TEXTUREscape

Students get to know their assigned campus tree - its species, base of the trunk, roots (if visible), trunk, branches, leaves and canopy - to understand the TEXTURAL qualities of the tree. By exploring the textures, using all senses: touching, hearing, smelling, tasting, moving - students experience the tree from all directions and viewpoints while photographing and sketching it and the surrounding context. Listening to the tree, students create the tree’s sonic profile and translate to texture drawing with charcoal - figure-ground compositions - considering balance and proportion. The tree’s identity is further explored (family, foliage type, mature height, mature spread, light exposure, soil preference, shape and bark), as well as its culture (geographic origins, cultural associations, culinary or medicinal uses, cultural or indigenous traditions and any notable characteristics) - culminating in a graphic booklet.