By combining visual arts skills with sustainability and wildlife education, youth create a platform to creatively express themselves, connect to nature in LA and to take ownership of and pride in their community. The students work with professional artist mentors to learn artistic skills (color theory, composition and still life drawing). They also receive education from a wildlife expert to teach them about the amazing biodiversity that exists in Los Angeles. The students combine these lessons by creating their own wildlife-inspired artwork on a sustainable substrate – recycled aluminum or a canvas made of fused plastic bags.

The Wild Art curriculum can be tailored with age-appropriate arts activities for ages ranging from pre-school to middle school.

We believe this introduction to wildlife and conservation issues is the first step in leading young people to engagement in and possibly beyond Los Angeles.

By connecting lessons about local wildlife conservation directly to the materials used in our artistic creations (plastic bags, cardboard, recycled metal) students begin to understand the connection between their actions and the world around them, instilling confidence, pride and ownership in their community and their artwork.

Also, using our method of creating canvas from fused plastic bags, Wild Art has converted over 12,000 plastic bags from trash into art.

Academica Avance Elementary - Highland Park, CA

Eucalyptus Elementary- Hawthorne, CA

Glenfeliz Elementary School, Atwater Village

The Los Angeles Zoo - Los Feliz, Los Angeles - 2016 exhibition

By teaching students fundamental art, construction and sustainable building skills, they are transformed from solitary bystanders into a bonded and empowered community of “can do” activists, enthusiastically collaborating on a common goal.

This is a program geared towards upper elementary, middle-school and high school students.

TRASHformation allows participants to explore and express themes affecting their local community, providing a platform for discussing and tackling them on a grassroots level, in a collaborative setting.

Academia Avance - Highland Park, CA

Nightingale Elementary - Cypress Park, CA

Legacy LA - Lincoln Heights, CA

UW OshKosh - Oshkosh, WI

YMCA Boyle Heights - Boyle Heights, Los Angeles

Frogtown Arts Festival and Highland Park Arts Festival - exhibitions

In Chimes for Change, LA teens use recycled and found materials to create wind chimes. Participants learn how to use digital software to record their chimes, and turn those sounds into electronic music compositions. Finally, both visual and audio art works are publicly displayed to to engage participants in sustainability issues impacting the community.

This program is geared towards middle and high school students

A combination of experiential learning and leadership from professional mentors results in a versatile lesson plan that reveals the connection between sustainability, creativity and community. It also gives students the tools they need to translate education into action.

Larchmont Charter School

Loyola Middle School

ArtShare L.A.