Febuary 13th: Downstream/Upstream on display for FMR event at Science Museum

Child collecting water from the Mississippi River, during their
water journey in the Downstream/Upstream project

Excerpt from associated song lyrics:
Making puddles for the toads
Washing up the dirty roads
From the land the water flows
And the Mississippi grows

Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) has invited Full Spring Studio to display Downstream/Upstream along with other water-related art projects in conjunction with their annual public lecture series at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The theme this year is on "Our Water in a Changing World: Climate Change and the Urban Watershed," Thursday, February 13, 2014 at 7-8:30 p.m. At the time of this writing, there is a waiting list for the lecture, but check the link for current details. I'm looking forward to sharing work and discussing the intersection of art, place making and environmental awareness.

Downstream/Upstream Exhibit on View During SPRWS Open House October 10, 2013

Photograph of Flocculator Basin by Paul,
Pre-Kindergarten Downstream/Upstream participant

The Downstream/Upstream Exhibit will be on view during the St. Paul Regional Water Services Open House Thursday October 10 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm at McCarrons Center, 1900 Rice St.
Saint Paul, MN  55113 Please note that the  Rice Street entrance will be closed and visitors should enter off of Larpenteur Avenue, using Sylvan Street. Open House Flyer

Downstream/Upstream Exhibit Opens at St. Paul Regional Water Services

Portion of Downstream/Upstream Exhibit at St. Paul Regional Water Services

DOWNSTREAM/ UPSTREAM
A Journey Through the Urban Water Cycle
Opened April 22, 2013 at McCarrons Room, St. Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS).

 

It is particularly rewarding to have Downstream/ Upstream exhibited at SPRWS, since the organization and its representatives played a key role in the project. Jim Bode, Water Quality Supervisor, and Justine Roe of SPRWS led tour groups of the pre-schoolers and kindergarteners at the water treatment plant.

 

The exhibit is in the McCarrons Room which is a gathering point for tours and features views into some of the water treatment areas. 

 

Call Jodi Wallin, public information officer for SPRWS for Tour Availability 651-266-6308

 

 

  

Downstream/Upstream Exhibition and Reception at Institute on the Environment

Exhibit

Downstream/Upstream: A Journey Through the Urban Water Cycle
December 21, 2012 – February 8, 2013

Commons Gallery Opening Presentation and Reception
Wednesday, February 6, 2013, 12:00-1:30 pm
Institute on the Environment’s Commons Gallery, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota. Parking, address, and map:    Institute on the Environment Website  

Link to Notice          

 Flyer

Project Presentation at American Public Works Association, Minnesota Chapter

Presentation: Downstream/Upstream: Fostering Appreciation of Water/Sewer Infrastructure through Creative Collaboration in Education and Outreach
November 15, 2012

2012 APWA MN Fall Conference (American Public Works Association, Minnesota Chapter)
Co-presenting with Bill Dircks, Public Works Superintendent, City of Little Canada Water Department, member MN APWA

Mississippi River Forum to feature Downstream/Upstream

Downstream/Upstream: A Journey Through the Urban Water Cycle
Friday, July 27, 2012. 8:00-9:30 a.m. (St. Cloud)
Friday, August 24, 2012. 8:00-9:30 a.m. (Twin Cities)
Mississippi River Forum Lectures, National Park Service
FREE to Public -- RSVP to lark_weller@nps.gov
Link to Mississippi River Forum Description

The Mississippi River Forum is hosted by the National Park Service. "The Mississippi River Forum is intended to increase coordination between a multidisciplinary group of practitioners and decision-makers who are not consistently aware that related work is being done by others. The Forum is also an opportunity for practitioners to connect their work to those in different fields who also impact the quality of the river."

Heading Up-river...Downstream/Upstream and its associated curriculum model to be presented at Minnesota Association of Environmental Education Conference, June 21, 2012

I will present "Art, Story, and Infrastructure: A Model for Experiential Interconnection in Environmental Education" at the 2012 Minnesota Association for Environmental Education Conference: Rec-reate, Re-create, at Itasca State Park, June 21-22, 2012.

The conference promises to be as interesting as in years past with its great variety of formal and informal environmental educators, practitioners, policy makers, and researchers. I'm particularly pleased to be presenting Downstream/Upstream at the headwaters of the Mississippi which is a central part of the project.

Session Abstract
It has been said we need “a new story” of the earth and our place in it to move toward sustainability. The concept of interdependence is fundamental to sustainability, but hard to comprehend in a culture still designed around individual independence. This session presents an exploratory demonstration project and curriculum framework designed for experiential interconnection of children with their human and natural community. The framework centers on revealing interconnecting water infrastructure specific to a child’s experience. The approach is place-based and interdisciplinary --incorporating participatory public art and transformative journey design to make environmental content more personally meaningful. The demonstration project, Downstream/Upstream, took early childhood and Kindergarten classes on a two-week journey from their school through their urban water cycle, tracing a path of their sink-water from the Mississippi River, along upstream infrastructure to the faucet. The next week they traveled from their drain, along downstream infrastructure, arriving by boat to the outflow channel where their sink-water returns to the river. Children engaged with the journey through science, art, photography, music, movement, mosaics, water meter measurement, story-telling, utility representatives, and service projects. Preliminary results from pre/post-tests, observations, and feedback indicate the project was associated with increased awareness of nature-infrastructure interconnections, and increased sense of competency, curiosity, and identification as a water steward. The companion Pre-K/K-12/post-secondary curriculum framework, which outlines core elements and suggests adaptations by age group, will be downloadable at time of presentation. Format: slide presentation, video, participatory activities. Target audience: All-age school and program leaders .