One group coming in - one group going out. This is how it was with groups of Kigali school children on their field trips to Kandt House Natural History Museum.
Art from our last 3-month course from local communities surrounding Parc National des Volcans (PNV) is on display along with the museum’s permanent exhibits.

Green Hills Academy gave their visiting children a long list of questions:
1. Name of the museum…
2. Location of the museum…
3. Whose home is now the national history museum?
4. Mention any two parts of Rwanda that were explored by Richard Kandt.
5. How did he die?
6. What is a rock?
7. Name the examples of rocks on display…
8. Name five national parks found in Rwanda…
9. Name five main volcanos…
10. When did Nyamulagira volcano erupt?
11. Where do the volcanic bombs come from?
12. State the influence of volcanic mountains on man’s activities…
13. What is unusual about how river Mukungwa flows?
14. What type of vegetation is on display?
15. Name three of each of the following from Rwanda
a) Reptiles
b) Birds
c) Mammals
16. What skills are required to protect the environment?
17. What attitude is being developed in our society toward the environment?
18. What is your responsibility in trying to keep/conserve the environment?

After viewing Art of Conservation’s exhibit as well as the museum’s permanent collection, students ponder questions and draw gorillas on the patio of the Kandt House.

I always loved taking field trips while I was in school.

APACOPE Secondary School students with Eric concentrating on the interactive sheet.
Photo by Sophia Milosevic Bijleveld - 2008.

Three boys on the patio of the museum.
Photo by Sophia Milosevic Bijleveld - 2008.

Valerie, Eric, Fahad, and I wish to thank Sophia and the rest of the Kandt House Natural History Museum staff for the wonderful opportunity to exhibit art at the museum and the chance to interact with Kigali school children and their teachers. It was such a positive experience for us all.

For those of you coming to Kigali, the museum is open everyday 9:00 - 5:00 except 1 January, 7 April, 1 May, and 4 July. Art of Conservation’s temporary exhibit is up for the next few months. Hope you can visit!

Julie

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Do kids from the city like mountain gorillas?
Have they visited the park where golden monkeys live?
Do they ever see forest elephants in their back yard?

A few months ago, I received an email from Sophia Milosevic Bijleveld - she and her husband live in Kigali, Rwanda’s captial city which is approximately a 2 hour drive from where I live in the Northern Province and Parc National des Volcans where the mountain gorillas live. I was thrilled to learn more about her work at the Kandt House Museum of Natural History in Kigali and pleased that she was interested in learning more about our project.

Click here to see a photo of Richard Kandt’s house that is now the Natural History Museum and more information provided by the Institute of National Museums of Rwanda.

Conversations with Sophia were refreshing and we started planning for art from Art of Conservation students in the north to be brought down to the city for an exhibition. Sophia received final approval from the director of the Institute of National Museums, Professor KANIMBA and a date was set.

Team AoC loaded the trucks with art - art made from students from the classes we just finished - and once we arrived in Kigali we got busy hanging the work at the museum.

Sophia contacted schools in Kigali and arranged for field trips to the museum. Here, Valerie and Sophia with a group of school children discussing the lesson Nzeli and the Flying Dart: Dr. Lucy Tells a Story.

Fahad, at the far right, speaks with students visiting the museum from APACOPE (Association des Parents pour la Contribution a la Promotion de l’Education).

Above, Eric and students look at watercolors - Animals of the Virunga Forest: gorilla, golden monkey, forest elephant, and forest buffalo.

Sophia, Valerie, Eric and Fahad received many interesting questions from the children.
Here are a few:
1. Do gorillas eat bananas?
2. How do gorillas form their families?
3. How do they get to know each other?
4. Do they breast-feed?
5. Does HIV/AIDS come from gorillas?
6. Do gorillas have boundaries? Aren’t there gorillas in Congo and Uganda?
7. People say we come from gorillas? Why do gorillas still exist?
8. Between humans and gorillas, who appeared on the planet before the other?
9. What would happen if these animals no longer existed?

Some of the kids laughed when they learned that some of the drawings were made by adults and insisted they could draw better. Well, with the interactive sheets below, students soon had a chance to try for themselves.

After viewing and discussing the art, students drew gorillas, answered questions in their own words about conservation, and drew a sad and happy expression. Interactive sheet #1 in English and Kinyarwanda.

Here, we draw the body of a forest buffalo. Interactive sheet #2 in French.

Thank you Sophia, for giving us the opportunity to help bridge a gap between city streets and forests where the last remaining mountain gorillas inhabit.

Coming up next, more scenes from the Kigali.
Julie

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More scenes from Art of Conservation’s art show.

Two of Shingiro’s art students pose in front of their art on display.

Above, another student from Shingiro.

Team AoC is pleased to hear lots of talking between students, families, and friends.

Watercolors of animals in the Virunga Forest capture these children’s attention.

Do you remember when everyone received hankys? Quite a fashion statement!

Ester, at l’hotel Muhabura, here with Where Do Gorillas Come From? and 5 Great Apes art.

Art to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city, next!

Julie

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It’s show time in the Northern Province of Rwanda for the children of Nyabigoma Primary School and the adults at Shingiro.

Arriving at the school early to hang the art, Valerie, Eric, Fahad and I are happy it isn’t raining - this traveling art show can easily get damaged from the rains common here in Kinigi.

Eraster and Eliab, two brothers from the Sunday class, quickly search for their art to show their mother.

Fahad describes the Protection / Destruction lesson with three mothers as he points to the resulting artwork.

Eric and a student’s father share comments about the FACIAL EXPRESSION exercise.

Valerie communicates with teachers and parents about the art.

While we were outside with students and families, Gabby from Clinics Rising, has been busy inside the classroom rigging up the laptop and projector to car batteries for the slideshow! Here, Gabby and Valerie are ready to push play.

Laughing and reflecting as we view all of the photographs taken from our three months together.

More scenes from the art show in the next post.
Julie

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The children go home with this art show invitation. We hope mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, teachers, and friends will attend.

Julie

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Art of Conservation’s three-month courses are coming to an end - a time of bittersweetness for Valerie, Eric, Fahad and me. Did we cover all that we intended to in such a short period? Did we move too quickly or at a nice pace in order for lessons to seep in? There are endless things we wish to introduce and encourage with each individual that discerning an appropriate time to stop teaching can be difficult to find. But on the other hand, we know we will soon begin working with another group of students and we’ve done our best to provide stimulus and courage to our current group of students. But we’ll still miss the people we’ve come to know.

T-Shirt painting and preparing invitations for next week’s art show is what we want to achieve today.
First…T-Shirts with a Virunga Forest animal painted on the front.

Simeon wears the T-Shirt he painted which has a forest elephant face!

Six students at a time paint their own design on a shirt using textile paints. They’ll have to wait until the art show to receive their shirt.

This young boy uses his golden monkey picture from a previous lesson for his T-Shirt design.

Eric assists a student with her design of a gorilla and name.

Here, a sneak peek of what’s to come…. the ART SHOW.

Julie

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LESSON IN ART CAPTURING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, Part 2.
Paint a forest elephant’s face showing a HAPPY expression. Have fun!

Tapping into our imaginations, we conclude our series of facial expression drawings with the FOREST ELEPHANT. Living next to the protected area of Parc National des Volcans, the Virunga Forest, many of the students have witnessed forest elephants disregard the wall surrounding the park and move to fields near their own houses.

Any of you drink Tusker Beer in Kenya? Watching the children paint these great pictures I was reminded of the Tusker T-shirt design.

Perhaps some of you are getting a sense of joy seeing this work of facial expressions. Let me know if you do. Feel free to send me your drawing of an animal’s expression. I can post it here.

Julie

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Team AoC sends their condolences to the families and friends of the individuals killed and a speedy recovery to the people injured in Virunga National Park on 9 July 2008.

LESSON IN ART CAPTURING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, Part 2

A previous lesson exposed our students to drawing an anatomically correct GOLDEN MONKEY, one of the endangered animals living in the nearby Virunga Forest.

Today, Valerie, Eric, Fahad, and I encourage free play as students draw a golden monkey’s face with what they imagine to be its happy expression.

Three golden monkeys by three artists.

Students have fun with color.

Forest Elephants next…

Julie

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Paula and Sherri,
Thanks for your comments about possibilities of making art available to those who are interested in purchasing it. I’m still not sure how to go about it, but with your good advise and things to consider I hope to come up with a successful plan. Please don’t hesitate to send me more ideas.
Thanks again. Julie

LESSON IN ART CAPTURING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

A child looks at a classmate’s happy expression and quickly draws it using pencil. Then, with watercolors, a student elaborates bringing more emotion on paper.

Here are a few of the happy faces.

Nine faces by 9 children.

One big happy face.

Another set of pictures by Art of Conservation students.

Too much fun!

Golden monkey faces coming up next.
Julie

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Thank you for the $200.00 donation, VIRGINIA!!! We can hardly wait for you and your students to come to Rwanda and work with AoC next spring! Thanks for everything you do!

Paula sent this comment to me after she saw the illustrations generated from our Where Do Gorillas Come From? exercise:
This is so beautiful. I wish you’d make a calendar with a selection of the best pictures - I’d buy one!

Theresa, Sherri S. and many more of you share similar interest in purchasing art made by our Art of Conservation students. I’m struggling with the logistics and perhaps you all can help me. The money raised would help generate funds for the project and thus allow Art of Conservation to continue reaching out to as many different communities located next to PNV. It is approximately $100.00 for one student to participate in our free three-month course. The blogs I am posting now represent the work of 150 students, equalling to approximate project costs of $15,000.00 per each three-month course. In a one-year period, AoC works directly and intimately with nearly 450 individuals.

If I design a set of notecards, a T-Shirt and calender with student’s art and also made available student’s original art that is in the dried banana leaf frame made by Alphonsinee, are you all interested in purchasing these things? Pricing, marketing, shipping, etc… needs to be sorted out. I look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions.
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Johnny Cash comes to class - well, at least through speakers connecting to my iPod. Joining him is Diana Ross, The Beatles, Burning Spear, Yo Yo Ma, Ladysmith Black Mombazo, Jimmy Cliff, Elton John, Beethoven and Yo La Tengo. I switch the music off and ask, “How do you feel?” Fine, good, happy are the responses from our class of 50 children.

Not that I want to ruin anyone’s day, but with our exercise today, LESSON IN ART CAPTURING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, I want to explore a few more of our emotional states.

Mama Is Sad, a song by Justin Roberts, a native of Des Moines, Iowa where I grew up, conjures sadness. Luciano Pavarotti’s belting evokes curiosity. Giraffe from David S. Polansky’s Animal Alphabet Songs brings us back to happy. Ok, we’re acknowledging more human emotions. Good.

Now, I’m thinking, this song will really bring the house down with deep emotional expression - John Denver’s Calypso - his tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his oceanographic ship. Music is switched off…silence….then quietly someone says, “That’s terrible!” and with this the student’s laughter brings down the house. I laugh too, but come on, I love that song.

Clearly we are loosening up as kids rush to the front of the class and dance as Bob Marley wails on.

Settling back down in our seats, Eric, AoC’s lead art instructor, explains to the children the exercise:

Part 1. With a pencil, quickly draw a classmate’s face showing their HAPPY expression.
Continue with watercolors.

Part 2. With a pencil, draw a golden monkey or forest elephant’s face showing a HAPPY expression.
Continue with watercolors.

Below, photographs of kids getting started on Part 1 by looking at a classmate’s happy expression.

Classmates drawing each other’s HAPPY expression.

You lookin’ at me?

Again, looking at a classmate’s happy expression and quickly drawing to capture emotion on paper.

Their pictures from the day in the upcoming post.

Julie

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