PenDragon - the official magazine of Lyford Cay International School PenDragon Vol 1, Spring 2015 | Page 7

be involved in additional “citizen
science” work by monitoring fish and
coral that colonize the new reefs.
As the project quickly unfolded during
the summer, Mrs. Mizell and LCIS
art teacher, Mrs. Sandra Illingworth,
took several LCIS students to see
the sculptures and to meet the
artists. “For about 2-3 hours we
moved huge chunks of styrofoam
that were broken apart with a forklift
and then pressure-sprayed off of
the figure,” Mrs. Illingworth recalls.
Twelfth grader Rasheed Pickstock
interviewed the artists as part of his
extended essay for the International
Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
“Meeting with Jason deCaires
Taylor was an inspiring experience,”
Pickstock recalls. “Jason’s artistic
philosophy is that nature is the most
beautiful and basic art form. This was
something that was clearly evident
in his body of work. His sculptures
are beautiful, but they are not the
focus of the piece. The main point is
what happens after he’s done, when
nature reclaims it, when the coral
and algae claim the piece and make
that piece something more. What
this does for me as an artist is make
me more aware of the way my pieces
may interact with their surroundings.
It’s almost like pre-curating and
thinking, ‘where will this piece go,’
or ‘what else is going to be around
this piece?’ In Jason’s case, these
questions take on quite a different
meaning because he’s actually
working in a living ecosystem in
which he has things that physically
interact with his piece.”
After the sculptures were put into
place, the school’s marine science
class was instrumental in helping
map out three underwater trails.
Students were well prepared for
their dives by Mrs. Mizell in the
LCIS pool. They learned how to
measure distance using kick cycles
and they practiced some marine
navigation skills using compasses
before heading to the site to work.
Information gleaned from their dives
is being used by BREEF to create
the snorkel trail signage that will be
installed at the Clifton Heritage Park,
and can also be used by people
visiting the sculpture garden by boat.
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Mrs. Mizell continues to visit the
sculpture garden with students as
part of class. “I love it out there. It’s
amazing how fast things have moved
into those structures. It’s great to
have this in everyone’s backyard
and to be able to use this as an
outdoor classroom. Even if I take a
class down there and there is oil in
the water, it gives us an opportunity
to talk about pollution in a real way.”
The underwater sculpture garden
is a perfect example of what can
be achieved when different groups
work together with one goal in
mind. “You hear about plastics in
the ocean,” says Mrs. Mizell. “You
hear about ocean pollution and
rising ocean temperatures and coral
bleaching and overfishing and all
these horrible things that are going
on in the world’s oceans. But there
is hope. Together, we can change
and we can make a difference.”