Nature Matching System curriculum - Art, Food, and Community
This practice-based seminar will introduce students to the field of Social Sculpture and various strategies for making site-specific and public art. Uniquely, the class takes place at 601 Tully St., a community arts center located in the city’s Westside neighborhood, instructed by Professor Marion Wilson. Through a series of initial progressive creative assignments, students will engage the surrounding community and environment directly in the creation of their work.

In collaboration with artist Tattfoo Tan and neighboring elementary school, Seymour Dual Language Academy, Syracuse University students will create a model curriculum bridging nutrition, color theory, and ecology which will culminate in the creation of a public mural, the “Nature Matching System.” This curriculum will address the phenomena of food deserts, obesity, and malnutrition at both the local and national levels. In a neighborhood where 43% of residents rely on food stamps, the project aims to consumers with producers and suppliers so that they can make healthy and affordable choices about the food they eat, and to inform youth of the holistic value of food and the intrinsic connections between their environment and their health.

Parallel readings, in-class lectures, discussions of art history, and critical precedents of seminal artists in the discipline will complement student’s activities as we consider the latent meanings of place, the ethical dilemmas in public art, the politics of space and other neighborhood issues. In general, the class advances an understanding of sculpture as an artistic process that has the potential to reveal and critique the social, historical and structural contexts provided by a public work of art.

The team: Jason Foggie, Jungone Cho, Jaimeson Daley, Ryland Heagerty, Daniel Blaushild, Becky Cohen, Stacey Lindbloom, Brian Luce, Victoria Lee

		Please feels free to download Nature Matching System curriculum in PDF.

Nature Matching System Tshirt supplier: Print All Over Me

The Fruity Pop Workshop with Nature Matching System

With Food in Mind's new pop-up workshop roams New York City, teaching children aged 4-11 how to make healthy sodas with fruit from their local farmers market.

Commercial sodas and fruit juices containing high-fructose corn syrup and other additives play a big role in the childhood obesity epidemic. With Food in Mind believes that children who possess the skills to make their own beverages can lead healthier lives and positively influence the health of their families, friends, and neighbors. Taking the age-old lemonade stand as inspiration, we encourage Fruity Pop Workshop participants to set up soda stands in their communities, becoming artisans, entrepreneurs, and community changemakers in the process.

The Fruity Pop Workshop was developed in collaboration with New York-based artist Tattfoo Tan whose Nature Matching System Placemat, pictured above, is incorporated into the learning experience. Its colorful chart, based on Tan’s photographs of farmers market produce, serves as a reminder to consume our daily dose of color. The artist says, "These intense colors might even be called nature's nutrition labels."

The Fruity Pop Workshop will roam New York City this summer, popping up at Down to Earth farmers markets and other public spaces in low- and moderate-income areas. Children and parents are invited to join a group of artists, educators, and volunteers between 11am and 2pm for hands-on and delicious fun. There is no cost to participate.

Upcoming Workshops
Sunday, July 14: Cooper Park Farmers Market, Brooklyn
Saturday, July 20: Jamaica Farmers Market, Queens
Saturday, July 27: Morningside Park Farmers Market, Manhattan
Sunday, August 4: McGolrick Park Farmers Market, Brooklyn
Saturday, August 10: Hunts Point Farmers Market, Bronx

Nature Matching System commissioned by Empire State Partnerships for their Summer Seminar - Habit of the Creative Mind
at C.W. Post Campus, Brookville, New York

The Empire State Partnerships Summer Seminar is designed to support partnerships between cultural organizations and schools which integrate the arts into the curriculum. Teachers, teaching artists and administrators will attend, whether or not their partnership receives funding from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Over 350 arts-in-education professionals will explore the theme, "Habits of the Creative Mind," through a variety of events: workshops, creativity labs, discussion groups, keynote address and plenary meetings. Seminar attendees also will have opportunities to meet with consultants and to plan for the upcoming year, as part of their team and with their regional network groups. I was invited as a professional artist to attend the Creativity Labs where I presented Nature Matching System in the form of edible art where they have a chance to work together to create a dish that can be enjoy and nourishes both the mind and the body.

Nature Matching System popsicle

What is better than a popsicle to indulge this summer? Now NMS is available as a fun popsicle. Bring your inner child out and try doing one yourself by simply freeze pure fruit juice or smoothies.