Project Green School

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Oct 112011
 

Modern Classroom

In the wake of Steve Jobs death, messages of inspiration have been spiraling through the web.  An influential member of society and major contributor to the past and future of technology, Jobs lived an inspired life.  Personally, inspired by this great man, I wanted to find what other great members of humanity are doing in the name of sustainable innovation and inspiration.

The man who stood out among others is John Hardy, the founder of the Green School inBali, Indonesia. Originally known for success in business, this owner and designer of a Balinese jewelry line decided that he would use his business success to start a school.  Inspired from the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”,   Hardy contemplated the idea that his world is deteriorating and that his children and grandchildren may not be exposed to the wonders of nature as he experienced them.  Disturbed by this fact, he moved into action.

In efforts to truly make a change for the next generation, Hardy and his wife, Cynthia, began a project to start a school that was solely focused on creating a “whole” person.  As Hardy says, “we practice whole-ism, and for me it’s just the idea that if this little girl graduates as a whole person the chances are she’ll demand a whole world in which to live”.

To do this the Green School teaches reading, writing, arithmetic, along with bamboo building, gardening and Balinese arts.  This school has no walls, which allow for natural light classrooms.  It teaches children through observation and interaction with nature, and Hardy believes one of the most important lessons is that the world is not indestructible. In its third year, the Green School has 160 students, and 20% are from local Bali.

With a concern for the loss of forests and global water issues, Green School is made from sustainable, local bamboo.  The school is one of the largest bamboo buildings in the world and Hardy has incorporated the practice of using bamboo infrastructure into many of the locations for designers of his jewelry line.  The facilities lie on 20 acres, next to a river, and surrounded by gardens where children learn to take care of and produce their own food.

John Hardy’s school is becoming a model for sustainable efforts internationally and his influence and passion for sustainability is being passed down to his students.  Greencupboards.com tips our hat to this man who accepted the challenge to change the world, and started locally.

 

Sources:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/john_hardy_my_green_school_dream.html

http://www.greenschool.org/

http://www.johnhardy.com/women/featured&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=john%20hardy%20alone&utm_term=john%20hardy?utm_nooverride=1

http://www.thesourceasia.com/index.php/mind/227-cynthia-and-john-hardys-green-school

Images:

http://www.alternative-learning.org/?paged=2

http://www.thesourceasia.com/index.php/mind/227-cynthia-and-john-hardys-green-school

Casey Reas Computer Art

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Aug 032011
 

Casey Reas

Casey Reas is an artist, yet his contribution to a finished piece is only half of the picture, the other half is completed by a computer. Most people think that work done on the computer is the users work alone. Casey, however, is experimenting with a computers capacity for creativity by writing codes of which he has no idea what the end result will look like, giving the computer a chance to make something truly unique.

In Casey’s Biography it describes the process as it:  “explores the relationship between naturally evolved systems and those that are synthetic. The imagery evokes transformation, and visualizes systems in motion and at rest. Equally embracing the qualitative human perception and the quantitative rules that define digital culture, organic form emerges from precise mechanical structures.” (Reas.com)

To learn more about Casey Reas art, and the process in which he makes it, watch the video below.

 


Images:

http://www.design.cmu.edu/show_news.php?id=199&m=2008

http://thesmartestfish.blogspot.com/2010/12/casey-reas.html

http://www.artificial.dk/articles/generativespecial.htm

http://www.pixelache.ac/2005/archives/casey-reas-marius-watz-lectures-in-helsinki/

Artistic Endangered Elephants

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Jul 192011
 

This elephant can paint.

For the past ten years a special school has existed for creative students who possess a sharp memory and a sturdy build.  In Thailand, conservation enthusiasts armed with paint, paper, and custom made brushes and easels foster the artistic abilities of our greatest land mammals.

At the Chiang Dao Elephant Camp caretakers introduce elephants to the activity of painting.  Each animal is free to choose whether or not to pursue it.  Elephants that enjoy painting go through a one week training course to aid in comfortably creating abstract art.  Here they are taught task such as the proper way to hold a paintbrush with their trunks.  Some elephants advance to a longer training course which involves being taught to create portraits and paintings.

Beginning in the year 2000, these paintings have been used by the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project to raise revenue for the effort to save the remaining struggling population of elephants in Asia.  These herds are threatened by a shrinking habitat and poaching.  Despite their religious importance and cultural value in Asia, elephants are still being hunted for profit.  The selling price of ivory has increased over 300% in the past year, while many people in Asia are buying elephant meat due to a belief that it has powers in boosting the libido.

In the past, elephants have been trained to paint for entertainment value in zoos and circus’.  In 1998, two elephants at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center were taught to paint, but there are now 17 giant artists live and paint at the TECC.  The Elephant Art Gallery sells these abstract paintings for hundreds of dollars and returns funds to the artists and conservation efforts.

Issarapom Kaew-ee, the Managing Director of The Elephant Art Gallery says, “Real elephant art is an original painting that is created by an elephant of its own volition, unaided in the creative process by humans.”  Only abstract elephant art falls into this category.  According to Kaew-ee, when elephants are trained to paint specific pictures they become confused and cannot go back to painting creatively.

This artistic flare isn’t new behavior for elephants.  In the wild, elephants can be observed drawing in the dirt with twigs. From the jungle and the safari this current trend is stomping into modern homes all over the world.  Natural art is making a comeback- and it’s not man made.

To learn more about these artist elephants and to see a demonstration view the videos below:

Sources:

http://www.elephantartgallery.com/learn/authentic/are-elephant-paintings-art.php

http://www.whyzz.com/how-much-does-an-elephant-weigh

http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/index.php

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/elephants/asian_elephants/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6677444

Images:

http://www.localdouble.com/yb/search.php?what=top+100+law+school&where=spokane%2Cwa&ps=410_1264195134

http://luigiburks22.blogspot.com/2010/01/elephant-painting.html

https://theatreofinconveniences.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/worst-drought-in-26-years-threatens-survival-of-last-desert-elephants-in-west-africa/

http://www.splendidwallpaper.com/baby-elephants-2346/

A Misplaced Piano.

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Jan 282011
 

Mysterious Piano Appears in Fla. Bay

Its not a prank it’s a “movement”


Cristo 1983, 11 islands surrounded with pink fabric.

Up until recently a piano had been resting on the highest point of a Miami sandbar. And its not a prank it’s a “movement” said 16-year-old Nicholas Harrington.
Nicholas was found to be the culprit only after a couple making the documentary Jesus of Malibu, filmed the Piano and claimed to be responsible for its appearance. Harrison stated that he intended for it to be anonymous but since others were taking credit for his work he decided toclaim it as his own.

Harrington says he was inspired by a project that was done in 1983 that involved covering 11 small islands with pink fabric. This project was done by Christo in the same location as the young Harrington, off of Miami’s shores. This high school junior probably knew that this little artistic display might give his application to Manhattans Cooper Union Collage a little more attention.
That is not all the attention Nicholas got, he also got a visit from state wildlife officials who demanded the piece be removed in 24 hours. Carl Bentulan snagged it. The musician Bentulan’s 10-year-old son told him that the piano needed a home, and so he took it, as the piano was abandoned property, free for anyone to claim.
This could be just the beginning of a long artistic career for Harrington, we may soon see much more work, or maybe he is just a juvenile prankster after-all.

Sources:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110128/ap_on_re_us/us_miami_bay_piano_16

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/National-Geographic-January-Week-3-Images-Pelicans-take-over-piano-abandoned-sand-bar-Biscayne-Bay-Miami/ss/events/lf/012411natgeojan3/im:/ydownload/20110124/photos_net_web_yn/1295898389/

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36827/jon-stewart-joins-911-museum-board-jean-paul-gaultier-is-tailored-for-a-museum-retrospective-and-more-must-read-art-news/

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36826/from-the-palettes-of-babes-5-prodigious-child-artists-to-watch/?page=2

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/01/teen-says-he-put-grand-piano-on-miami-sand-bar-as-an-art-project/1

http://www.florida-backroads-travel.com/surrounded-islands.html

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Ain-t-it-grand-Piano-in-bay-has-Miami-Beach-abuzz-975877.php