METHOW WILDLIFE WONDERS

Partnership blends art and environmental education for interdisciplinary learning

An original block print design by Methow Valley sixth grade student Damon Alumbaugh will be featured on t-shirts commemorating the 2019 Methow Kids’ Free Fishing Day, which is part of National Fishing and Boating Week.

 Additional designs were chosen to be featured on posters that will be hung throughout the valley. The additional artwork features the following sixth grade students: Damon Alumbaugh, Cassidy Jones-Mowen, Jonas Oosterhof, Peter Kominak, Raiff Reichert and Samuel Patterson.

The annual event is on Saturday, June 8 at the Winthrop Fish Hatchery from 10am-2pm. Activities include: Fishing for trout, Gyotaku Fish Art, Fly Tying, Beaver Station, Water Safety, Fly-Casting Demo, Salmon Cooking and Smokey Bear. FREE! 

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The Fishing Day theme —  METHOW WILDLIFE WONDERS — celebrates the vital role that wildlife plays in sustaining life across ecosystems.  

The block prints were created through a Methow Arts – Education Class: an interdisciplinary unit on Methow fish and fish habitat offered to sixth graders in conjunction with National Fishing and Boating Week. In this interdisciplinary unit students first learned about fish and fish habitat in a workshop in their classrooms with local biologist John Crandall. They then sketched images and learned how to carve blocks and print them with local teaching artists Laura Gunnip and Emily Post, with help from artist Jennifer Molesworth. The block prints feature fish, mammals, and habitat of the Methow Valley Watershed. The project was sponsored by the US Bureau of Reclamation.

This hands-on art residency was brought to students by Methow Arts Alliance.  The partnership serves more than 5,200 students and 370 teachers across Okanogan County with arts programs in classrooms in the Omak, Okanogan, Brewster, Bridgeport, Pateros, and Methow School Districts, and in the Paschal Sherman Indian School. 

The Fishing Day project is a collaboration among the following organizations and businesses: Artswa, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Cascade Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, Dick’s Fishin’ Shop, Ecotrust, Friends of Northwest Hatcheries, Jim’s Pumping Service, Methow Arts Alliance, Methow Recycles, Methow Restoration Council, Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation, Methow Valley Fly Fishers, Methow Valley School District, North 40 Outfitters, North Cascade Regional Libraries, Okanogan Conservation District, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, The Outdoorsman Store, Trout Unlimited, Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board, US Army Corps of Engineers, Us Bureau of Reclamation, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Parks, Wildlife Conservation Society, Winthrop Kiwanis, and Yakama Nation.

DATE : Sat, June 8, 10-2pm. LOCATION: Winthrop National Fish Hatchery. CONTACT: Methow Arts, 509-997-4004, info@methowartsalliance.org