I was looking at photos from the Create & Cultivate Art Camp program that was held here at the farm from 2000-2003 this morning. One of the artists with whom I was honored to have work here was D’Arcy Teasley. Her work was (and continues to be) thoughtful, engaging, and reflective of an incredibly creative and talented artist.
While she worked at Harvest Moon’s Art Camp, she did some large-scale, multi-day projects with the children who ranged in age from 6-11 years old. One of the first projects D’Arcy did was to create a labyrinth in the east pasture.
The children, teen camp counselors, and D’Arcy used rocks gathered from a nearby farmer’s field to line the pathway. The pathway is covered with bark chips.
Another year, D’Arcy guided the children in making a huge storytelling lodge. The children wove tree branches, grasses, and other natural elements into the lodge that held about 15 children and teens.
The final large-scale project D’Arcy did during the Art Camp was a Peace Village. This was also done in the back part of the property where the nature trail is located. There were four structures – including a tipi, wigwam, and two other home-structures of different shapes.
If I’m recalling this correctly, I believe D’Arcy designed all four structures to use the same “footprint” in terms of size on the ground. However, the way the sides were constructed yielded different size homes from the ground to top of the different structures. Some homes felt smaller (like the tipi) while others felt much larger where the sides simply went straight (rather than angled in to a center point).
Each of the homes in the Peace Village were large – many children could sit in each one. There were pathways connecting the homes to one another, and tie-dyed and decorated flags that the children made were strung from each of the homes to one another.
It was an incredibly cool project, and one that the children and teens were equally engaged in building and playing in. The childen were very proud of their work in creating the homes, and were excited to show their parents at the art show on the last day of camp.
She encouraged children to challenge themselves to do things they may never have thought they could do – like build a home or a labyrinth. D’Arcy brought to life the following quote by Caroline Adams which, I think, is a great reminder of the importance of living a life that is full, purposeful, and meaningful:
My soul needed to hear this today. Thank you! I would have loved to have visited the Peace Village as a child.Smiles,Kelly