Bringing the Invisible to Light: Art as Places for Advocacy

Abstract

The river scene above is close to my heart. Not just because I painted it, but because it represents one of my favorite childhood memories. The first thing my dad, brother, and I would do when we got to our favorite river was to kicknet for crayfish, especially hellgrammites (larval dobsonflies) to fish with. Those positive experiences helped me to pursue river advocacy in my high-school science classroom, specifically stream testing. Later, I was able to take several graduate level courses in stream ecology. I did a lot of kicknetting in them too. So I have a lot of responses to many of the ideas discussed in Tina Pagan’s chapter. In this response, however, the following ideas will be discussed: (1) my ambivalence in terms of the calls for educational reform, (2) the value of stream testing/river advocacy in public school classrooms, and (3) river advocacy, specifically in terms of the visual arts as a way of knowing.