Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal hopes and wishes, where we face it as free beings admiring, asking and observing, there we enter the realm of Art and Science. Albert Einstein
The Academy of Nature and Wildlife Arts combines the observational skills and measurement strengths of arts and sciences, historically a combined investigational strategy of observation and discovery, for learning about the world. As the amount of information grew, educational approaches divided the two methods of learning to make it easier to teach the information. This method of teaching creates in depth knowledge from one perspective of the world but does not necessarily provide well rounded understanding of the world as whole. The Academy combines both perspectives to produce an additional appreciation of the natural world.
Mission Understanding the interconnections of life produces an appreciation and desire to conserve life in all of its forms. The Academy fosters the complex multilevel appreciation, and ultimately conservation, of nature and wildlife.
Purpose The Academy reintroduces traditional science to traditional arts to restore the multilevel appreciation and understanding of the complex system of nature consistent with the approaches used by artists and scientists in the past. We provide opportunities to explore nature and wildlife through the lens of both science and the arts, increasing the complexity of understanding of chosen topics with focus on Midwest ecological systems.
Goals Experience nature and wildlife on multiple levels from the perspective of both the sciences and the arts. Develop understanding of and actions that support conservation. Express these experiences and understanding through individual class projects including education, exhibitions and volunteer activities.
History of the Academy The Academy of Nature and Wildlife Arts was developed to fill the need for professional atelier style art education for the public. With the current educational focus on just science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and major educational cutbacks which eliminated many programs in the arts, the Academy was developed to create and support STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) as an approach to studying real world issues in natural history from a very traditional approach of both science and art, together.
This approach allows children and young artists to build art perspectives into the more traditional approaches as they are presented. For the adult learner, the Academy builds on their traditional science background and experiences while providing new perspectives of familiar concepts. For both audiences, the program encourages self exploration and self expression as both a means to learn more about one's self while at the same time relieving stress of that self.
Combining the arts and sciences provides unique service opportunities within current culture. Arts and sciences combine nicely in working with issues in the natural world with the arts providing the picture "worth a thousand words" and science providing a thousand measurements to create a more complete picture of our world. The Academy and its students support service projects combining the arts and sciences in support of natural history.
The Academy was developed by its Executive Director in response to her sudden retirement with a neck injury. Raised by parents with a strong science background in a world where one went to college "to get a job", art, even in high school, was not an option. But her strong attraction to art pushed her to teach herself basic techniques by copying pictures of flowers and dogs. Having extra college credits upon graduating high school provided an opportunity for creative electives even while attending the physical therapy program at the University of Missouri Columbia. With some special allowances, she was able to convince the medical program that art of the figure would be an appropriate elective before taking gross anatomy. With additional allowances, she was able to convince the art department that a figure drawing class would be of particular assistance to understanding the human body. It was! As expected, that science bent took her to develop a technique for treating children with neuro-musculoskeletal disorders which she taught internationally. She built her private practice to one of the largest pediatric Medicare certified practices in the country. Nature, especially animals, was always a part of her world. Her dogs were trained therapy dogs and she had an equine assisted riding program for individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately all of that stressed her neck to the point of degeneration such that one day she could no longer practice. That sudden unemployment created the opportunity to re-examine priorities and return to the arts as a means to express her understanding of the unique abilities and perspectives of animals and children. Having spent so much time in school working from the Bachelor's of Science in Physical Therapy through her Masters and into her EdD, the educational system was a logical resource for adult education. She became a Master Naturalist and a Master Gardener through the University of Missouri Extension Program and a volunteer with the state Department of Conservation. While the science was comfortable, all that training did not fill the void of the missing arts. Unfortunately, there was a significant lack of professional level art training for those not enrolled in a degree program. And thus was born the Academy whose purpose is to fill the need for professional, atelier style arts instruction for those looking for something more, something to add to the science training, the search for self and the stress relief needed for this fast paced world.