Art Class Produces Powerful Earth Day Pieces

Academy art students started their climate change research by hearing Artist Zaria Forman talk about the importance of creating artwork to spread awareness and teach viewers about the encroaching devastation of climate change. Students then learned about ocean debris, carbon footprint and what this all had to do with climate change.

Students were asked “How do we as informed artists, use research to deepen our artwork to spread facts about climate change?” and “ How can our artwork make change locally, in the global climate change issue?”

After students digested these large questions, they researched small parts of climate change issues that interested them and as a class came up with different visual solutions and ways to represent this information. Students researched everything from oil spills, Co2 in the atmosphere, ocean debris and plastic to polar ice melting. With research and time to create the Academy students created visually stunning and important works of art that told pieces of the story behind climate change. Some of these student art pieces have been hung around the school, college campuses and even galleries in Gloucester.  Students not only learned the value of research behind their artwork but the impact and change art in a community can make. While this was just one small step in the right direction, students learned many of the levels and impacts of climate change.