Three White Cranes Exhibit Update

We wanted to follow up our last blog posting on the Three White Cranes art exhibit with a few images from the exhibit opening last month. We hope that you can join us at the International Crane Foundation (ICF) this summer or fall to view the exhibit first hand (and for those of you that cannot make it to ICF, we hope you enjoy these images and consider hosting the exhibit at your school or city - see our previous posting on how to involve your school in this activity).

Three White Cranes Exhibit Opens at ICF

Are you looking for something fun to do this summer? Starting next week the "Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World" art and education exhibit will open at the International Crane Foundation's headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The exhibit highlights the achievements of the Three White Cranes project and includes artwork created by students in the United States, China and Russia, along with information on our project activities, education resources developed through the project, and a video focusing on the Xianghai Middle School Nature Art Club (click here to learn more about the Xianghai Middle School). The exhibit will open on June 20, 2009 and will show at ICF through October 31, 2009.

The ICF Conservation Education Department is preparing a traveling version of the exhibit to show at project schools and other public locations this fall. Please contact Joan Garland, ICF's Outreach Coordinator, for more information and how you can involve your school.

Artwork Connects Us All

Art is an important communications and education tool for the Three White Cranes project, as we strive to share information and experiences between three different languages and cultures. Recently we've received news about two art projects completed by Three White Cranes schools in the United States and China:

Each year Jan Weiler's third grade class at Golda Meir School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin learn about cranes through classroom activities, art projects and a class field trip to the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Jan recently emailed us images of her top three "craniacs" - students whose crane artwork were chosen as best in the class (the students and their artwork are pictured below). Thank you, Jan, for sharing this news, and congratulations to your student winners! Photos by Jan Weiler

We also would like to celebrate the students in the Xianghai Middle School art club in northeastern China. The students painted a new mural this fall in their village (click here to read about the first mural that the students painted last summer). The mural is entitled, "Build our home, hand in hand," and shows the Xianghai village past, present and future. ICF is sponsoring a video about this project, focusing on how the Xianghai students are learning about their environment and its problems, and how they are taking action through art and example to bring solutions to their community. We look forward to the student's next project and thank the Xianghai art club for sharing their inspiring story! Photos by Shi Yanqiu

Three White Cranes Art Exhibit

Art helps us communicate across different languages and cultures, and our annual student art exchange has become an important part of the Three White Cranes project. Our project educators carry the art between schools in the United States and across continents to China and Russia to share with our project schools in east Asia.

This fall, our Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World: Children's International Art Exhibit is on display at the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, WI. The exhibit opened October 5th and will run through late December at the Center's Riverside Park location. The exhibit features artwork from students in Milwaukee, Russia and China focusing on cranes and their wetland habitats. Photos of the exhibit installation by Zhang Juan and Gao Luli.