WATER MILL, NY .- Alexis Rockman, the Parrish Art Museum’s 2015 Artist-in-Residence, is partnering with the Museum’s education department to lead more than 400 students in hands-on workshops to create original field drawings based on his unique approach to art making. During the Residency, developed in conjunction with the special exhibition Alexis Rockman: East End Field Drawings currently on view at the Museum, students from Project MOST and Riverhead Charter School, as well as Bridgehampton, Southampton, and Tuckahoe public schools will experience first-hand how an artist transforms ideas and insights into works of art. Paintings created by students during the Residency will be featured in the Parrish 2016 Student Exhibition, on view throughout the month of February.

The Residency will extend beyond visual art to incorporate biological and ecological studies, grounding the students in a deeper understanding of their environment. In workshops at the Museum from December 14 through December 19, Rockman will describe his process of research and observation, and demonstrate the methodology he uses to create the delicate yet richly dimensional drawings of wildlife, insects, and plant life using organic material gathered at specific locations.

In preparation for the workshops at the Museum, Parrish Education Director Cara Conklin-Wingfield and Museum Educator Wendy Gottlieb will visit the schools to introduce students to Rockman’s scientific and creative process for his field drawings, and explore two of his large scale paintings.

“Rockman’s paintings lend themselves to inquiry-based teaching, which involves students in making observations, identifying details in the work, and coming to consensus as a group about what is going on,” said Conklin-Wingfield. “We chose the paintings Manifest Destiny and The Farm because they relate to environmental concerns that students are well aware of, and draw attention to Rockman’s values and concerns as an artist.”

Before working directly with Rockman, students will conduct their own field studies by collecting the organic material (sand and soil) that will be used to create their paintings. They will also complete an East End Field Study Student Worksheet provided by the Museum, recording facts and observations—from weather conditions to a list of plant and animal life—and making sketches of a detail at the site.

At the Parrish, students will view Rockman’s exhibition, East End Field Drawings, and participate in a Q&A with the artist. In the Museum’s Lichtenstein Theater, Rockman will explain his process, demonstrate his methodology, and guide students in using the material from their field studies to create original paintings based on his practice.

On view through January 18, 2016, East End Field Drawings features 93 works on paper by Rockman, who adapts an unconventional, ancient technique of depicting images of flora and fauna, while referencing the straightforward approach of a naturalist’s field guide, to explore humanity’s impact on nature. Created with organic matter such as soil and sand gathered at ponds, parks, beaches, and farms on the East End of Long Island, the drawings depict the plants, insects, birds, and animals specific to the area, emphasizing the endangered species that are rapidly disappearing from our world under the pressure of development and construction.

For East End Field Drawings, Rockman researched the region’s ecosystems and met with local environmentalists and ecologists before choosing 18 specific sites including farm fields and Poxabogue Pond in Sagaponack; Hither Hills State Park and Kirk Park Beach in Montauk; and Hook Pond, Cedar Point, and Northwest Harbor in East Hampton, among other locations. A 72-page fully illustrated color catalogue accompanies the exhibition, including the images on view and an interview between Parrish Art Museum Director Terrie Sultan and Alexis Rockman.

Born in New York City in 1962, Alexis Rockman was exposed to natural history at an early age through his mother, who worked at the Museum of Natural History. His interest in film and animation led him to studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, receiving a BFA in fine arts. Rockman’s paintings in the 1990s were inspired by imagined environmental catastrophes, as well as science-fiction films including Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ridley Scott’s Alien.

Those interests, combined with a fascination with the consequences of genetic engineering and climate change, led to his magnum opus, the monumental mural Manifest Destiny (2004). This futuristic depiction of Brooklyn, New York, combines the artist’s practices of extensive scientific research and flights of psychedelic fancy. Subsequent work, such as Calving Glacier (2005) and Jamaica (2007), focused on the sturm und drang of weather and its effects on the environment. In 2011, Rockman was selected by filmmaker Ang Lee to create conceptual sketches and designed a sequence for the Academy Award winning film, Life of Pi.

Alexis Rockman’s work is in the public collections of museums including Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; as well as The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art, Russia; and the Wurth Museum, Germany.