6th Grade Art+Science

During the spring of the 5th-grade school year, the students study Botany. While studying plant life, the students have access to our school garden where they plant a variety of different plants. When the students return as sixth graders in the Fall, they are able to see how the plants have grown. 

This year under the direction of MS Science Teacher Donna Minafra and MS Art Teacher Annette Grueterich,  the students not only harvested the plants but also had the opportunity to combine Botany with Art. The sixth graders were introduced to cyanotyping which is a camera-less photographic printing process invented in 1842 by scientist and astronomer Sir John Hirschel. The technique produces a cyan-blue print when a chemistry-coated surface is exposed to sunlight. Each girl learned to mix and apply the chemical solution to watercolor paper and created their own cyanotype from clippings from either the school garden or the native plant garden. After each girl created their own cyanotype, they used their artistic skills with watercolors to recreate the colors of their plants! Science can be the inspiration for beautiful artwork!