ArtStart Beneath the Surface Project Overview
Learning the language of the land:
sessions on poetry making and in visual art
Grade: 4-5
7 one-hour sessions in each discipline
In this multidisciplinary residency students have the opportunity to study and make art alongside
artists who are deeply knowledgeable in the subjects of poetry and visual art. Students also have
access to a historically and culturally significant place—Fort Snelling state park; the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is another active partner in this residency. This location is
home to several kinds of urban wildlife and holds cultural significance for the Dakota people as the
center of their creation narrative in addition to being important in the history of colonial
interaction and oppression in Minnesota. Fort Snelling state park holds current status as a widely
visited location with multiple “meanings.”
This project also addresses a key provision in Minnesota K-12 academic arts standards by
providing educators with authentic resources to “identify the characteristics of visual art and
poetry from a variety of cultures, including the contributions of Minnesota American Indian tribes
and communities.”
This residency is shaped by the concept of going “beneath the surface” in order to find hidden or
multiple meanings in a given subject or place, especially something as iconic as “river” or the “land.”
How does artmaking inspire us each to go deeper and bring to light fresh and specific insights about
subjects that are often reduced to formulaic representations and understandings? The Mississippi
and Minnesota Rivers that flow through Fort Snelling state park offer a specific entry point to
explore overlooked aspects of Minnesota culture and history, grounding students in a very concrete
and physical way in the culturally significant ecology of the site, and providing artistic inspiration
for student poetry making and visual art work.
All participants will create art inspired by the ecology and history of Fort Snelling State Park, the
site of the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, otherwise known as Bdote, which is
a Dakota word referring to "where two waters come together.”
 With artist, poet, and Dakota scholar Gwen Westerman, students will write poems inspired
by the language of the land and of the rivers of Fort Snelling state park. She will also teach
them that Dakota people have a deep history in Minnesota and are a part of its vital present.
 With artist Susan Armington, students will create three-dimensional pieces that reflect what
stands out to them and what holds meaning for them both ecologically and culturally about
the rivers and river area.
 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources naturalist Kao Thao will explore aspects of
urban ecology as evidenced in Fort Snelling state park, helping students understand what
constitutes a viable habitat and how the animals of Ft. Snelling have adapted to their urban
wilderness.
Project Learning Goals:
poetry
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1. Students will broaden their definition of what a poem can be or sound like and how it can
function to tell both personal stories and ideas and also present the perspectives of others.
2. Students will learn and apply some basic poetic techniques of incorporating sensory detail and
imagery into their work.
visual art (“traveling suitcases”)
1. Students will learn visual art techniques that allow them to paint, embellish, and personalize
suitcases with motifs, symbolism, and text inspired by the rivers and the ecology of Fort
Snelling state park.
Ecology
1. Students will learn the five elements that constitute a viable habitat: 1) food, 2) water, 3)
air, 4) space, 5) shelter and consider how these are in play among animal and human
populations over time.
2. Students will learn about the animals that make their home in Ft. Snelling State Park,
understanding the ways that they have adapted to their urban wildlife setting.
3. Students will learn the importance of “listening” closely to what the land is saying.
Evidence of Learning:
poetry
1. Students’ poetry will be varied and original despite being written in response to a similar
prompt or example; their individual poems will differ from one another and demonstrate a
range of tone, styles and forms.
2. Students’ poems will use sensory detail and imagery in the final draft to create a desired
effect.
visual art
1. Students’ artwork will be inspired by the examples they view and the interior and exterior
landscape around them.
2. The students’ work will be highly personal and bring into play a visual language that is
unique and appropriate to each student.
Ecology
1. Students will be able to put the five elements that constitute a viable habitat into the
broader context of animal and human adaptations to changes in the land and settlement
patterns.
2. Students will be able to name some ways that the animals that live in Ft. Snelling state park
have adapted to their urban wilderness setting.
3. Students’ poems or art work reflects a new insight that they have into the particular ecology
of Ft. Snelling State Park.
Minnesota Academic Standards addressed in this project
Visual Art – 4-5
STRAND 1. ARTISTIC FOUNDATIONS
Standard 2. 3. Demonstrate understanding of the personal, social, cultural and historical contexts that influence
the arts areas.
4.1.3.5.1. Describe the personal, social, cultural, or historical contexts that influence the creation of visual artworks
including the contributions of Minnesota American Indian tribes and communities.
4.1.3.5.2. Describe how visual art communicates meaning.
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STRAND 2. ARTISTIC PROCESS: CREATE OR MAKE
Standard 1. Create or make in a variety of contexts in the arts area using the artistic foundations.
4.2.1.5.1. Create original two- and-three-dimensional artworks to express specific artistic ideas.
MN: ELA & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects K–5 (2010), MN: Grades 4/5
Text Types and Purposes
4.6.3.3 and 5.6.3.3
Write narratives and other creative texts to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Range of Writing
4.6.10.10 and 5.6.10.10
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a
single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Science - grade 5
STRAND 1: The Nature of Science and Engineering
Substrand 1. The Practice of Science
Standard 1. 1. Science is a way of knowing about the natural world, is done by individuals and groups, and is
characterized by empirical criteria, logical argument and skeptical review.
5.1.1.1.4. Understand that different models can be used to represent natural phenomena and these models have
limitations about what they can explain. For example: Different kinds of maps of a region provide different
information about the land surface.
Social Studies – 4th grade
Strand 1. Geography
Sub-strand 1: Places and Regions
Standard 3. Understand that places have physical characteristics (such as climate, topography vegetation) and
human characteristics (such as culture, population, political and economic systems).
Benchmark: 4.3.2.3.1
Locate and identify the physical and human characteristics of places in the United States, and also Canada or
Mexico. For example: Physical characteristics—landforms (Rocky Mountains), ecosystems (forest), bodies of water
(Mississippi River, Hudson Bay), soil, vegetation, weather and climate. Human characteristics— structures (Statue
of Liberty), bridges (Golden Gate Bridge), canals (Erie Canal), cities, political boundaries, population distribution,
settlement patterns, language, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs.
Sub-strand 1: Human Environment Interactions
Standard 9. The environment influences human actions; and humans both adapt to and change, the environment.
Benchmark: 4.3.4.9.1
Explain how humans adapt to and/or modify the physical environment and how they are in turn affected by these
adaptations and modifications. For example: Humans cut down a forest to clear land for farming, which leads to
soil erosion. Consequently, humans have to use more fertilizer to supplement the nutrients in the soil.
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