USA

1997-2000: “Creative Applications in Environmental Education” : a collaboration between University of Maryland System (Appalachian Environmental Science Center) and the  State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).

BEEP t-shirt with State of Maryland emblems designed by DJJ students
DJJ students drawing fish at Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland System
DJJ student midas cichild – 1999
DJJ students at Baltimore VIRTUE conference
Bilharzia life cycle drawing by DJJ student J W
Student V R drawing
DJJ student J M – stag beetle – 2000
Student R M drawing still life
Student R M – bluebird – 2000
T W preparing hand-made cards
Hand-made cards by DJJ students
Mike M drawing African heads
An Environmental Education Program was created between the State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and the Maryland University System – representing  a novel approach toward subjects at the interface of art and science.  Observation was a fundamental link in this innovative pilot program – aimed at providing further educational opportunities for self-development and the rehabilitation of adjudicated urban youth temporarily placed in rural W. Maryland Youth Camps.

 

Alison created a 22-week programme which included both a theoretical component related to aesthetic concepts, students’ relationship to their environment, waste management, observation/drawing exercises, as well as hands-on techniques in creative recycling:  using a maximum of locally available, recyclable materials (paper, clay, vegetable scraps, tea-bags,  sand, rags etc). Students also discovered the art of hand-made paper and its potential use in book-making, cards and posters, as well as design concepts for T-shirts.

 

Those talented students who participated in exhibitions and conferences – organised by both Maryland DJJ, as well as Maryland University of Biotechnology Institute – were often surprised by their latent abilities and skills in drawing, making hand-made paper, cards and books, as well as designing posters and T-shirts.

1998: Creative Applications in Recycling: workshop for Maryland State Elementary School Teachers.

Elementary Teacher Training Course – Centre for Environmental Science, Maryland
Hand-made paper
Creative recycling – making a sheet of paper
Appalachian Environmental Science Center (University of Maryland System) organized this course,  sponsored by Maryland State Arts Council Frostburg State University, Maryland and attended by 20 teachers. The course itself included many of the same components as the course (running concurrently) with adjudicated students from the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice