Kimberly Gonzales still can't figure out how artist Andy Goldsworthy makes some of his elaborate nature-based art installations. But this week at Sarah P. Duke Gardens' Nature Adventures Camp, she and other children gave Goldsworthy-esque artwork a try.
The children, aged 8 to 12, made an installation comprising a bridge of logs and other materials, a winding path of leaves and a hut nestled against a tree.
They spent several afternoons building the installation, after envisioning various possibilities during a group meditation on their first day of camp. Once on site, in the fenced-off area designated for the future children's garden, the campers collected branches, leaves, sand, moss, sticks and other items and came up with ways to use them.
They made the bridge across a narrow ditch on the first day, building atop two logs that camp counselor Seth Rose laid down according to their directions. The youngsters scrutinized the ground, looking for new materials to add.
"Maybe we could scoop up some of that stuff and put it on the bridge," Katie Concannon said, pointing to the moist soil in the ditch. "It could be like glue."
Kimberly spotted some moss and transplanted it onto the logs, as another girl trotted off into the woods to announce, "No more bamboo! We don't need any more bamboo!"
"Is there anything we can use that isn't green?" Claire Bizon asked. "It looks so green. I think we should put some rocks on it."
The leaf path prompted much argument over pattern choices. The campers decided to vote, but then some young rebels dismissed the results.
The much debated leaf path. Photo: Orla Swift
Those debates were the hardest part of the project, camper Colette Cambey said, but it was worth it.
"It was fun to do it with a whole group of people," she said, "because Andy Goldsworthy just did it with himself."
Ann Nashold, director of children's education and family programs for the gardens, organized the project to offer the campers an opportunity to look at the natural world in a new way, to collaborate and to find inspiration from nature and create from that inspiration using found natural objects.
During the week-long day camp, the children also planted herbs in The Honey Patch, a new community garden within Duke Gardens. And they made fanciful insects out of Scrap Exchange materials and discussed the bugs' imaginary habitats and behaviors.
Gonzales said she understands Goldsworthy's process better now, but she still marvels at some of the projects she saw in his book, Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature.
"There was this ice and it looked like a star; it had a lot of points on it. We don't know how he did that," she said. "And there was this rock and it was, like, covered in red stuff. And he made this thing with leaves. He cut them, and they were in lines and they looked straight. It was cool."
To see photos of the children's process, go to http://www.sarahpdukegardens.blogspot.com.