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The students are nearing the end of the project. Some are completely finished, and some still have quite a way to go, but all of the students worked faster today than the previous day, and I anticipate that they will work even faster tomorrow. Most students are proud of what they have accomplished so far, and their work is beautiful.

Piles of maps and old atlases were dissected and sorted roughly into color groups to make them easier to access. Since the students were required to incorporate some gradation into their collaged object, several different shades of each color are necessary to acquire.

Students tore map bits into pieces about the size of their fingernail, and collected them into piles for eventual use on their collage. Though it was a tedious process, the students were genuinely excited about finding just the right color and planning their object's final appearance within the outline.

One more project this year, before I head off into the woods once again. This one is another along the theme of "where you live determines how you live."

For this project, students explored their own cultural "stuff" and thought about their cargo—objects that would represent themselves and their culture.

We then thought about how to abstract an object into its essential shapes, and learned about shading, gradation of color, and collage techniques. Once each student had narrowed down their object choice, they set to work abstracting the object.

The outline of the object was then painted onto a 9x12 canvas, to be filled in with collage later that week. A slim border of black paint will be left surrounding each collaged object, which will make it pop out against the stark white backgrounds.