John Muir Laws shares his love of art and nature with area students

Submitted by Mountain Home School

(Updated: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 5:04 PM)

Neither rain, sleet, nor snow kept author/illustrator John Muir Laws from teaching his love of art and nature to Mountain Home School and Glacier High School students on Dec. 7. Despite the snow storm that day, Laws met with students, parents and teachers so they could watch him work his magic with paper and pencil.

With support from Sierra Telephone and the Service Organization of the Sierra, Mountain Home School Charter was able to host Laws, a noted naturalist, illustrator, author and educator.

MHSC was also able to purchase a class set of his book, "Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada," which is co-published by the California Academy of Sciences. These guides will be used as a resource for art classes by Irina Buca and Joanie Madaus and science field trip observations with Skip Bullock.

Laws noted that there is a real need to integrate more art into the classroom. The attention to observation and detail that students learn in art carries over into science. The goal was not necessarily to create a pretty picture, but to help students become more observant while documenting nature. He also stressed to the students the unique area in which they live.

"You are all very fortunate to have such abundant wildlife so close at hand," said Laws.

Laws demonstrated his systematic drawing technique of "posture, proportion and angles" with six class sessions for students, parents and teachers. All who attended were rewarded for their effort by having immediate success in drawing various birds of the Sierra Nevada.

Laws' book is available locally at Willow Bridge Books and you can visit his Web site, johnmuirlaws.com, to see his vision for schools in the Sierra Nevada area.