{"id":15465,"date":"2026-10-22T13:20:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=15465"},"modified":"2026-10-22T13:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:20:37","slug":"australian-artist-engages-students-in-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/australian-artist-engages-students-in-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian artist engages students in nature"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Artist Nick Athanasiou helped Rosemont Forest fifth grader Abi Olson glue optical filters on paper butterfly wings. The end result was a kinetic butterfly with moving wings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By <\/em>Cindy Butler Focke<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Skunk Control founder Nick Athanasiou was in town for the opening of his outdoor art installation \u201cWhere Wonder Grows: Sanctuary\u201d at Mount Trashmore. He visited six beach public schools and brought supplies for students to make kinetic butterflies, like those on display at the park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About 150 VBCPS students recently met Nick Athanasiou.<\/p>\n

The artist\u2019s largescale art \u201cWhere Wonder Grows: Sanctuary\u201d is on display at Mount Trashmore Park, featuring thousands of moving elements and forms, including flowers, birds and butterflies.<\/p>\n

The native Australian brought his passion for immersive artwork to Rosemont Forest, Glenwood, White Oaks and Trantwood elementary schools. He also led a teacher workshop and visited Tallwood High School and Renaissance Academy.<\/p>\n

He guided students in constructing kinetic butterflies like the ones featured in the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to have fun,\u201d he told the Rosemont Elementary art club. \u00a0\u201cBe joyous and discover something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMany colorful butterflies don\u2019t actually have a color,\u201d Athanasiou explained. Their wings are like optical filters that when exposed to light, undergo a color change.<\/p>\n

Nature uses light to create color, he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nick Athanasiou showed White Oaks fifth grader Kyrian Mills how the color of butterfly wings could change when held up to the light.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Athanasiou dimmed the overhead lights and demonstrated an example of the butterfly they were about to create.<\/p>\n

As the wings moved, various colors illuminated on the classroom\u2019s ceiling amid students\u2019 oohs and aahs.<\/p>\n

Then came time to construct their own, using kits that included cutouts of two black paper butterfly wings.<\/p>\n

They glued pieces of optical filters onto each wing and inserted them into a clear pouch to be laminated.<\/p>\n

The wings were trimmed and attached to a stick with a mechanism to allow them to open and shut.<\/p>\n

The finished product mimicked a fluttering butterfly.<\/p>\n

White Oaks fifth grader Sir Saulsberry\u2019s eyes lit up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised at how fun this was,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to show it to my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
White Oaks fifth graders made their kinetic butterflies flutter in the air.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He and his classmates transformed the art classroom into a large colorful butterfly garden, lifting the creations up in the air and making the wings go up and down.<\/p>\n

Athanasiou seemed pleased with the results.<\/p>\n

He has a doctorate in chemistry and taught the subject before merging his love of science and art to form Skunk Control.<\/p>\n

The art collective brings together artists, engineers, scientists and educators who combine nature, light, color, optics and movement to create engaging art experiences for communities.<\/p>\n

Sharing knowledge through outreach is an important part of bringing the project to Virginia Beach, Athanasiou said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you can pull your sleeves up and help, do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
VBCPS Visual Fine Arts Instructional Specialist Rebecca Davidson helped Rosemont Forest fifth grader Oliva Felder laminate butterfly wings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VBCPS Visual Fine Arts Instructional Specialist Rebecca Davidson coordinated the school visits with Anita Zia from the city\u2019s Cultural Affairs Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe brought \u2018Where Wonder Grows: Sanctuary\u2019 to Virginia Beach to inspire a sense of wonder, creativity and connection within our community,\u201d Zia said.<\/p>\n

Davidson said the experience was invaluable for students because it connected art to other subject areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe knowledge gained makes such a lasting impression,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rosemont Forest art teacher Pam Thompson said students benefited from the art experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got to meet a professional artist exhibiting in our community,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the fact that it is STEM, that\u2019s a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kinetic butterflies similar to those made by beach public school students are displayed within the art installation \u201cWhere Wonder Grows: Sanctuary\u201d at Mount Trashmore through December 16.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The hands-on project tied in perfectly with her theme this year, \u201cArt and Science,\u201d said White Oaks art teacher Amber Crunk.<\/p>\n

Crunk said it will be exciting for students to visit Mount Trashmore and see similar butterflies and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so powerful,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cThey are going to know the science behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere Wonder Grows: Sanctuary\u201d at Mount Trashmore is free to the public and will be open through Dec. 16 during regular park hours, with special evening access. \u00a0For more information visit \u00a0<\/em>Where Wonder Grows: Sanctuary | Virginia Beach Public Art<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
White Oaks fifth graders thought making kinetic butterflies during art class was cool. From left, Michael Ortiz, Jayce Parson and Sir Saulsberry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Rosemont Forest art club fifth graders, from left, Olivia Felder, Taliyah Tillman and Theo Jacob said they had fun making kinetic butterflies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
White Oaks Elementary students enjoyed making kinetic butterflies with visiting artist Nick Athanasiou from Australia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Rosemont Forest art club members showed off their colorful butterfly wings they created with visiting artist Nick Athanasiou.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Six Virginia Beach public schools, including White Oaks Elementary, welcomed Australian artist Nick Athanasiou. Students created kinetic butterflies inspired by those in his temporary art installation at Mount Trashmore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cindy Butler Focke About 150 VBCPS students recently met Nick Athanasiou. The artist\u2019s largescale art \u201cWhere Wonder Grows: Sanctuary\u201d is on display at Mount Trashmore Park, featuring thousands of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-connections","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15465"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15491,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15465\/revisions\/15491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}