The best of traditions build upon historic foundations of success and continue to innovate. Jackson Hole High Schools’ Art and Literature in Nature is a perfect example of the best of traditions. Building upon 37 years of history, and continuing to innovate, Jackson Art and Lit provides an opportunity, one time per year, for local students and teachers to connect to place, each other and the natural world – while creating some pretty amazing expressions of these connections!
Foundations Continue:Artist and writer in residence, Greg Houda and Matt Daily, continued to inspire students towards creativity in their personal connections to art and lit in nature. Their work towards skill development and perhaps more profoundly, their work to inspire students, is a testament to their long term connections to the Art and Lit program over the past decades. Thanks Matt and Greg for your passion and effort.
Teton Science Schools instructors continued to bring students into Grand Teton National Park to find unparallelled locations to reflect and to inspire creative works of art and writing. Ecology and natural science added experiential depth to students work.
Innovations:Working in collaboration with adminstrative teams at Jackson Hole High School (JHHS) and Teton Science Schools (TSS), 7 TSS graduate students and 8 JHHS teachers were involved in a “studio residency” experience as part of Jackson Art and Lit. This included observation, dialogue and collaboration focused on aspects of Art and Lit that lead to student engagement and expression. This cross-organizational collaborative effort led to many individual and team insights into the connection between nature and student engagement.
The unexpected innovations:Gary Snyder, the renowned nature author, stopped by the Kelly Campus of Teton Science Schools to say hello. When hearing of the Art and Lit program, he joined in the students morning Art class and provide inspiration with an impromptu sharing of his vision of the meaning of Wild.
Inspired by the 37 years of tradition and the new innovations to the Art and Lit programs, students created wonderful pieces of Art and Literature. To see more, visit the Center for the Arts Conference Room, where student work is on display for the next few weeks.
