WOODSTOCK — On a warm, early fall morning students in Katrina Jimerson’s Eco Art class at Woodstock Union High School prepared for a “scavenger hunt” at Sculpture Fest, an art exhibition on farmland in Woodstock.

The 15 students were in search of sculptural principles including light and shadows, texture, negative and positive space. They were also looking for the ways artists use land as a canvas and for materials that connect art to the natural world.

Sophomore MacKenzie Graham said creating art that explores those connections is what drew her to the class.

“I love art and I love nature and this combination in one class sounded perfect,” Graham said during the activity, adding that having Jimerson as the teacher was another reason to take Eco Art.

Graham and junior Schulyer Hagge said they have enjoyed learning how to make paints from natural ingredients, including flowers and berries.

“I’m going to be taking AP art next year and I am interested in creating my own paints for my portfolio and working in a natural medium so Ms. Jimerson thought it would be a good fit for me to start my portfolio and gather the materials I’ll need for next year,” Hagge said.

As an art student and later a teacher, Jimerson has long held an interest in exploring the interplay between art and the natural world.

“Since then I have had different variations of this class and others where I made the focus on finding ways to get students outside and connect with nature,” Jimerson said during the field trip to Sculpture Fest.

During her 20 years as a teacher — including 19 at Woodstock — Jimerson has taught classes titled green art, art science and the environment and art and the landscape. She has led the eco art class for three years.

“The overarching objective of ‘Eco Art’ is to have each student investigate the multiple dimensions, systems and relationships of their ‘place,’ ” Jimerson said later in an email.

That includes understanding food and forest systems, as well as sustainability practices. She wants her students to reconsider the relationship between humans and nature — and how they can evolve in the future.

“Eco Art is about improving our relationship with the natural world,” Jimerson wrote. “Much of the art is collaborative — involving input from artists, scientists, and members of the community.”

This semester, the Eco Art class is engaged in a study of sculpture as it relates to the natural world. The class has taken a few field trips to Sculpture Fest, where artists display their work on the land of Peter and Charlotte Davenport. Sculptures of different shapes, sizes and materials dot the grassy hillside and can be seen on other parts of the property.

“We started a tradition of having the Eco Art class participate in this amazing thing called Sculpture Fest,” Jimerson told her students soon after they arrived. “It is a unique and special opportunity as you learn what Sculpture Fest is and you will have the opportunity to meet some of these artists.”

Jimerson said it is her students’ first introduction to sculpture and “thinking about sculpture in place.”

Eco Art is one example of what Jimerson believes is a change taking place in traditional high school art classes.

“We focus on learning with nontraditional art media,” Jimerson wrote in an email. “We use nature as a classroom, canvas, material and inspiration, and we are collaborating and learning from artists in the community.”

One of those artists is Lela Jaacks, a Brownsville resident and 1995 Woodstock High School graduate, who discussed two of her works with students during their field trip to sketch some of what they see and look for different artistic elements of the sculptures. Jaacks discussed two of her works that were on display.

One is titled “Fairy Ring,” which Jaacks said is “in a sense, an abstraction of a cluster of mushrooms.”

“My work is not directly a full representation of what I see in nature,” Jaacks explained to the students. “I’m distilling it and looking at the patterns of how light forms.”

The group moved onto Jaack’s second work, “Pause III,” which features shells and natural artifacts embedded in small panels of cast concrete secured to posts along the driveway.

“I love the idea of zooming in or zooming out. So that piece has that quality for me; what would it be like to interact with a cluster of mushrooms,” she said. “That is a fun way to observe nature for me.”

As the students prepare to create their own sculpture later in the semester, Jaacks told them to remember that everyone brings their own perspective to sculptural works.

“When you are creating a sculpture that is site-specific, take into consideration your environment, what is around you,” she said. “What is the message or what are you hoping the viewer gets out of the piece you are creating, whether it is just an expression of yourself or whether it is a conversation with the environment you are in.”

The students — sophomores, juniors and seniors — seated under a large tree with leaves just beginning their turn to fall colors, heard Charlet Davenport speak about the history and mission of Sculpture Fest. She also highlighted some of the works on her Woodstock property.

Eco Art works can be site specific while others are ephemeral, which means they change or disappear as the environment changes.

“There are a lot of beautiful ways the artists are working with the landscape here,” Jimerson told her students as they explored Sculpture Fest.

Sophomore Ana Salisbury said she is taking the class because of a love of art and hopes to one day be a professional artist. Eco Art, she said, is another type of art she wants to add to her skill set.

“I love the idea of expanding my mediums,” Salisbury said.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.