All around the Upper School, artwork is displayed on the walls of hallways, classrooms, and even ceilings. A part of the art is the collection of Minnesota bird prints and plaques found in the stairwells. Perhaps you read the professional scientific descriptions alongside the prints, but were you aware that both these descriptions and prints were made by students?
Printmaking and photography teacher Brian Sago called the 2017 spring semester collaboration between Environment Science and Printmaking class the “Minnesota Migratory Birds Project.” He recounted the evolution of the joint assignment how “Environmental Science students chose a bird that passed through Minnesota on its migration path,” and then “worked with a printmaking student” who illustrated the birds. He also discussed how Andy Sackreiter, Lisa Sackreiter’s husband, “helped us laser [the] plaques” with the information Environmental Science students researched about each bird.
Student-to-student work was crucial to this project’s success. Environmental students researched their assigned bird under the supervision of environmental science teacher Will Bohrnsen. He stated that this project was extremely “collaborative” as two different departments do not team up two classes for larger works frequently. Information like the Belted Kingfisher’s (Megaceryle alcyon) ability to perform phenomenally as an “aerial hunter” in the air and the American Kestrel’s (Falco sparverius) size as the smallest falcon in the Northern Hemisphere are two examples of fun facts students can learn from the plaques around the school.
While environmental students researched, printmaking students chiseled out birds from wood, paying attention to details like the textures of the feathers with carving tools. The wood block was then used to make prints of the bird using printing ink, a unique type of ink that requires both skill and practice to properly utilize to create a print of one’s desired image.
Printmaking and Environmental Science are great classes to take for students interested in these topics. Bohrnsen stated that he would “love” to collaborate with Sago again on another project sometime in the future.
