Friday, April 3, 2009

Chloe Hawkins Receives Raven Society Fellowship for Travel to Denmark

Chloe Hawkins (MLA candidate 2010) has been awarded a 2009 Raven Society Fellowship for her project,“Landscapes of Participation in Denmark." Hawkins will observe and research the use and engagement of public space by Danish children. The site of her research interest, the spatial practices of children and adults within the Lilleskolen, or Little Schools, in Denmark, builds on her prior experiences living in Denmark and teaching art to children in New York City.

Hawkins’ design research topic connects to many current pressing concerns: the lack of opportunity for active childhood play and its impact on rising childhood obesity; the relationship between play and cerebellum development in children; and the estrangement of the urban residents from nature and the impact on a community’s environmental values and actions.