Global Art Classroom is back at the NOLS campus in Tucson, Arizona for the spring term – reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees in the city where it is set, plein air painting in the desert, and learning to live together before departing for Europe. In the first two weeks alone, the group has taken their easels to Saguaro National Park, the copper mines of Bisbee, Canyon de Chelly, and more, painting, sketching, and learning about the region's history and culture. Read more from Fiona ’26, Sophia ’26, and Hazel ’27 below!
Learning and Living in Arizona
Fiona ’26
Upon arriving in Tucson, Arizona, I began by adjusting to my new environment and bonding with the group through group dinners, reading, sunbathing by the pool, and playing cards after dinner. We first started Literature and Art History classes a few days into the trip, learning to understand the meaning of art from the past and interpret the historical, cultural, and social view of the audience at the time, and reading The Bean Trees, a story about a Cherokee child being given to a young woman who is faced with challenges on how to keep and support her while building a new life in Tucson, Arizona. This led to many interesting conversations within the group, covering a wide range of topics. In class, we have light as well as deep and hard conversations about toxic relationships, grief, abuse, asylum seekers, and the challenges characters face, and finally, the ties the themes throughout the book hold to the social and political status of our world right now.
We have already ventured out to multiple places to practice new art techniques with beautiful landscapes and lots of sun! These days are usually seemingly longer, consisting of packing the van, driving anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours, and then putting our practice to work by either doing a large landscape painting, an urban sketch, or a more specific painting of one thing.
These days are more stressful, including picking what to paint, figuring out different parts, lighting, color, and focal points, and, lastly, trying your best to complete it before we must leave after about 3 hours. This experience has definitely developed my artistic abilities by forcing me to focus on specific principles of design and elements of art that I had never previously thought about.
~ Fiona '26
Over this time, I have created a variety of works, one of my favorite types being my microfiber sketches and urban drawings with watercolors overlapping. Overall, these first few weeks have been an amazing experience, different from Proctor, but it has overall been great!
My Life in Arizona (Thus Far)
Sophia ’26
We have been in Arizona for more than two weeks, though it feels like I just got here, and that we've been here for months at the same time. Settling into the program was a bit unsettling, ironically. I got to know a lot of my peers that I never really knew or talked to before. It was good to meet new people that I probably wouldn't have ever met in any other circumstance. I came in here wanting to be as open minded as I could, wanting to lean into the experience. For the first week or so, my body woke up early around 6:00 am, and we went to bed around 8:00-8:30 pm — the time change really hit me. Fiona (my roomie) and I would go on morning walks and do some yoga/workout. After our bodies became more regulated, we began to sleep in until usually around 8:30, then brush our teeth and wash our face, get dressed, and go make breakfast. I have been eating egg whites and cottage cheese for breakfast most days.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, we have Art History at 9:15-10:30 am, then Literature from 10:45-11:45 am. Then we all eat lunch, followed by study hall/living skills from 1:30-5:00 pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have Art I (Painting) from 9:30-12:30 pm, for which we have been going out on excursions to paint off the NOLS campus, then we have lunch, and Art II (sketching) from 2:00 pm-3:00 pm. Every day we aim to eat dinner around 5:30, though sometimes it varies depending on how long dinner prep takes.
So far, we have visited Saguaro National Park, Javelina Rocks in Saguaro National Park for sunset, the Copper Queen Mine Tour on our day trip to Bisbee, the Tucson Desert Art Museum, the Tucson Botanical Gardens, Agua Caliente, Globe, AZ, Besh-Ba-Gowah Museum, Show Low, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, and the Petrified Forest National Park. So far, I have enjoyed the experience and am very lucky to be part of this experiential learning program.
Arizona: It Belongs to the Grasshoppers
Hazel ’27
In Arizona, it's impossible not to drown the grasshoppers.
They’re in every sink. I walk up ready to start the end of the night, and I see them, one in every sink. Grasshoppers there, jumpers, not that there's any paper nearby to scoop them up anyway. In Arizona, the sun dries your hands; you’re lucky if the air doesn’t take all the moisture you have to your name. At night, the grasshoppers jump at you in your pjs or the towel you brought for your shower, so you tap the button to release the water quickly, like a warning shot, and hope the grasshopper doesn't get swept down the drain. The sinks were set up for water conservation, all in a line with NOLS. You push the big top down, and the sink pours for what cannot be longer than three seconds, and still the grasshoppers get swept up in the water.
Grasshoppers like to jump. They jump right into my casita, no matter how quick I am. They like the light. When the door is shut, they fall like hail, hard as rocks, outside the door. I share a casita with Sophie ’27. She’ll chase them, catch them, and set them free. Sophie M., catcher of Grasshoppers. I just coexist with them. She is much braver than me. That's not entirely true. I talk to them. I scold the grasshoppers; I tell them they don't want to be in here in my casita; they’re going to starve slowly. I open the door and tell them they don’t want to live with me. It's not something I've ever given much thought to doing. I guess it is sort of silly. Hazel liberator of the Grasshoppers, but they don't have ears. They don’t go; they only hurl themselves at the door when it’s closed because you can still see the porch light through the glass and the half-broken blinds over the window.
When the door is open, you can see the Arizona night in its deep blue entirety. And grasshoppers like the light. So, they get stuck in the shower or sink and drown, or they sit in my casita near the light and starve. It seems silly to everyone but the grasshoppers.
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