Discovering Nature's Alphabet Exhibit
October 25 - December 13, 2007

Discovering Nature's Alphabet: Play

Letter DThe natural world is filled with lines, spheres, curves and curls, and these elements form its penmanship. A new photo exhibition celebrating these incredible letters formed entirely by nature will open at the Merced County Courthouse Museum on Thursday, October 25 through Thursday, December 13. "Discovering Nature's Alphabet," a series of photographs of naturally-occurring letters, offers children and their families a playful way of exploring and studying nature.

This traveling exhibit includes images taken by husband and wife team Brian Boyl and Krystina Castella as they traveled across the country in search of all the letters of the alphabet. They later turned their photography project into a book and created a curriculum for children and teachers, hoping to inspire others to journey through the wonders of nature to discover their own nature's alphabet.

The photographers and professors are strong advocates of outdoor education and the goal of their work is to get kids out into nature and interested in the shapes, textures and lessons they can find there. The exhibit answers why alphabet letters are found in nature, teaches alphabet history, and compares science to letterforms.Letter G

"We believe that nature has a strong influence in creativity," they said. "We hope that this exhibit provides children with a new way of looking at the world around them. An attachment to nature is healthy for the developing child and 'Discovering Nature's Alphabet' gives them with an activity to nurture that attachment."

To add a local flavor to this exhibit, talented local photographers, young and old alike, will showcase their work at this exhibit as well. At the opening reception on Thursday, October 25, local photographer and Merced College instructor Roger Wyan will give a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "In Quest of the Alphabet: A Father and Daughter's Search for Letters" at 6:00 pm. For more information, please contact the Museum office at 209-723-2401.