Royal River Watershed Species Tile

Project Goals:

• To use art in raising awareness of the flora & fauna located in the Royal River watershed 

• To learn about artists who work with animals as their subjects, (specifically,  working Maine ceramic artist, Tim Christensen, and wildlife artist and Maine Master Naturalist Michael Boardman); 

• To become acquainted with basic ceramic vocabulary;

• To learn about and find inspiration in the highly patterned art (alebrijes) from Oaxaca, Mexico;

To form and paint a low relief ceramic tile that contains both imagery of a species of your choice and an indication of the systems around it which promote that species’ survival.

1. Artists and Art Culture Studied: Ami Vitale, Tim Christensen, Joel Sartore, Anne London, Louie Psihoyos, Travis Threlkel, and Oaxacan alebrijes from Mexico

I can communicate where and what the beaver's habitats look like, and even problems in their locations by putting it in the tile. I chose apples, water, trees, grass, and footprints to use in the painting. The shortage of trees affects their habitat so making the tree all eaten up is showing that. The color scheme I used was a cool color scheme which helped with a lot of the things I chose to represent. I do like how the colors look but I think if I used the whole color scheme it would be more accurate. I would change the number of apples and make them more realistic looking. I chose to do the beaver because I really like them and see them all the time at the river. I think it is important to learn about them because they are so overlooked and important to the environment. The most important thing to keep them thriving and healthy is to not pollute their environments and not touch them in any way.