THE WAYS OF WATER

According to German artist Claudia Sckmacke, “We see the world through water spheres.” This idea was the starting point for the water-related project carried out at the one-room school in the small village of Laukiz, in the province of Bizkaia. The students then had to make their own creative representations, in line with curriculum content from the subject of Science.

Many artists today strive to raise awareness of the importance of water. The schoolchildren in Laukiz painted more than sixty eyes as a way of reminding us that, to look at the world, we use an organ that is 90 to 95 per cent made of water. The also painted a large-size mural showing figures against a watery background, reminding us that up to 60 per cent of the human body is water. In addition, they designed ingenious rainwater collection tank prototypes, where water could be stored, treated and purified using natural filters. Collective action sprang from one of the drawings: the students would place containers under the trees to collect the rainwater dripping from their leaves. They even reached the local stream for irrigation water. All these activities led to a new look at both the curricular subject and the natural world.