Art, nature collide, with beauty as a result

Participants in last autumn's Ranger Conservation Core project attend the gallery opening featuring in their nature-inspired works on Jan. 15. Photo by Karsten Moran

By Jason Fields and Karsten Moran

Students from the Marble Hill School for International Studies have learned something about art and transience as particpants in a project organized by the Urban Park Rangers.

The kids created sculptures out of branches, leaves and flowers in Van Cortlandt Park. The work they created in the fall melted back into the woods not long after they finished, but the photographs that were taken of their sculptures were displayed at the Elisa Tucci Contemporary Art Gallery on Mosholu Avenue last week.

Michael Vincent, one of the rangers who led the project, cited landscape photographer Ansel Adams and Scottish contemporary artist Andrew Goldsworthy as inspirations.

He referenced the ways in which Adams’ work introduced national parks to a generation of Americans, some who would never visit them, and hopes the kids’ creations will serve a similar purpose.

Among the works created by the students, nearly all of whom trace their recent roots to Bangladesh, was a 10-footlong caterpillar, along with floral designs. Perhaps the most impressive was a minimap of Van Cortlandt Park itself, made from grass and leaves and other materials found on in the park.

Cheyida Tnaone, who is in eleventh grade and participated in the program, attended the premiere at the gallery and was pleased with the final product.

“Right now it’s very, very beautiful, all of them, they are very beautiful,” she said.

The project also represents more than art or nature to Cheyida.

“We also learned how to collaborate,” she said. “If you don’t communicate with each other, you can’t do anything.”

Lisa Cooper runs the gallery and saw putting on the show as an opportunity to contribute to the Riverdale/Kingsbridge community.

“I believe in the power of kids and art and creating, and this just so perfectly fits in with that,” she said.

“And its great to see their faces light up as they talk about their work, and what they’ve done. I think it’s just going to be something that they will remember that will be a ver y special part of them,” Ms. Cooper said.

This is part of the January 21, 2010 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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