14 Nora’s Big Project

Inspired by “People of Corn, People of Light” in Braiding Sweetgrass

Nora, a girl from Colorado, woke up to her mother patting her back.

“Wake up. It’s time for school,” Nora’s mom whispered. Nora groaned as she sat up. She sluggishly ate breakfast and got ready for school.

Once Nora got to school, her teacher reminded students that they will be continuing their art projects.

“Hello artists! Remember, you are creating something that is meaningful to you. You can use anything to make your creation, and we will share on Friday,” the teacher exclaimed.

Nora’s favorite thing to do was create. She spent most of her time at home creating artwork to express how she was feeling or to create gifts for her friends and family.

Nora ran over to her best friend, Abby, to share some of the ideas she has for the project.

“Abby! What are you going to make for your project! I’m thinking about making my family! I’ll have my cat, and my mom, and my grandma! I think it’s going to be awesome,” Nora yelled to her friend in excitement.

“I’m just going to draw a picture of my cat.” Abby responded.

“I can’t wait to see it!” Nora said as she began to run to the art supplies.

Nora saw tons of supplies: paint, markers, papers, clay, beads, and more!

She grabbed the clay and started to create her family. But after what felt like hours of trying, her clay statues of her family were not looking good. They wouldn’t stand up, they didn’t have features like arms, eyes or noses, and she couldn’t tell which statue looked like which person!

“I can’t do it! They don’t look like my family and can’t even stand up!” Nora growled as she squished all the clay into one big clump and put it back on the art table with the rest of the supplies.

Nora got another idea. What if she drew her cat just like Abby is drawing her cat? She grabbed the same colored pencils her friend used for her picture and began drawing a cat. While drawing, Nora looked at Abby’s drawing and made her cat picture look like Abby’s. Once she was done Nora looked at her drawing. It was beautiful! The pencil strokes made her drawing look like it was a real cat with real fur!

Nora thought to herself, “This is so perfect! But it’s not my work. I feel sad when looking at it because it’s not my idea. I need to do something else.” She threw her drawing away to start over.

Just then the teacher rang a bell and said, “Alright artists! The time is up to create our artwork, but we can pick it up again and continue our projects tomorrow.”

Throughout the school day, Nora thought about her project. She was out of ideas! She wanted to create something meaningful to her but when she tried, her artwork looked like a pile of mush! How could she create artwork that is original, good, and meaningful to her?

At home, Nora shared her frustration with her mom.

“What am I going to do?” Nora asked.

“Well, I think that as long as you try your best, it will be okay. What do you want to create, again?” Nora’s mom responded.

“I wanted to make my family, but I didn’t like how it turned out!” Nora yelled.

“Okay, well what if you did something about what you like to do, or what you find interesting? I know you like going outside. Why don’t we go on a bike ride to get your mind off of it for a while, and then we can talk about it after?” Nora’s mom said.

Nora and her mom put their helmets on and got on their bikes. They rode on a trail leading out of town and into the woodland/prairie land.

As they rode, Nora continued to think about this project. Mom mentioned that she could incorporate things she loved into the artwork, but how? Nora thought about it so much that she didn’t notice she was falling behind. After some time, Nora realized she couldn’t see her mom anymore! She stopped and yelled for her mom but got no response. She sat on a rock nearby trying to figure out what she should do. There were so many pathways and turns, she could get more lost!

Nora decided to wait until her mom found her. While waiting, she looked around her to see birds flying, insects crawling on the path, and other animals rustling in the bushes.

“Nature really is beautiful.” Nora thought, “All the animals seem to get along so well, and they don’t copy each other. They just do their own thing: and they are beautiful!”

Nora realized she can use this idea for her artwork! She plucked pieces of grass, bark, leaves, and other items she found while waiting for her mom and put them in her pocket.

Just then her mom rode back and said, “Nora! What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, mom. But I’m ready to go home.” She replied.

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The next day Nora brought all the items she got from her bike ride to school with her idea.

“Good morning! Let’s get started on our project. I can’t wait to see them!” the teacher said.

Nora pulled out her findings from the night before and glued them onto cardboard to create a forest. She picked up some clay to make some rocks and grabbed colored pencils to draw animals that she saw.

The next day at school, Nora presented her project. She showed her class and said, “I made my project to show how nature works together to create something beautiful. The plants and animals work together while being themselves to live and have good lives. When they work together and are beautiful like that, I like to go outside!” The class and the teacher loved listening to her explain how organisms work together to create a positive environment.