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“Thinking Like a Naturalist: Reclaiming the Art of Natural History”
Calaveras Big Trees Naturalist Training and Journaling
April 20 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Learn how to be a naturalist. Our day begins with an introductory class: Thinking like a Naturalist, where we explore how to increase your observational skills, memory, curiosity, and creative thinking. We then go out into the Big Trees to explore and put these skills to use. Over lunch, learn the basics of keeping a field journal, the essential tool of a naturalist. Discover ways to draw more accurately and quickly. Then enjoy the tranquility of the redwoods and you are lead on a journaling ramble.
Bring
- a journal and your favorite drawing/writing supplies – a nature journal and pencil will be provided.
- lunch and water
- seasonally appropriate clothing
- binoculars and magnifying glass (optional)
Naturalist and illustrator John Muir Laws will demonstrate simple and fun techniques you can incorporate into your own recreational nature study or to share with others. A perfect experience for teachers, home school parents, and anyone interested in taking their birding and nature study to the next level.
Naturalist, educator and artist John (Jack) Muir Laws is in love with the natural world and has lived his life sharing this passion with others. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is a Research Associate of the California Academy of Sciences. Jack has taught nature education teacher since 1984 in California, Wyoming, and Alaska. He teaches the tools to help people develop as naturalists and stewards including, ways to improve your observation, memory and curiosity, conservation biology, natural history, scientific illustration, and field sketching all while having fun and falling more deeply in love with the world. In 2009, he received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding service in Environmental Education. He is a 2010 TogetherGreen Conservation Leadership Fellow with the National Audubon Society. He was the 2011 artist for International Migratory Bird Day. Laws has written and illustrated books about art and natural history including The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling (2016), The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds (2012), Sierra Birds: a Hiker’s Guide (2004), The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada (2007), and The Laws Pocket Guide Set to the San Francisco Bay Area (2009). He is a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his “Naturalists Notebook” column. He is the primary author and editor of the curriculum: Opening the world through Nature Journaling. This free teaching guide is kid tested and teacher approved and integrates science, language arts, and visual arts through keeping a nature journal. He is the founder and host of the Bay Area Nature Journal Club, monthly free nature sketching workshops, field trips and events, connecting people with nature through art.
Space is limited so don’t wait to register.
