Just another OpenETC Wordpress site
 
My Visit to Central Park, Burnaby

My Visit to Central Park, Burnaby

 

Central Park, Burnaby, BC, Canada

By Lorantiya Fernando-Geekiyanage

  • In regards to primary aged children, the importance of play, nature and children having the opportunity to explore their natural curiosities while exploring nature is critical as highlighted in the British Columbia Early Learning Framework. In this case, while I was at the park and walking through the forest, I witnessed many children playing with natural materials they found on the ground, picking leaves, throwing rocks into the ponds, feeding the ducks, watching different wildlife and listening to their surroundings. If given the opportunity, children will explore their surroundings, ask questions and start thinking about the nature around them. 
  • The Shadow Tree is a public art piece representing the shadow of a large Douglas fir. When I was at Central Park, the sun was just starting to set and peaking through the trees in the forest and creating shadows of the hundreds of cedar trees in the forest. This got me thinking about the Shadow Tree being a man made and the actual trees that create shadows as such. At central park, I was able to see first hand the presence of trees and how the shadow tree can be seen anywhere around the world with a variety of species of trees.
  • Seeing the shadows of the trees and their reflection in the water also got me thinking about the importance of the natural elements in land-based learning and how they work together in this case to create a shadow or reflection. The light provided by the sun, the crisp/cold air, the bouncy earth under my feet and the surrounding water. Which got me thinking about how all these elements interact and how the earth, water and light is also necessary for the creation of trees and their life cycles.
  • At Central Park, I was able to visit another large scale public art piece. Upon entry to the park, there is a large metal statue of an Eagle. I pass by that statue every day and never really noticed it as I did when I found the Shadow Tree on campus. After doing some research about this 15 foot eagle, I realized that this eagle was installed at Central Park on behalf of the Burnaby Parks Board in 2009 as a part of 6 piece “Guardian Eagle” installation throughout Burnaby as a part of Burnaby’s Eco-Sculpture Program.
  • I could not find much information on what the “Guardian Eagle” represents in various Indigenous communities and that is something that I will need to explore. In this case however, public art relates to the land and nature in the case of land-based learning, incorporating Indigenous knowledge systems and stories in the case of the “Guardian Eagle” and caring for the earth, environment and nature as this sculpture is an Eco-Sculpture.
  • The last point that I wanted to make was that the Shadow Tree can represent the metaphorical shadows of the countless trees that have been cut down due to deforestation that not only impacted the Douglas fir population, but different types of trees across Canada and how that has drastically affected the environment and wildlife. I was reminded of this by countless tree stumps and cut down trees in Central Park. All these observations would be great base points or hooks to provide students with when exploring the question: “how does public art such as the shadow tree relate to the land, nature, and its surrounding community?”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *