Papers & Projects

West Liberty-Salem elementary fabric art slide show

Welcome to Cedar Bog!
By Sally Engle
CBA Board Member
Art Instructor, West Liberty Schools

Nearly three hundred people took a walk through Cedar Bog on the evening of February 22nd. This walk took place many miles to the north of the Bog. How? The students of West Liberty-Salem Elementary and a core group of seventh grade combined Art and Science to recreate Cedar Bog in fabric.

Students in Mrs. Tara Wiesgerber's Fourth Grade class and a small group of seventh graders acted as core groups for Artist-in-Residence Kate Sturman Gorman, a fabric artist from Westerville, Ohio. Ms. Gorman, elementary Art teacher Sally Engle, the core groups, and the Third and Fifth grade classes pooled their creativity to create a walk-through fabric piece. The installation, fifteen feet deep, 20 feet wide, and ten feet tall, was displayed on Thursday February 22nd for a one-night viewing. Students, parents, friends, and members of the community filled the High School gymnasium to see the piece. In addition, many invited guests took part in the opening night festivities, including Rob Gartzka of the Ohio Arts Council, and members of the Cedar Bog Association, including president Ralph Doerzbacher and Vice-President Melanie Pratt,

The project developed at a meeting this past fall between the Arts Council representatives, the artist, and the school. It was felt that the students of West Liberty-Salem would benefit from a project, which combined science or social studies with art. The result, the Cedar Bog project, has provided more than an art experience. In the words of parents Bill and Jill McKelvey, " The learning that took place will last a lifetime." The students used library and Internet resources as well as slides from the Cedar Bog Association and a visit from Terry Jaworski to increase their knowledge of the biology and history of the fen.

The research was constant. The students created tulip tree leaves, queen lady slipper orchids, the spotted turtle, and other living things that can be found at Cedar Bog. The things they created were then combined and arranged on panels measuring 58 inches across and 108 inches in length. When complete, each panel represented a section of Cedar Bog. Sixteen panels in all were created, some of them with views on both sides. Of course, the wildest wildlife of all greeted Cedar Bog manager terry Jaworski when he and the core groups cut the ribbons to open the fabric Bog. Terry came face to face with himself - in fabric. The students, who have all visited Cedar Bog, felt that it would not be a visit to the Bog without Mr. Jaworski to greet them. Holding a praying mantis, the nearly life-sized version of the Bog manager stands ready to greet those who enter the exhibit.

As only the core groups and the third and fifth grade classes were able to work with Ms. Gorman, the remaining elementary students developed their own fabric art representation of Cedar Bog. Kindergarten students learned about rocks by creating soft sculpture rocks. The first and second graders created fabric collage panels depicting scenes and wildlife from cedar Bog. One second grade class became enamored of slime mold after visiting the Cedar Bog website. As a result, they created fabric logs and slime mold for the exhibit. The fourth grade classrooms that were not part of the core group decided to work with fabric as soft sculpture. They created snakes, frogs, toads, turtles, mushrooms, cattails, and even ground for a spectacular vision of Cedar Bog.

More than 500 students were involved in the creation of this special exhibit. It is hoped that the publicity, word of mouth, and knowledge gained will help us preserve Cedar Bog as the natural treasure it is. The student work will be on exhibit at the West Liberty Library for the month of March. Though the entire installation cannot be displayed, several panels will be on view along with the entire three-dimensional bog and fabric collage made by the students.

We are currently running a modified version of the slide show to allow permission to be granted by those in the photos. Each of the pictures in the slide show will be on the screen for 20 seconds, this makes the show several minutes long.