Spirit Animal Collage Class

October 21,2017

Once again I am taking art class with teacher Laura Lein-Svencner. This one is called Spirit Animal Collage. Kathy C, Kennette, Bonnie, and Sandy are all taking the class, so we are 5 of 12 students.

So the first assignment was listening or thinking about which animal is our spirit animal. I really struggled with this, because lots of animals speak to me. There is the peregrine falcon who landed on a monument in the historic Granary Burying Ground on the freedom trail in Boston. It landed right next to Kathy Creely and me and just stared at me. I started taking its picture, circled around it, and it never moved. Just allowed me to photograph it. When I turned around there were about 15-20 people standing behind the fence just watching the scene. This falcon was probably the foreshadowing of my love for my balcony birds and my Florida birds. Then there is the otter spotted when Barb and I were doing the Michigan-Canada tour. This otter was playing in the water and bringing twigs and other building material under water. We watched it for the longest time, and then I scared it when I knelt down to take its picture, but I think about that otter every now and then. Moving along, there are my finches. I just love watching them feed at my feeder, bicker with each other, call to each other when the feeder is refilled, and hide from me when I haven't refilled it soon enough. However as I struggled with the decision, the animal that has been on my mind the most lately is the elephant. Ever since I read The Elephant Whisperer, I have been studying elephants--the differences between African and Asian elephants, their habitats, feeding habits, intelligence, leadership qualities, place in history, and more. So there you have it, my decision--elephant it is for this go around.

So I am in the process of gathering my elephant facts, thinking about colors, and how I will present my elephant in collage. Stay tuned for progress on this one, but I leave you with these three thoughts.

One by Ferris Jabr in his Scientific American article, "We now have solid evidence that elephants are some of the most intelligent, social and empathic animals around."

The second thought is by an author in Mental Floss that reviewed The Elephant Whisperer and said, "... that Conservationist Lawrence Anthony came to realize that elephants have much to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom."

The third are facts I found in an article, but have since lost who wrote it.
Elephants can identify languages.
Elephants can use tools.
Elephants understand human body language.
Elephants show empathy.
Elephants mourn their dead.
Elephants mimic human voices.
Elephants have extraordinary memories.


Stay tuned for more on this project.