Tag: news-import
Community: Creative Connections at the Schuylkill Center
December 13, 2018Lauren Bobyock, Environmental Art and Communications Intern
What does community mean to you? Here at the Schuylkill Center, community means connection. We offer a wide range of ways for humans of all ages and backgrounds to engage with nature—whether you are spending time with your family outside at our weekly Schuylkill Saturdays, or attending our Meigs Environmental Leadership Award ceremonies to learn about strides our community members take to further environmentalism. Our community contributes to the Schuylkill Center in a variety of ways, and we are excited to honor all friends, members, volunteers, and staff in an exciting and creative…
Autumnal Stream Walk
November 20, 2018By Lauren Bobyock, Communications and Environmental Art Intern
It was the perfect fall day to get a little lost in the woods. There are two parallel streams running through the valleys at the Schuylkill Center — Meigs and Smith Runs — and that day two teams of staff and volunteers set out to learn more about them. On an artistic and scientific mission, we began this journey to contribute to our latest environmental art gallery exhibit by Stacy Levy: Braided Channel.
Stacy Levy is an environmental artist with installations all over the world including…
Ten Good Things about Trees
October 25, 2018by Mike Weilbacher, Executive Director
I’ve been thinking about trees a lot these last few weeks, in part because the leaves are turning color and falling to the ground, something I look forward to every year. But also because the Schuylkill Center just found evidence of emerald ash borers on our massive property, something that is deeply troubling, as we are now faced with hundreds of dead and dying trees.
And because not far from the Schuylkill Center, a sister nonprofit cleared about an acre of trees to make room for a playground. Playgrounds, of course, are wonderful things, but…
Halloween Hikes and Hayrides
October 18, 2018At nighttime, we go to bed. (That's what I tell the kids, at least). We are diurnal mammals, awake only during the day. The Schuylkill Center's annual Halloween Hikes & Hayrides on October 26 & 27 gives us a chance to be nocturnal, if only for a moment, and to give children the thrill of exploring their senses in what my son calls, "the deep, dark forest". While we're there, we learn animal facts from friendly creatures (our own environmental educators dressed up in handmade costumes) and take a hayride to admire the moon. All of the "treats" given are the non-edible…
Art as Environmental Leadership: Stacy Levy to receive the Meigs award
October 15, 2018By Christina Catanese, Director of Environmental Art
Every year, the Schuylkill Center gives the Henry Meigs Environmental Leadership Award to a deserving environmental professional for leaving a meaningful and lasting impact on their community and our region, and embodying a spirit of leadership, integrity, and vision.
In twelve years, we’ve never given this honor to an environmental artist—but that changes this year. On November 7th, Stacy Levy will be presented the Meigs award for her pioneering work joining the worlds of art and science throughout her career of creating compelling artwork, both site-specific and gallery-based.
In Levy’s words, she “use[s]…
Bodies of Water: Dance at the Schuylkill Center
October 4, 2018By Christina Catanese
This weekend, the Schuylkill Center will be presenting Remembering Water’s Way by Dance Exchange, the first site-specific dance event that the Center has commissioned in over a decade.
Dance Exchange is a DC-area arts organization that has been one of the Schuylkill Center’s LandLab artists in residence over the past year. The goal of the LandLab residency is for artists to engage audiences in the processes of ecological stewardship through scientific investigation and artistic creation. So we tasked these performers to also create art-based installations that prevent or remediate environmental damage, and it’s exciting to see…
Andorra’s Lance Butler grows mightly mussels
September 20, 2018
While Roxborough is famously home to numerous civil servants, especially cops and firemen, Andorra’s Lance Butler has among the most unusual city jobs.
He’s growing mussels. Thousands of mussels. To place back into the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers. And it’s surprisingly important work.
A senior scientist in Philadelphia Water’s Office of Watersheds, Lance was staring into a microscope last Thursday afternoon, measuring and assessing the health of baby mussels no larger than a grain of sand. He was sitting in a laboratory, what he calls “a living breathing laboratory,” tucked into the back of the Fairmount Water Works, Philly…
NATURAL SELECTIONS: Art in the Open: Selections from 2018 at the Schuylkill Center
September 6, 2018By Christina Catanese
A mysterious, vine-woven figure recently appeared behind the Schuylkill Center’s Visitor Center building. Though lacking facial features or limbs per se, it feels human-ish and appears to gaze over the hill into the forest.
This sculpture, created by Brooklyn-based artist Anki King, was the first piece from our fall exhibition to be installed this summer. King harvested vines from the Schuylkill Center property while they were still growing strong in the height of the August growing season for maximum benefit to the ecosystem as well as pliability.
Over the next few weeks, nine more artists will install…
Into The Woods
August 30, 2018Into The Woods
By Ben Vlam
I spent this summer serving as a Fellow for the Alliance of Watershed Education, representing The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. I’ve been coming to the Schuylkill Center for camp since I was six years old, and I worked here as a CIT/Aftercare Counselor for five summers.
What made this experience so different, other than the actual content of the work, was my awareness and appreciation of what the Schuylkill Center offers. I realized how alive and harmonious this place is and it definitely kept me on my toes, whether I was be sawing…
Watershed Fellow writes Eco-Drama as Summer Project
August 23, 2018As a fellow for the Alliance for Watershed Education at the Schuylkill Center, work has felt more like an adventure. Every day I experience something new. From planting trees to picking wineberries, this summer gave me the opportunity to explore my passion for the environment. I got the chance to combine some of my favorite subjects: art, nature, theater, and education. I gained a wealth of knowledge as I supervised campers and taught them what I had learned. I employed my artistic skills as I tracked groups on trails, photographing their expeditions. I also aided Kate Farquhar and laura c carlson…
