Through her love of nature and her enthusiasm for reuse, Joan uses her art to explore this environmental edge that we are balancing on. She is deeply concerned with the plastic ocean pollution problem, and through her art and teachings, is empowering children and their families to make more sustainable choices to respect themselves and our planet. Joan has worked with the Climate Kids program at Cabrillo National Monument and with classrooms from our North County schools.
In Spring 2016, students created sustainable works of art with Joan from shoes donated by the Goodwill. Joan created an interactive activity Students decorated a shoe with salvaged items and art supplies displaying their commitment to helping the Earth. This past October, Joan led a collaborative art project with a group of three 6th grade classrooms from Carmel Del Mar school. They used recycled household items such as caps, hangers, mesh and wire to make a beautiful collage of birds, fish and plankton representing the food chain. Kids then got to engrave their climate commitment on a reused wooden color sample of one of the "10 Things" they can do at home to help protect the planet, and bring it home attached to their backpack to share with others.
Joan will be working in classrooms, at binational events, in green labs, and at Cabrillo National Monument this year in collaboration with the Climate Science Alliance's Climate Kids program. Find out more about her work at http://greenartlabs.com/