. I happily share with him that the drawing is a result from our discussions on conservation. And with this particular drawing, the student is expressing his view of a POSITIVE impact people may have on the environment - living in peace and caring for our family and friends. Needless to say, all agreed!

We are standing in front of art made by Art of Conservation students at Nyabigoma Primary School, a school built by means of Rwanda’s tourism revenue sharing scheme. Pictured from left to right: Mayor Celestin KARABAYINGA, ORTPN’s Director General Rosette Chantal RUGAMBA, Governor Boniface RUCAGU, and School Master Cyprien NTABARESHYA.

Bebe NAHAYO’s picture of peace.

Elvis Costello asks, “(What’s so funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?”

AoC student BIZIMANA’s picture.

Special guests and speakers at ORTPN’s function in Kinigi continue on to more locations in which community based programs are operating. School children dance and sing.

Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC), Mountain Gorilla Vet Project, Inc. (MGVP), Rwanda Park & Tourism (ORTPN), Team AoC (Team Art of Conservation)

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Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Jun 11 2008 | By: Julie

Lesson Where Art Shows the NEGATIVE and POSITIVE Impact of People on the Environment.

Below is the final installment, for now, in our series of illustrations from our students showing what they believe to be destructive to our ecosystem. Here the students focus on hunting and setting snares to trap gorillas and other animals in the forest.

Warning! Life if not always a pretty picture.

Killing gorillas. Illustrations #1

Killing gorillas and other animals in the forest. Illustrations #2.

Setting snares and using guns in the forest. Illustrations #3.

Bow and arrows and machetes used to kill gorillas. Illustrations #4.

More illegal activity in the forest. Illustrations #5.

It is visually apparent our students are familiar with what may occur inside the forest, a place bordering on their homes and farms. It is our hope, Team AoC, that during classes we can foster a greater appreciation and awareness of the gorillas and environment not because we told our students they must, but because they choose to for reasons which resonate within. I’m feeling optimistic, especially with the children we work with, that a broader understanding is being recognized of why protecting our ecosystem is so important to us all.

Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC), Parc National des Volcans (PNV), Rwanda Park & Tourism (ORTPN), Team AoC (Team Art of Conservation)

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Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Jun 04 2008 | By: Julie

Three times a week, we load my truck with art supplies along with the prepared lesson of the day and drive up the hills to where we hold art classes - all of which are next to the gorilla park, Parc National des Volcans.

Our ‘art studio on wheels’ presently works with two classes of children and one class of adults. We are more than halfway through our three-month course now.

Guest visitors, Dr. Lucy, Dr. Magdalena, Jean de Dieu NGIRIRA, Odile NYIRAGUHIRWA, all of whom work in or around the park in various capacities, have helped Team AoC instill even greater awareness to our 150 students of the importance of preserving our natural resources, taking care of our own health, and protecting flora and fauna.

Below, watercolor illustrations following the theme of the day, “Lesson where art shows the NEGATIVE and POSITIVE impact of people on the environment.” We continue concentrating on the negative or destructive impacts. If you’re feeling a bit low or discourage by the art shown here, please be patient, soon we’ll present our student’s positive perspectives!

Illegally cutting trees. Illustration #1.

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Illegal activity in a Protected Area, such as hunting, poaching bamboo, and setting the forest on fire. Illustrations #2.

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More illegal activity inside Parc National des Volcans. Illustration #3.

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Hunting with bow, arrow and machete in the forest. Illustration #4.

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More fire in the forest. Illustrations #5.

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Rwanda has strict regulations for cutting any tree whether it is inside the forest or outside of the forest. Illustration #6.

Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC), Gorilla Doctors @ WildlifeDirect, Parc National des Volcans (PNV), Rwanda Park & Tourism (ORTPN), Team AoC (Team Art of Conservation)

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Category: Art of Conservation (AoC), art | Date: Jun 03 2008 | By: Julie

When we are at war, do we have a NEGATIVE impact on the environment?

Illustration #3

Illustration #4

Illustration #5

Illustration #6

Much more art to share with you, please stay tuned.
Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC)

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Category: Art of Conservation (AoC), art | Date: Jun 02 2008 | By: Julie

What are people’s negative and positive impact on the environment?

How do our art students express their thoughts on the environment?

Will a healthy environment immediately benefit these students and their families?

What human behaviors are acceptable or not acceptable when caring for our natural surroundings?

Let’s take a look at illustrations from our Art of Conservation students when presented with these questions. To begin with, we look at the NEGATIVE / DESTRUCTIVE impacts.

Polluting our Rivers and Lakes

A number of students believe people have a negative impact on the environment when human excrement enters into the lakes and rivers. Below, four illustrations.

Illustration #1

Illustration #2

Illustration #3

Illustration #4

Collette is drawing her ideas on the negative impact of people on the environment.

Students concentrating and drawing.

Much more to come!
Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC), Gorilla Doctors @ WildlifeDirect

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