The not-so-simple act of observation is a lost art. Join accomplished artist Libby Davidson and naturalist and writer Heather Fitzgerald to practice slowing down, nurturing your creativity, deepening your understanding of the natural world, and strengthening your connection to place. Learn to see like an artist, scientist, and writer, and unlock the mysteries that surround us in both our forests and our own backyards. Throughout, we'll explore how to incorporate these concepts into our daily lives. If you are an educator, you will have the opportunity to discuss together and create lessons that incorporate the principles and practices into your classrooms.

Course Goals & Objectives

• Practice and demonstrate an attentive receptivity to the natural world by experimenting with the relationship between field sketching, writing, and close observation, and consider the ways you can bring these understandings to other areas of your life (and, for educators, your classroom).
• Practice and demonstrate sketching like an artist through experimenting with the techniques modeled out in the field, including blind contour drawing, rendering with pencil and pen, drawing to scale, adding color, and speed sketching.
• Practice and demonstrate observing like a naturalist and scientist using the techniques, tools, and information presented in the field, including tree and herb ID, the layer cake approach, and recognizing patterns and disturbances across the landscape.
• Explore and dismantle barriers to developing the relationship with nature that you want.

Physical Requirements

Participants must be able to walk up to a mile each day, sometimes off trail over uneven and potentially muddy terrain. Participants should be comfortable outside in potentially adverse conditions for extended periods. Please reach out to us if you have any questions about mobility and/or other accessibility needs.

Choose any that jump out at you  (we recommend choosing 3--many may be available at your local library):

• Reading the Forested Landscape (Tom Wessels)
• Forest Trees of Maine
• Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Lawrence Newcomb)
• Naturally Curious (Mary Holland)
• What the Robin Knows (Jon Young)
• Nature Drawing (Clare Walker Leslie)
• How to Do Nothing (Jenny Odell)
• The Forest Unseen (David Haskell)
• On Looking: A Walker's Guide to the Art of Observation (Alexandra Horowitz)

Suggested art supplies: An unlined sketchbook; Libby will send out suggestions before class begins for pencil and pens that could enrich your sketching experience.