The Land as Art has been an enriching and empowering experience for me as a Sweet Briar woman. Throughout the course we learned about Aboriginal and Ancient American art history. By applying the lessons within our texts to the land around us, we were able to understand and accomplish great things. Throughout each class, we explored a new part of campus and connected it to our readings by creating our own personalized map of the college and symbols for our classes events. The land around us has made me truly appreciate the blessings that I have had throughout my life. Our current environment encompasses both clean air, and water, which is not a right, but a privilege. In order to sustain and create a better tomorrow, we have to preserve what we currently possess and make sure that we take the proper steps to maintain its purity. When Josh Fox came to Sweet Briar, he discussed the many problems within the "fracking"industry and informed us that private businesses have been looking towards Virginia for future drilling. After this speech and a detailed Q and A, our class decided that we would host multiple events in order to educate the Sweet Briar campus on this issue and provide a peaceful protest against this dangerous process. Thus, we created a scavenger hunt that encompassed everyone's anti "fracking" and Aboriginal inspired art symbols to mark the trees around campus. We had many participants from students to faculty and even some families. The scavenger hunt was a way for the participants to go through all of our walks and make their own terrarium with a mason jar. Our second event was a water balloon fight, which was very fun and gave the anti-"fracking" message with dyed water balloons. This event was created to promote the education against hydraulic fracturing while creating a stress free zone right before exams. Overall, this course has taught me how to be more aware and grateful of my surroundings. It has helped me work together with others in order to complete these very strong messages and tasks. It was truly a great experience and I learned about art history through a more hands on and realistic approach.
