Water Color Painting with Antarctic Water (Kind of)

Our next project was another fun one. Students of all ages had the opportunity to paint to music. We listened to Ralph Vaughn Williams’s “Sinfonia Antarctica,” which he composed for a film on Robert Falcon Scott’s disastrous expedition. I did not tell the students what the music was written for at first, as I wanted them to decide what they thought Vaughn Williams was trying to tell us about his music.

While I was in Antarctica, I had the opportunity to kayak in the Weddell Sea. When I was out kayaking, I took out my Vernier water sensors, and tested the Weddell Sea. One of the measurements I took was the salinity (or saltiness) of the water. With that data, I was able to make my own saltwater that matched the salinity of the water I was in for the students to use when they did some watercolor painting to “Sinfonia Antarctica.”

Students listened to Ralph Vaughn Williams’s piece, and created a painting to match what they heard through his music. Before we listened to the recording, we looked at famous artwork that was influenced by the water – such as Claude Monet’s “Impression: Sunrise,” Katsushika Hokusai’s “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa,” and Georgia O’Keefe’s “Blue Wave Maine,” among others. Students were then inspired to make their own art while listening to “Sinfonia Antarctica.” I was impressed by how many students heard moments that made them think of giant waves, shipwrecks, and other dark moments on that water.

It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed collaborating with our school’s fantastic art teacher in planning the painting portion of the lesson! I hung up every student’s artwork in our hallway so that everyone visiting our school can see the work our students did!