Lines of Landscape: From Webinar to Plein Air

Weber State University (Arts Learning Collaborative) and Southern Utah University came together to offer The Science Around Us, a statewide arts integration webinar series this school year.

We held our first webinar, “Lines of Landscape: Part 1” on November 3rd from 5-7pm. During this evening’s webinar, “Art Coach” Bruce Hucko demonstrated how directional lines can create three-dimensional geological forms on paper.  He led participants to create a book, filling it with drawings of landforms found in Utah’s deserts, all made with lines.  Participants also developed the skills and confidence to take what they have learned and implement this lesson into their own classroom. We also had Dr. Amy Miner on the line with us to help participants see the connections between the science and visual art standards and how easily educators would be incorporating them with Bruce’s lesson.

We held “Lines of Landscape: Part 2” on December 8 from 5-7pm.  In this webinar, participants built upon what they learned in Part 1.  They were invited to experience a studio session, once again, led by “Art Coach” Bruce Hucko. During this webinar, participants learned how to add color to the landscapes they created in Part 1. Bruce led activities involving color-mixing and techniques in various mediums, and special guest Peggy Harty shared a dry pastel demonstration. Participants left the webinar with the skills required to create a finished Utah landscape.

The opportunity for educators, who had taken both Part 1 and Part 2, to meet both Bruce and Peggy in person came with UAEA’s (Utah Art Education Association) annual spring conference  held in Moab, UT from March 2-4. We met at Grand County High School at 2pm on Friday, March 3rd and loaded up into shuttle buses and headed to Island in the Sky in Canyonlands National Park. We met up with Bruce and Peggy, each leading a group through the respective steps to “draw what you see”, applying the directional lines to our pencil sketches to capture the amazing natural landforms on our paper.  We eventually headed back to Bruce’s classroom at HMK Elementary where Bruce and Peggy continued to lead us through the process of applying color, in both acrylic and dry pastel.

All educators who participated in any part of Bruce’s “Lines of Landscape” workshops walked away with the knowledge, confidence and skills to teach their own students how to draw the various landforms found in Utah’s setting by using…the lines of landscape!

Peggy Harty is a retired elementary school teacher and artist in Moab. She enjoys creating art through a wide range of mediums, especially Plein Air landscapes.

Amy Miner, Ph.D., is a leading voice in education. She is a classroom teacher, curriculum director, professor, and the founder of In Focus Education Group and has been an advocate for arts integration in both her teaching and her research.