Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art

HarperCollins Publisher, 1994

"Once a tree stood alone on a hill by the river. Through the long days, its leaves fluttered in the soft summer breeze."

"When you look at this painting of the tree on a hill, can you remember how you felt on a perfect summer day?"

"But then the days grew shorter and the nights longer. The winds became cold, and the tree began to change."

"This is the same tree in the same place. What makes this painting different?"

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Thomas Locker

Locker (1937 - 2012) was a landscape painter as well as an illustrator for more than 30 children's books. He began his training through an apprenticeship in traditional European oil painting at the age of six and began exhibiting his American landscapes at 27. His work was shown at more than 75 galleries in the United States and Europe throughout his life.  Locker began to share the world of fine art with children in 1982 through his first book Where the River Bends.

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Book Synopsis

Science comes alive through art in Sky Tree. Locker's richly detailed paintings are paired with a description of the tree and its surroundings, as well as a science or an art appreciation question. Locker's paintings illustrate the passage of time in nature through the changes in the tree.

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Picture book, non-fiction, 40 pages. A fascinating examination of the seasons through multiple oil paintings depicting the same tree.

Learning Options

Family Read Aloud Time
Sky Tree is a wonderful book for an older child to read aloud to the family. The short narrative followed by a question gives a child the opportunity to lead parents or younger children in observations about the art.

Classroom Resource
Sky Tree works well as a resource for units on seasons, trees or art. Given the nature of the questions for each illustration, the book could also be used in a lesson about observation.

Learning at Home
Locker's artistic style -- both in his oil paintings and his book illustrations --  is modeled after the mid-19th century American Hudson River School art movement and Romanticism. Sky Tree is an excellent introduction for older students learning about this art movement and its impact on artists.

• The Hudson River School, Digital Public Library of America
• Hudson River School STEAM: Art & the Environment, Albany Institute of History and Art
  

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