georgia o'keeffe inspired charcoal skulls and owl pellets

So I was trying to come up with some unique projects that would be very different for the kids in the Artistic Nature camp and happened to remember how excited my kids where when they were young and dissected owl pellets.

I purchased a box of them that arrived a few weeks ago at my home, the same time my youngest daughter had a couple of friends visiting from Germany. They asked me what they were and I explained that when an owl is finished digesting his kill, he regurgitates anything he cant digest in a pellet. They were quite fascinated so we opened one up and gave it a go. The older girls were transfixed but also curious as to how I was going to incorporate it into an art project, which is when I realized Georgia O'Keeffe's skulls were a perfect inspiration for a charcoal project.

When I first started explaining the owl pellets to the kids in the art camp, they are not sold. In fact, the first vote as to whether we were going to proceed had the majority voting no but as I started to put them away and introduce a different project the tides turned.

All but three children wanted to give it a try.

And so I partnered the three who were not wanting to touch them with a child who was quite eager and by the time the first bone was being discovered, two of the three were requesting their own pellet to dissect.

And by the end of the project, one of the children who was so adamant he didn't want to do it asked to take one home to do later.

These pellets come from a science store, so they are sterilized and very kid friendly. I printed off an identification chart for the kids to figure out what animal the owl had eaten too. This was a big hit and there were many rodents and shrews found that morning.

When they were all finished, I collected all the skulls they had found and put them in a bleach solution- 1 part bleach to 4 parts water- for a short while while we had snack and started another project.

Then I introduced Georgia O'Keeffe. Most of the kids were quite familiar with her flower paintings, but not the skulls. After a discussion of the different things they noticed about the works of art, I put out some charcoal and gave each child a skull to draw.

When finished they went back into the works with chalk pastels to create a finished artwork.

I think they came out quite magnificent and I am thrilled to bits that I found a way to incorporate some science into our art since to me Art and Science go hand in hand.

This was without doubt a very successful project that opened up a lot of very interesting discussions amongst the kids.

All of them were very happy to take a skull home, along with their art, to remember a fun morning in the studio.