"There's no diploma in the world that declares you as an artist - it's not like becoming a doctor. You can declare yourself an artist and then figure out how to be an artist." -Kara Walker

Students in art class this session used this quote as a catalyst to explore their unique ways of being artists. Each student designed and created a self-directed art project inspired by their interests, beliefs, and responses to events happening in their lives and in the world. Enjoy the creativity, hard work, and insightful perspectives by clicking on the padlet below!

Students in this class explored their relationship to FEAR through intensive collaboration with the Haunted School class to create The Avanti 2020 Scavenger Haunt. They investigated their "shadow sides" and began to shed some light on the fear of darkness and uncertainty that lives within all of us. Their virtual haunt videos and shadow side self portraits expose the creative and cathartic power that lies within these fears.

Taking inspiration from the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, each student created an artwork in honor of a significant loss they have experienced in their lives. Some chose to remember loved people or animals who have passed on, while others focused on more symbolic losses we experience as we move through life transitions and reflect on what we miss most about life before the coronavirus pandemic. These artworks were put together to create a memorial altar installation that is currently on display under Avanti's garden pavilion. Go check it out for real! (socially distanced, of course!)

AgLab

Normally, Radish is a very hands-on course in which we spend the majority of our time working with our hands in the gardens. This session, we decided to focus our efforts on keeping our hands in the dirt (albeit in our own homes and neighborhoods), learn more about food justice and food labor history, and to contribute to our community by designing COVID-19 Victory Garden Propaganda Posters (inspired by our research into propaganda of WWI and WWII). We are proud to present our work.

For natural resources this session, we focused on the trade-offs between everyday decisions (ex. choosing to use a paper coffee cup or a reusable mug) and the complexity of the systems that surround those choices. We called this journey of inquiry The Quest: This or That. The Quest started by asking a great question and involved researching the life cycles (cradle to grave) of both choices. We mapped our progress using websites to share ideas with each other, keep track of sources, and visualize connections via digital concept maps. As a culminating piece, students created kinetic mobiles that represent the balance of choices (ex. harvesting trees to make paper or mining clay for ceramic). The mobiles are temporarily installed at the Sagan Satellite garden at Avanti through Feb. 2021 -- check them out when you have a minute! Below are images of students' mobiles along with a link to their Quest websites. Enjoy!

Science is both a body of knowledge AND a process for creating new knowledge. Because the body of knowledge that is science is always growing, it is impossible for us to memorize all of it. Instead, for this session of Plant Biology, we learned to navigate the world of science from a perspective of passion and interest through an inquiry-based project called The Quest. Each student landed on a question that they were genuinely curious about and that has no clear 'google-able' answer. Then we went on a journey to attempt to answer that question. And no good science is complete without communicating it to the world. Student's completed their quest by making TED Talks to inspire and to translate their idea to your brain.

Orientation

Spanish Cultural Project

What came first... Fear or Math?

Emma Grijalva - Geometry in Art