Question: When is a science class not a science class? 

Answer: When it becomes a course in drawing and painting.  

That’s exactly what six of Groves Academy’s high school ecology students experienced during their first month back to school.  Artist Susan Boeckmann, a Minnesota artist and educator, was invited to teach a five-day residency at Groves this September.  Will Bohrnsen, the schools ecology instructor, wanted students to be able to enhance their weekly observation journals with drawings and paintings.  Susan agreed that the marriage of art and science was a perfect opportunity to explore the use of right brain and left brain techniques.  Over the course of her five days here, Susan worked with students on topics ranging from gesture drawings (useful in capturing squirrels and birds on paper), to color theory.  Throughout her lessons she reiterated that art is just like science - you need to be able to step back and look at the whole picture, but also focus in on the details of your subject.  In coordination with Kate Hegman of the school’s art department, Susan will be returning to teach a foundational workshop later this fall.  Having experiences in art and science simultaneously shows students that the two are not completely separate fields, and that scientists can be artists or vice versa.  Both Bohrnsen and Hegman are looking forward to future collaborations together, strengthening the cross-curricular link between their two programs.