Each Art For the Sky project is filmed and a digital file is given free to each school. Click on the links below to watch one and get an idea about just what happens when Art For the Sky comes to a school!

S c h o o l  V i d e o s

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Once Upon a Sailboat: 6oo students and staff from an elementary school in Norwalk, CT form a sailboat sailing on a sea made of blue jeans with a sail made of sheets.

Rock the House: The Beech Hill Beacons, from Summerhill, SC, form a "lighthouse guitar" made of 1100 students and staff.

The Diversity Tree: 600 students and staff from Tramway Elementary, North Carolina create a tree made of many colors.

Mishe Mokwa: Mishe-Mokwa is the name of the bear that swam across Lake Michigan in the native legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes. At Lindemann Elementary School in Allen Park, Michigan, 700 students and staff formed the bear swimming through a lake made of blue jeans. Why did the bear chose to swim across the lake? She and her two cubs had to flee a forest fire on the other side, which can be see here in modern times, as a lesson about the climate crisis and all the forest fires that plague our world now because of it.

Return of the Condor. Two schools in Crescent City, CA combine to form a giant-living California  condor image in celebration of the Yurok tribal effort to return this bird to the wild.

A Falcon Made of Colors: Foothill Country Day School in Claremont, CA celebrates their 70th anniversary with a colorful rendition of their mascot.

Once Upon a Penguin. 650 students and staff at Marina Middle School in San Francisco become a living painting of their mascot, a penguin.

Magic Trick: 750 students and staff from Eagle Elementary in Medford, NY form a rabbit coming out of a hat.

Once Upon a Husky. 500+ students and staff of Lloyd Road School in Monmouth County, New Jersey celebrate their husky mascot by creating a giant living painting of one in their field.

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The Banty From the Bayou: If you ever wondered why the chicken crossed the road watch this film! 450 students and staff from Bayou Blue Upper Elementary in southeast Louisiana formed the head of a giant banty (rooster). This was their fourth project in 4 years!

I Want a Doghouse: 450 students and staff from South Larose Elementary in Louisiana built a giant doghouse for their mascot . . . a bullpup.

Once Upon a Blue Jay: 500+ students and staff at Frederick Douglass Elementary School in Delaware form a beautiful blue jay, their mascot.

FALL: 500 students and staff from Bowman School in Lexington, MA form a colorful tree in celebration of fall.

Once Upon a Maple Leaf: The Mountain School at Windhall in Vermont celebrates fall with the creation of a beautiful maple leaf with 125 students and staff.

125: Hewlett-Woodmere School District in New York celebrates their 125th anniversary with 5 schools forming the number "125".

Once Upon a Polar Bear: 500 students and staff at North Greenville Elementary in Greenville, Wisconsin form a polar bear portrait.

B R E A C H!: 700 students and staff in Carpinteria, California form a breaching humpback whale.

Once Upon a Wolf: 300 students and teachers at Webster Elementary in Minneapolis, MN become pixels in a wolf portrait.

The Sky Griz: 350 Students and staff at Mortensen Elementary in Littleton, Colorado form a colorful grizzly bear portrait.

Jackrabbit Sky: 900 students and staff at Bishop Elementary in Bishop, California form a giant jackrabbit.

Rocket to the Stars: 700+ students and staff at Northridge Elementary in MOreno Valley, CA form a rocket ship.

Once Upon an Eagle: 600+ students and teachers from Edgemont Elementary in Morenoa Valley, CA form an artfull eagle.

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Once Upon a Bullpup: 500 students and teachers at South Larose Elementary in Louisiana form their mascot: a bulldog pup.

Frosty: 450 students and staff at Clinton Elementary School in Clinton, SC form an endangered frosted salamander.

Sammy the Shark: 550 students and staff at McKissick Academy for Science and Technology in Easely, SC form their mascot: Sammy the Shark.

FOX: 550 students and staff form a fox nestled in a heart at Dorothy Fox Elementary School in Camas, Washington. October

The Gator of Bayou Blue: 550 students and staff from Bayou Blue Upper Elementary, in Bayou Blue, Louisiana form an aligator.

SHINE  300 students and staff at a Newport Beach, CA elementary school form a dolphin rising from a sea made of blue jeans

Once Upon a Piping Plover: 500 students and staff from Tremont Elementary on New York's Long Island form an endangered piping plover.

Wings of Blue: 700 students and staff at Eagle Elementary in Medford, NY form an endangered karner blue butterfly.

Once Upon a Woodpecker: 350 students and staff at the Dunbar Hill School in Hamden, CT form a red-headed woodpecker.

Through a Tigers Eye: In this school’s third Art For the Sky project, 1000 students and staff at Moorestown Upper Elementary in Moorestown New Jersey get their skysight on and depict seeing through the eyes of a tiger.

Once Upon a Blue Crab: Undeterred by high winds, the 650 strong K-2 George J. Mitchell Elementary School in Little Egg Harbor, NJ formed a big blue crab on their field. Crabbing is big in this region and certainly this was the biggest one anyone has ever seen!

Becoming a Seal Crescent Elk Middle School in Crescent City, CA has done more aerial art projects than any school anywhere! The first one was a cougar in 2007. This sea lion is their 8th! It is celebration of their 90th anniversary.

Once Upon a Dolphin 300 students and staff at a Newport Beach, CA elementary school form a dolphin rising from a sea made of blue jeans

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Blue Dog 500 students and staff from Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts form a blue dog . . . tribute to Cajun artist George Rodrigue who popularized them. This was their second AFTS project.

United We Stand 500 students and staff at Bayou Blue Elementary in Houma, Louisiana celebrate Veteran’s Day with the creation of a stars and stripes eagle. This was their 2nd AFTS project

Once Upon a Meadowlark: 550 Students and staff form a meadowlark in flight at Meadowlark Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana

All My Favorite Colors: Bedford Park District in Illinois celebrates the power of color in this unique living pinwheel during their 2021 summer camp.

Once Upon a Seastar: For the Earth & Ocean Arts Festival at Cannon Beach in Oregon, hardy participants braved the rainy weather to form a beautiful seastar on the beach. This short film features the beauty of Cannon Beach and several area artists as well as the We Players from San Francisco.

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Once Upon A Whale: Newport Beach Elementary in California is the only school in the country literally ON the beach. 500 students and staff form the tail of a whale descending into a sea made of blue-jeans.

Z I A: 600+ students and teachers from Los Alamos Middel School in Los Alamos, NM form the sacred Zia symbol in their parking lot. To share image on Instragram see: #artforthesky or facebook.com/artforthesky

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The Dragon's Gift: 500 K-2 students and staff from Woodland Elementary School in Costa Mesa, CA form a Dragon bearing a special gift which is opened up for all to see!

Once Upon a Pennisula: 1250 Miami Springs high school students depict sea level rise in Florida.

Ukelele Bear: 650 students and staff at Bryant Art Academy Elementary School in Garden Grove, California create a bear playing a ukelele.

Once Upon a Tigershark: 750 students and staff form a tigershark at Tramway Elementary School in Sanford, North Carolina

Once Upon a Bobcat: In Houma, Louisiana the Bayou Blue Upper Elementary school celebrates their Bobcat mascot in a beautiful way.

Once Upon a Cypress Tree: 450 students and staff from Airline Park Academy in Metairie, Louisiana form a magnificent cypress tree with a bald eagle flying overhead.

Once Upon a Butterfly: 500 students and staff from York Elementary school form their own unique "species" of butterfly in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Once Upon an Eagle: 500 kids and staff from Tokeneke Elementary School in Darien, CT for a beautiful head of a bald eagle.

Indigo Bunting: A few hundred students and staff from Woodlawn Elementary in Lawrence, Kansas . . . plus a few old and dear friends . . . form a beautiful Indigo Bunting. The number "415" appears in the branch which is the current parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. The save level is 350. The last time it was at "415" was 3 million years ago, the seas were 80 ft higher, no ice on the poles, and of course there were no humans on the planet.

W A R R I O R: 600+ students and staff of Maconaquah Elementary School in Miami County, Indiana form a spectacular Native American warrior just before the onset of a massive storm.

Husky: 500 students and staff from Harrison Street Elementary School form a beautiful Husky in Geneva, Illinois.

Rockfish: 650 students and staff at Eagle Elementary in Medford, NY form a Rockfish. Included in the fish are rocks which each student will selects and paints their own individual fish.

WE RISE: 550 students and teachers from Marshall W. Errickson School school in Freehold, New Jersey form a colorful hot air balloon with a powerful message.

Marmot: 300 students and teachers at Ross Montessori School in Carbondale, Colorado form a marmot poking his head up from his hole in the ground.

Return of the Buffalo: Celebrating the return of the buffalo to the Shoshone after being absent on their reservation for over 100 years. 700 native K-12 students and staff from Fort Washakie school form the design in honor one of North America's most magnificent creatures. The Wind River Indian Reservation has 4 times the bison habitat of Yellowstone and the goal is to build a herd of 1000 animals running free. This is the 3rd project with the tribe and it's always such an honor to spend time in this spectacular region!

The Yellow Bird Sings: 300 students and staff at Purdy Elementary School in Atkinson, Wisconsin form an endangered yellow throated warbler.

Becoming Eagle: 825 students and staff from Tawanka Elementary School in Feasterville, PA become the glorious head of a bald eagle complete with a sky made of blue jeans.

The Sky Fox: 525 students and staff from Dorothy Fox Elementary School in Camas, WA form a pretty fox out on their field.

A Bear Hug For Addie: 600 students and teachers dedicate their creation of a bear hugging the Earth to a first grader who tragically passed a few days before the project began.

Once Upon a Hawk: 450 K-8 students and staff at Haworth Public School in New Jersey form the head of an endangered goshawk.

The Dragon's Gift: 500 K-2 students and staff from Woodland Elementary School in Costa Mesa, CA form a Dragon bearing a special gift which is opened up for all to see!

Indigo Bunting: A few hundred students and staff from Woodlawn Elementary in Lawrence, Kansas . . . plus a few old and dear friends . . . form a beautiful Indigo Bunting. The number "415" appears in the branch which is the current parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. The save level is 350. The last time it was at "415" was 3 million years ago, the seas were 80 ft higher, no ice on the poles, and of course there were no humans on the planet.

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The Sky Wolf: 850 students and teachers form a portrait of a wolf with a beautiful sky made of blue jeans. This is one of my fave projects to date!

The Sky Turtle: 1600+ kids from 3 Allen Park, Michigan form a painted turtle rising up from the bottom of a pond made of 1000 pairs of blue-jeans and poking its head out the surface of the water.

The Golden Hawk: 1500 students and staff from Miami Springs High School in Miami Springs, Florida form a gorgeous golden hawk.

Kingfisher Takes Flight: 450 students from Bishop Elementary & Middle School form a kingfisher taking flight. This image completes the intention set by the initial perched kingfisher done in Los Angeles in 2017. Both were in collaboration with Walking Water, a group of an international, inter-generational water protectors who walked from one of LA’s water sources . . . Mono Lake, 550 miles to Long Beach. The kingfisher is emblematic of healthy watersheds, a mission of both Walking Water and Art For the Sky.

Native Sky: On the Wind River Indian Reservation, summer school kids from Wyoming Indian Elementary, Middle and High Schools take the form of their beautiful logo which is symbolic of their history and power as a people.

N E V E R M O R E: Do it in ART FIRST! That's what I believe it takes to make big hard-to-change-things happen in reality. Transforming an AR-15 into a beating heart creates a "field" for a ban on assault weapons to actually happen. The idea arose after the Parkland shooting. By your sharing of this video can inspire young and old to get out and vote for candidates in favor of major gun control legislation!Thanks to the Hood River Mama Bears and all participants for helping on this project!

Tree of Change: 600 students and staff at Barbara Reid Public School in Stouffville, Ontario, Canada brave the cold and the snow to form a beautiful tree with fall colors. The number "412" is featured in the roots which is the current parts per million (ppm) of carbon in the atmosphere. Scientists have determined that the safe level is 350.

These Are the Daze: People gather at Pinckney Island in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina for the refuge's first pollinator festival and form a giant monarch butterfly. This was a celebration of National Wildlife Refuge Week.

Once I Was a Robin: In Cuba City, Wisconsin 500 students and teachers form a robin pulling up a worm.

Dandelion Daze: Hill Field Elementary is a military school in Clearfield, Utah. The symbol of the military child is the dandelion and during "the week of the military child" 550 students and teachers formed a dandelion complete with making a wish and the dandelion seeds blowing off in the wind!

Bridge to the Future: To highlight their journey in the coming year from their old school to a brand new school, Eagle Valley Elementary School commemorates the occasion with the creation of a beautiful bridge.

The Flory Falcon: Flory Academy for Science and Technology in Moorpark, CA celebrated their 90 year anniversary by creating a giant falcon in their athletic field.

KALO Hana Pono: At 'Ele'ele Elementary School on the Hawai'ian island of Kauai, Art For the Sky returned to facilitate the creation of their sacred Kalo plant. This video is set to the very special music of "Hawai'i Aloha: Song Across Hawai'i" a project of Playing For Change. To Native Hawaiians, kalo is supreme in importance—it is defined in the Kumulipo, or Hawaiian Creation Chant, as the plant from which Hawaiians were formed. When the first voyagers arrived on the shores of the Hawaiian Islands nearly 1,500 years ago, kalo (taro) was one of the few sacred plants they carried with them.

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A Kingfisher's Dream: Walking Water takes a break from phase III of their 550 mile pilgrimage from Mono Lake to the confluence of the Los Angeles River with the ocean to join with participants from three Los Angeles Schools to form a beautiful kingfisher on a school field bordering the LA River. The kingfisher is a bird that is emblematic of a healthy watershed. In the form of a giant living painting, the bird became an embodied prayer that we become wise stewards of water and rewilders of damaged rivers.

The Be Kind Bee: Clinton Elementary School in Clinton South Carolina forms a bee and spells the word "kind" with 600+ students and staff.

A Family Tree: Ogden Elementary School on Long Island, NY forms a tree with falling apples and leaves and a special message.

Sea Otter Sky: In Pacific Grove, California the students and staff of Robert Down Elementary School celebrate and literally become, the emblematic sea mammal of their region; the sea otter.

An Astro Halloween: On Halloween, 350 students and staff at Walter Schirra Elementary School in New Jersey form an astronaut.

The Tree of Life: 600 form a tree with falling fruit at Concord Elementary School in Darien, Illinois.

Changemaker in Motion: 600 students and staff from Bodkin Elementary in Pasadena, Maryland form a colorful mandala in celebration of their chosen attributes which make them a "changemaker" school.

The Human Surfboard: 900 students and teachers at Long Beach Middle School in Long Beach, NY create the world's largest (and likely only!) "human surfboard" with a potent message to this ground zero climate change location, about the importance of awakening a new way of riding the waves our unique time is presenting.

Today It's Your Birthday: 1000 students and teachers at Moorestown Upper Elementary School in New Jersey form the world's largest human birthday cake. Their message: "Treat everyone as if it is their birthday."

M E R M A I D: Crescent Elk Middle School in Crescent City, California does Art For the Sky every year. This beautiful Mermaid is their 7th and may be the best one yet! She sports a plastic bottle necklace with a heart locket, a tiger lilly in her hair, tin can accents on her guitar and of course 580 students . . . as the body's scales.

Once I Was a Great Blue Heron: 850 students and teachers at Fairfield Elementary become a beautiful great blue heron in flight.

The Day of the Bat: Pembroke Elementary School in Troy, MIchigan is passionate about bats. Each year the 3rd graders make bat houses. In the spring of 2017 the entire school became a bat out on their field.

The Bina of Curacao: During the International Plein Air Art festival on the Caribbean island of Curacao, children from 23 schools gather to form the island's seldom seen, indigenous deer that they are so proud of, called the "bina".

Today I Was a Grey Whale: 600 students and teachers become a grey whale at Canalino Elementary School in Carpinteria, California.

We Dreamed We Were Sockeye: I never thought I'd be able to feature a flight around Denali in one of my Art For the Sky films! In Talkeetna, Alaska, in the heart of winter, I did just that during my week long residency program teaching school children and teachers about the importance of awakening our skysight and culminating in a gorgeous 50ft. sockeye salmon.

A Shell For the Sky: 500 students and staff at Waimea Canyon School on Kauai form the islands emblematic sunrise shell.

Mustang Sky: At the `Ele`ele elementary school on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, 550 students and teachers form their mascot: a beautiful mustang.

The Day I Was a Bear: 600 take the form of a colorful bear at Browns Valley Elementary School in Napa, CA.

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Dolphin Daydream: 550 students and teachers from Wayside Elementary School in Potomac, Maryland form a dolphin rising out of a sea made of blue jeans.

Zydeco Sky: Louisiana . . . cajun . . . zydeco! I love the cultural flavor and musical spirit of this state! This project celebrated that with The Center for Visual and Performing Arts, a special elementary school in Baton Rouge. 600+ students and staff along with miscellaneous materials form zydeco musician playing an accordion.

The Beating Heart of Texas: 600 students and staff from Town Center Elementary in Coppell, Texas form the state of Texas with a stunning beating heart.

The Kirkland Warbler: 800 students and staff from Lindemann Elementary in Allen Park, MI form the endangered and beautiful Kirtland Warbler.

Koala Daydream: 500 students and teachers at J.W. Killam Elementary school in Reading, MA form a koala bear sitting in a tree.

The Pen Pals Project: The Pen Pals project originating from the Grand River Territory in Ontario, Canada facilitates indigenous students and their neighbors writing letters back and forth throughout the school year in order to increase cross cultural tolerance and understanding. Pen Pals is a celebration of peace and friendship. This video documents their 10th Anniversary gathering.

R O A R!: 380 students and teachers from Tobin Elementary School in Burbank, IL form the head of a growling tiger.

Up Up & Away: 500+ students and staff at Hood River Middle School in Hood River, Oregon "take flight" in a beautiful hot air balloon.

Lighthouse School: Maxwell Elementary school near Tuscaloosa, Alabama is a Leader in Me School which teaches the 7 Habits of Happy Kids.. In spring of 2016 they got their certification of as an official Lighthouse School, one of only 187 in the world.

The Wise Owl: 500 Johnson Elementary students and staff create a coloful owl on a rainy day in New Jersey.

The Art of Recovery: In Kansas City, MO, approximately 100 participants celebrated the power of hope in recovery from addiction by forming the shape of a human with arms raised upwards towards the sun. Sponsored by Valley Hope and First Call.

Complete the Circle - 2016: 1000 people in Fairfax County, Virginia come out to participate in the 6th annual Complete the Circle event.

Reach For the Stars: Ashton Elementary celebrates it's 40th anniversary by becoming an astronaut reaching and grabbing a star.

The Winged Earth: 1300 students and staff of Stonewall Tell Elementary in College Park, Georgia create an Earth with wings.

The Peninsula Pelican: In NSW's Central Coast of Australia, the Gosford City Counci organized three schools and 1200 students and staff to collaborate in the creation of the Peninsula totem: a pelican. This special, aerial-art event was a dedication for the new oval sports park in Woy Woy.Thank you everyone! I'm dreaming of an Australian and New Zealand tour for 2017!

The Tornadoes: There are only a couple of primary schools in the nation who have a tornado for a mascot. Matthews Elementary in Northport, Alabama is named for Virgil E. Matthews who died leading students to safety during a tornado that destroyed the old school in 1932. To honor the power and majesty of nature with the hope that a tornado not touch their school again, the students and staff create a tornado descending from a cloud.

Great Grey Owl: Crescent Elk School, in Crescent City, CA does their 6th sky art project, a great grey owl. This school has done more sky art projects than any other! Thanks everyone!

A Special Owl: 40 or so in wheel chairs, one with an IV and a few hundred other special needs students, age 3-22, (and their very special staff!) of Gretchen Everhart School in Tallahasse, FL form an owl. Wow . . . what an unusual and moving project. WHO WHO are these special people?

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BROKEN SKY: Broken Sky is a short aerial-art, music video depicting the Earth slipping through an hourglass performed by 1200 middle school kids in Miami, Florida. The song, Broken Sky, is an anthem for kids against climate change, a plea to world leaders to wake up and begin taking strong action NOW! This project was done Dec. 8th, 2015 coinciding with the conclusion of the Paris Climate Summit.
I found a very talented brother and sister duo and school chorus in Kokomo, Indiana where I went to record the song. In Miami, we did the project under very adverse conditions amidst record December rainfall . . . a very unusual and uncannily-timed climate change-related situation!

Broken Sky (part 2): Can there be a stronger metaphor for what is happening to the planet with climate change than an Earth made of kids slipping through an hourglass? 1200 Miami Springs Middle School students and staff embodied this idea in their aerial-art performance on December 8th, 2015 in the midst of record December rain as the Climate Summit neared its conclusion in Paris.

Complete the Circle: The 5th year Our Daily Bread - Fairfax, VA, (in partnership this year with Lorton Community Action Center) has organized this community FOOD raiser around an aerial photo of a human art installation. We had 65 teams registered and 1500 people came out today bringing with them over 11,000+ lbs. of food for our neighbors in need. Vienna House Band of the School of Rock provided wonderful entertainment. Artist Daniel Dancer coordinated the people and filmed it from the sky.

A New Species of Butterfly: 1500 middle school students from Lake Braddock school in Virginia form a colorful butterfly at 8:30 in the morning.

Heron-Lake-Sky: In the beautiful finger lakes region of New York, 600 students and staff of the Honeoye Community School form a great blue heron standing in a lake made of blue jeans under a sky made of sheets.

i Train: In Galva, Ilinois the local elementary school celebrates the towns long history with the train that runs through town by creating one!

A Viking Dream: In Geneva, IL, Millcreek Elementary School creates a beautiful viking ship.

i Tiger: 500 Lower Southampton Elementary School kids and teachers in Feasterville, PA, create the head of a tiger and have a dance party afterwards. This is one of the funnest videos to date and first project in Pennsylvania.

i Sabertooth: 2500 students and staff of the Sutherland Family of Schools in North Vancouver, BC, Canada collaborate to create a sabertooth tiger mandala.

Salmon Circle: All grades of Washington's Lyle School District in the Columbia Gorge, my homeland, gather on a beautiful hillside to celebrate the region's sacred & ancient relationship with salmon through the creation of a native version of the fish.

Home Rising: Franklin Elementary in Omaha, Nebraska creates a house with a sun rising over it as a symbol of the revitalization of their neighborhood though a project called the Prospect Village initiative.

i Redwood Tree: Crescent Elk Middle School in Crescent City, CA (who has done more sky art projects than any other school) created a life size, 280 ft redwood tree.

i Cardinal: Celebrating one of North America's most beautiful birds, 800 students and staff at Canopy Oaks Elementary in Tallahassee, Florida become a cardinal on a branch with flowers set in a background sky made of 2000 pairs of blue jeans collected by 5 local schools (a traveling sky!) who each did a separate project.

Return of the Whooping Cranes: Set in a "sky" made of 2000 pairs of blue jeans, over 1000 students and teachers formed two endangered whooping cranes in flight . . . and then the next day, twelve real whooping cranes showed up and danced their famous dance in a magical way. Thank you Gilchrist Elementary for this excellent adventure and your deep care about these very special birds!

Holding up the Sky: A Message from the Passenger Pigeons - To honor the 100th anniversary of the extinction of Martha, the last passenger pigeon, 1100 students and staff from Kate Sullivan Elementary in Tallahassee, Florida create a gigantic living painting of the bird on their field. The bird is depicted as "holding up the sky" (sky made of 2000 pairs of blue jeans) a metaphor, given the dangers of our rapidly changing climate, for our need to transform our relationship with the sky from one of abuse to one of healing. This is the first extinct species immortalized in Art For the Sky.

i Butterfly: 800 students and staff at DeSoto Trail Elementary in Tallahassee, FL become an endangered Schaus Swallowtail Butterly set a the traveling sky made of 2000 pairs of blue jeans.

I Dreamed I Was a Painted Bunting: 600 students and teachers at Chaires Elementary School in Tallahassee, form one of North America's most beautiful birds perched on a branch with a sky background made of 1500 pairs of blue jeans! Thanks everyone!

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Timberwolf: Thornhill Woods School near Toronto, Ontario in Canada creates a beautiful timberwolf with their school of nearly 1000.

P I A N O S K Y: 1000 students and teachers at West Creek Academy in Santa Clarita, CA form a gigantic grand piano and play it as well!

The Living Piano: A two minute short film highlighting the Grand Piano creation in Santa Clarita, Californina  

The Day of the Tiger: Moorestown Upper Elementary School in New Jersey creates a portrait of a beautiful white tiger with a special message. Watch the video to find out what it is! white tigers are beautiful for sure but kind of a freak of nature that only know captivity.

The Singing Tree: A school in Morgantown, West Virginia, completes a beautiful tree of life emerging from the Earth. First the poles melt, then the fruit falls and then the leaves blow away and finally the tree comes apart . . all a depiction of what happens when we don't take care of the Earth. This is one of my favorite projects made entirely human "pixels"

Children Are the Future: Maxwell Elementary School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama implements the 7 Habits of Happy Kids in every grade. I have never been to a school with such outstanding, and mature children from kindergarten on up. It was truly something to behold. The 7 Habits are spreading. Watch the video to learn what they are and see what they created as a celebration of the future!

An Artist's Palette: The Wallace Integrated School of the Arts does just that, integrates the arts in every single subject. It's a rare school indeed that does this and power of this method shows by them having the best test scores of any elementary school in the county. We celebrated the arts together in the creation of an artist's palette. What made this project really special was playing guitar and singing Wings to Fly via a remote mic high atop a fire truck while everyone sang and danced below!

Alligator Sky: Super fun project in Venice, Florida in creating an Alligator at Garden Elementary School.

A Bulldog's Message: Pleasant View Middle School in Overland Park, Kansas creates a special version of their bulldog mascot . . . a young pup with a special mission during Earthday week, 2014.

A Grizzly Bear Dream: 900 students and staff from Mountainview Elementary in Santa Clarita create a giant grizzly bear, a creature found on the state flag but unfortunately long extinct in California.

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A Dragon's Peace: A dragon curls protectively around a giant peace sign made of blue jeans as Oak View Elementary School in Silver Spring Maryland breathes fire through the creature's nose. I love doing projects when movement can be brought into the design!

White Tail Sky: Deer Park Elementary School in Owensboro, Kentucky creates a white tail deer.

Flight School: Springer School and Center in Cincinnati, Ohio creates a perched bald eagle ready for take off with 250 students and staff.

A Falcon's Message: The students and staff at Florence Meares school in Burlington, Ontario, Canada created a falcon so big it required a helicopter to get up and film it.

Blue Jay Sky: 500 students and teachers from Brookside Elementary School in Lake Forest Park, WA form a beautiful blue jay . . . with the help of a lot of blue jeans!

The Living Wampum Belt: To honor the 400th anniversary of the creation of the Two Row Wampum Belt, 2000 Pen Pals became purple and white beads to form a gigantic, 180-foot-long, living version of the belt at Stony Creek Battlefield Park in the Grand River Valley of Ontario, Canada. Pen Pals is a fast growing group of classrooms . . . First Nations and neighbors . . . whose young students write letters back and forth to create mutual understanding within their communities.

Thunderbird: Students and staff from Council Grove Elementary in Okalhoma form a beautiful thunderbird.

Earth In Hand: Hillside Elementary School in Closter, New Jersey creates an image which is a metaphor for our plight as humans. The choice is ours. What will we create? There are about 400 kids squeezed into the Earth In Hand . . . the current level of carbon in our atmosphere. The last time it was this high was 2.5 million years ago. There were no ice caps then, the sea was 5 meters higher, the climate 3 degrees centigrade warmer: not conducive for human life.

The Redtail's Gift: Hawthorne Elementary school is in rural Riverside, CA and is surrounded by orange groves, which is why their logo is a redtail hawk carrying an orange! Made of about 800 students and teachers, the hawk was so long it required getting up in a helicopter to film the image which is one of my favorites.

O R C A S K Y: This project was a celebration of the orca and an effort to communicate with them in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, Crescent City, California. Crescent Elk Middle School has done more aerial art projects than any other school. Amazingly, immediately after our creation, two wild orcas showed up in the city harbor, a never before seen event witnessed by 30 people! The Orca project also introduces the "oneness sign" . . . something that is beginning to spread. What is it? You have to watch!

The Cougar's Gift: Flying in an ultralight over a giant cougar made of kids and teachers: what could be more fun than that!? Aborga Elementary School near Marysville, California was the setting for this event. What is the cougar's gift? Watch and find out!

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Shine: Imagine a school with a lighthouse for a mascot! The Beech Hill Elementary School beacons shone brightly in their creation of a giant, colorful lighthouse made of about 1200 students and teachers.

The Red Plane: They call themselves the "aviators". McCall Elementary School in Waukegan did a wonderful job forming a red plane with their 600 students and thanks to a real live aviator with a little red plane, turned art in to reality right on the spot!

Shine On Sailfish: 1800 students at Miami Springs Middle School in Florida form a beautiful Sailfish.

Complete the Circle: Fairfax County in Virginia is the richest county in the nation and yet each day there are 70,000 people there who don't know where their next meal is coming from. Our Daily Bread is a local non-profit group who works to alleviate this situation and Complete the Circle is their annual aerial art festival which celebrates the work they do. Participants bring food which becomes part of the aerial art and then afterwards it is distributed to families in need.

The Great Wakes Festival: An aerial art creation of the Great Lakes was a central feature of the first Great Wakes: A Celebration of Water festival in Traverse City, Michigan where folks had the opportunity to celebrate liquid from the sky . . . i.e., it rained pretty much the whole damn time.

An Otter Sky: Ruch, a small rural school in southern Oregon, celebrates the american river otter with a special creation out in their athletic field.

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The Elephant in the Room: From India to Maryland - - Holland to Canada: this is a tour of gigantic and magnificent living paintings made of people . . . people engaged in a special way to help solve our climate crisis. Climate change is the proverbial "elephant in the room" and we continue to ignore it at our peril. This video is an entry for many current film festivials and is a wake up call to the power of a special number and the beauty of engaged collaboration.

A Peaceful Uprising: On February 28th in Salt Lake City, Utah, hundreds of activists took to the streets to sing, march and do sky art in a display of solidarity with Tim DeChristopher, aka "bidder 70", whose trial for civil disobedience in defense of Utah wilderness and climate justice began that day.

A Pelican Dream: Sometimes an Art For the Sky project feels like a way of beginning to atone for something really awful, like the Deep Horizon Oil Spill Disaster. This one was like that . . . a group at-one-ment, a giant apology to all the ocean and sky creatures damaged and killed by the oil spill . . . a commitment to end our addiction to oil and take better care of the Earth . . . in the shape of a beautiful pelican on the edge of Tallahassee, Florida at the Chaires Elementary School.

The Crescent Elk: 600 Crescent Elk School students and staff celebrate their name sake animal by becoming one!

I Am A Coral Reef: In the Dominican Republic, 1400 K-12 students and teachers become a coral reef featuring an endangered long-snouted sea horse.

Red Tail Eyes: 50 kids and staff of Baldwin City Primary and Intermediate School in Baldwin City, Kansas, form a red tail hawk. The number "350" is "carved" into the post the hawk "landed" on . . . arguably the most important number in the world as, according to leading climate scientists, it is the safe limit of carbon we can have in our atmosphere if we want to continue life as we know it. Currently it is 390 and going up!

A Prairie Dream: The Kansas Tallgrass Prairie is the most endangered ecosystem on Earth. In Lawrence, Kansas, after visiting and learning about local relict prairies, 450 students and teachers became a meadowlark and blowing prairie grass in celebration of the this special ecosystem.

The Tree of Peace: 1200 pen pals from Six Nations and surrounding communities in Ontario, Canada gather to meet each other for the first time and form a gigantic white pine tree -- the legendary "Tree of Peace" of the Iroquois Confederacy -- with roots wrapping around the Earth. During the gathering the children planted the Pen Pal Friendship Forest at the Tim Horton Onondaga Farm celebrating the important role forests play in our lives.

Oceans Day 2011: 1300 students and teachers gather in Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada to form a gigantic basking shark "swimming" in an ocean made of blue jeans. The basking shark was nearly hunted to extinction by previous generations. Now protected, it is slowly in recovery. This event was hosted by the Oceans Day Festival Society.

An Alevin Sky: In collaboration with the Fraser Riverkeeper Society in Vancouver, BC, Canada; 700 students and teachers from Hastings Elementary School form a beautiful alevin (baby salmon). Earlier in the year, some classes raised these young salmon fry and released them in a local river. This is the smallest creature "made big" to date!

Complete the Circle: Fairfax County, Virginia is one of the richest counties in America and yet 70,000 people there are "food insecure" every day. In this project, 800 people from 30 organizations circled a design with 3000 pounds of food and then got in it to form two hands holding an apple and an ear of corn. This event was sponsored by Our Daily Bread, Inc

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Sky~Blue~Heron: 650 students and teachers from Griffin Creek Elementary and the Bach School of South Medford High for a great blue heron with recycled cans for legs in Medford, OR.

Ganesh's Warning: In Delhi, India, 3000 students form the proverbial "elephant in the room" which is what climate change is. This image was part of the first ever Global Art Exhbit visible from space, all in conjunction with the climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico. Ganesh, an elephant diety loved by everyone all across in India. He is "the remover of obstacles" and this film celebrates his message and his wild brethren.

The Sky Tiger: In October, 2010, the International Year of the Tiger . . . 500 kids, lots of pine needles and mulch combine to make a beautiful tiger 150 ft long, with the most important number in the world on it's paw . . . "350". (see 350.org if you need an explanation). This was done at the Terra Centre Elementary School in Burke, Virginia.

A Whale of a Time: A sperm whale washed up on the beach of Crescent City, California in 2008. It's belly was filled with over 50 large pieces of fishing net and assorted plastic which is what killed the whale. To celebrate and honor this species, 900 students and teachers from Crescent Elk Middle School and Joe Hamilton School formed the spouting whale swimming in the ocean, which was made in part with 500 pairs of blue jeans.

Don't Give Up: Set to a Michael Franki song . . . at a Whidbey Island retreat, the Wisdom Community had a ceremony around a big dove made of sheets to help awaken their skysight.

The Day of the Egret: To celebrate the restoration of the wetlands next to them,
Dow's Prairie School created a snowy egret with 500 students and teachers and lots of blue jeans for the water. The design was version of the 37 cent stamp of several years ago. The "37" was changed to "350" . . . the maximum parts per million of carbon that climate scientists tell us we can tolerate in our atmosphere if we are to survive this era of global warming.

An Eagle Sky: 1400 students and staff from Miami Springs Middle School in Miami Springs Florida form a bald eagle with a "350" in the center . . . the most important number in the world as that is the maximum parts per million of greenhouse gasses that we can have in our atmosphere if we are going to survive global warming. Right now it is 390 and going up!

A Polar Bear Sky: Would you believe Maryland's Governor O'Malley was the sole human on the melting ice berg in this Art For the Sky depiction of global warming?! Courageous guy he was to be part of this performance sky art piece for the Maryland Green School's Summit at Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake Bay. As usual in this latest round of sky art projects the magic number "350" is depicted . . . that's the max parts per million of carbon, according to climate scientists, that we can handle in our atmosphere if we are going to make it through this climate changing era with some degree of safety. As most everyone knows, the current number is 390 and going up. Coincidentally, Maryland has 350 "green schools" (16% - the highest in the nation) and this summit and special sky art extravaganza was a celebration of their success!

Aspen Planet: To kick off Earth week at Aspen Middle School in Colorado, 500 + students and teachers form an Earth with a white dove made of snow flying above it. In the dove's wing is the number "350" . . . the maximum parts per million of green house gasses that we can have in our atmosphere and still have a healthy planet. Currently we are at 390 and rising . . .

Eagle Pride: Earth Day 2010 celebration at Florida Gulf Coast University featured a sky art portrait of a bald eagle head with 250 students.

Two-Salmon-Sky: Two elementary schools in Medford, Oregon combine to form two swimming salmon with the number "350" bubbling from their mouths. 350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

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(4 min: From Holland) 3 5 0 S K Y: With 5000 participants, this was biggest Art For the Sky project to date! In September, 2009, students and teachers from 21 schools in Uden, Holland formed a version of their local windmill and depicted tulips for the blades to symbolize a badly needed new global vision for our relationship with the sky. 350 is the most important number in the world! Why? 350 parts per million (ppm) is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. It’s the number agreed upon by many of the world’s leading scientists and recently endorsed by 80 countries (not the US). We need to reduce our parts per million of carbon emissions down to this number if we are to survive this era of global climate change. Right now it is at 390 and rising. See 350.org for more information.The video is set to the national song for Uden's province performed during the event with special words relating to the art written by project leader, Dorry Arts.

(4 min:) Just One Candle: This was the first nighttime sky art creation! In Greeneville, Tennessee Doak Elementary School and the local community become two different sky art versions of a burning candle . . . one at night, lit up with real candles and one in the day dressed in various colors. The base of the candle was made with 4500 cans of food collected for the local food bank, the largest donation they ever received. . . enough to feed 100 families for a month. This two-tiered experience was set to the beautiful song, Just One Candle, by Teresa Jennings which everyone learned and sang while in the candle shape.

(90 sec) Raven's Message: Raven has long been associated with the sun in Native American mythology. Here, in a sky art performance by Butte College, California sustainability students, raven appears flying over Earth as the polar ice caps are melting. Raven's message is this: achieve a ceiling of 350 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere or global climate catastrophe will ensue.

(10 min) Obama Sky: An Earth Inauguration: 800 African-American students from Alex Haley and Windell Smith schools on Chicago's southside form a 1200 square foot image of President Elect Obama on the only sunny day in a week full of blizzards and extreme cold.

(11 min) A Panda Sky: 700 Oak View Elementary School students and teachers in Fairfax, Virginia, celebrate the endangered panda with a very special sky art creation.

(5 min) Show Me the Way: This 5 minute video depicts two performance sky art collaborations between Art For the Sky and CCCSAA Conference leadership students and with Butte College, California sustainability students honoring the most important number in the world: 350. Butte College students depict a raven flying over the Earth as the southern ice cap is melting. Once it melts, Raven has a message . . . achieve 350 parts per million carbon emissions or invite global climate catastrophe! In Native American mythology, Raven is often associated with magic. Raven is the message bearer and it's message is often related to the sun.

Into The Sky: Chico, California flies more Earth flags than any place on Earth and Art For the Sky celebrated this with a unique tribute just before Earth Day, 2009. The Chico Earth Flag Coalition hopes to spread their success to cities across the globe in an effort to better focus our attention on what should obviously be the Numero Uno shared planetary mission: address climate change now and come into right alignment with the Earth. This musical video is the story of Chico's effort, our creation together and a little history of the Earth Flag. May it inspire you and your town!

The Birdman of Cahokia: An inner-city school in St. Louis called the Shepard Academy, depicts "The Birdman" . . . the most famous artifact found at the nearby ancient city of mounds called Cahokia.

The Whooping Crane's Blessing: 1000 students and teachers from Gilchrist Elementary School in Tallahassee, Florida timed their sky art creation of a giant whooping crane with the arrival of a small flock of the birds to their new home at nearby St. Marks Wildlife Preserve. Guided by Operation Migration's ultra lights, a flock of 7 completed their journey from Wisconsin 2 days after the Art For the Sky Whooping Crane event.

Peregrine: Three shades of Florida earth and 800 students and teachers formed an endangered peregrine falcon at Canopy Oaks Elementary School, one of four projects with Tallahassee schools in the winter of 2009 honoring the state's endangered creatures.

Crocodile Sky: 1000 students and teachers from Kate Sullivan School in Tallahassee form and endangered American crocodile. This film highlights teachings about impermanence as demonstrated by a group of 6 Tibetan monks who constructed and then destroyed a beautiful sand painting in the city during the time we were creating the crocodile.

Sea-Turtle-Sky: Using Georgia red clay, Florida white sand, top soil and blue jeans for a border, 700 students and staff from De Soto Trail Elementary School in Tallahassee, Florida form a stunning version of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle. One of the advanced teachings of Art For the Sky is introduced in this video: morphogenetic fields.

Dolphin Sky: 800 students and teachers from Tampa Bay Blvd. Grade School in Florida form a dolphin soaring over the chinese character for water. This film highlights one of the advanced teachings of Art For the Sky . . . that we can beneficially influence an animal's "morphogenetic field".

A Woodpecker's Dream: A new exercise called "falling into the sky" to help awaken our sky sight is introduced here in this program which featured the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Northside Elementary School of the Arts in South Carolina decpicted the bird in Sky Art form with 500 students and teachers.

The Tree of Life: By saving and cashing in cereal box tops, the students of Pioneer Elementary School in Sunnyside, Washington were able to bring Art For the Sky to their school for the creation of a beautiful Tree of Life with leaves that get blown off in a "hurricane."

Once Upon A Salamander: Classes from three schools in Medford, Oregon combine to celebrate the Giant Pacific Salamander, an important species in the area watershed, culminating their year long study of the regional ecosystem.

2008

Kids Light the World: The largest creation thus far . . . 2100 students and teachers from Commack Middle School on Long Island in New York form a lighthouse and beam of light. Garbage from a beach cleanup forms the top and foreground of the lighthouse.

Mission: Blue Butterfly: Presidio Middle School in San Francisco first form a chrysallis and then the endangered Mission Blue Butterfly.

Save Our Salmon: Cascade Middle School in Eugene, Oregon forms a spawning
salmon to address the salmon crisis in the northwest. See the salmon "lay eggs" to the tune of Neil Young's Long May Your Run with salmon lyrics by Daniel Dancer.

Raising the Dove: A 2 minute inspiring peace conference event depicting the creation of a dove mandala out of sheets and people to a song by Sky in the Road.

The Sky Horse: Nearly 1000 students and teachers form a running horse at the North Park Elementary School in Valencia, California.

Falling in to the Sky: Art For the Sky teams up with the Apalachicola Riverkeeper in Florida to make the largest Art For the Sky image to date . . . an Osprey with 1300, K-12 students and teachers.

Bigfoot Sky: Is Bigfoot real? It was to Carson School in Skamania County, Washington where there is a long history of sightings in this region. There is even law here stating that it is illegal to kill a bigfoot! 300 students and staff and a truck load of wood chips brought bigfoot to life .

The Tree of Hope: Parkdale Elementary School in Oregon at the base of Mt. Hood creates a blooming apple tree with girls in pink and boys in white as the falling blossoms.

Balandra Nuestra: This first foreign language project was set near La Paz, BCS, Mexico on a beautiful beach called Balandra which hangs in the balance between protection and development. Several hundred people, kayaks, clothes and rocks formed a hammerhead shark, endangered due to severe over-fishing.

2007

Winter Bee: Chenowith Elementary in The Dalles, OR addresses our honeybee crisis with the creation of a giant bee made of leaves, soil and their bodies.

Butterfly Dreamz: Central Junior High in Lawrence, Kansas teames up with the Grasslands Heritage Foundation to create a gigantic endangered Regal Fritilary Butterfly with leaves, mulch and their bodies.

The Tree of Knowledge: Schwegler Elementary School in Lawrence, Kansas celebrates it's 50th anniversary in a choreographed performance of an Osage Orange Tree with fruit and leaves falling to the ground.

The Moon Goose: Jewell Elementary School in Bend, Oregon create a Canada Goose flying across a giant moon made of shredded bark, 750 students and staff.

Mockingbird Sky: Two schools in Redding, California team up to create a
200-foot-long, singing Mockingbird as part of the nationwide BIG READ program.

5 Lands Dreaming: NSW Australia, 2007. This 20 minute film documents a yearly event called The 5 Lands Walk which is a 10 kilometer "walkabout" along a coastal path that knits 5 communities together via art, culture and music in a celebration of nature at the height of the annual humpback whale migration northward. This completely non-commercial event seeks to honor and reconnect with the oldest culture on Earth . . . that of the Aboriginal people of Australia which dates back 50,000 years. An Art For the Sky humpback whale was created as the finale for this event and involved music, dance and movement through the image at a spectacular location.

Om To Gaia: A quickie film of a collaboration with the Community of Adsideo and Art For the Sky in an aerial art message invisioning peace on Earth to the song, Om to Gaia.

Manatee Eyes: 1400 students and staff at the Manatee Elementary School in Florida formed the endangered Florida manatee.

Sturgeon Sky: 800 students and staff of H.B. Lee Middle School in Portland, Oregon collaborated with Art For the Sky and Columbia River Keeper to create a 250 foot long Columbia River Sturgeon in their field. This film features the song, Tashawashunkatah which means "flow like the water" in Lakota.

Condor Eyes: 500 students and staff at Lent Elementary School in Portland become human paintdrops in a giant living painting of a California condor. The event occurred the day after a freak snowstorm in the city.

2006

Tree of Life: A ancient, twisted apple tree was formed out of fall leaves. 125 children and teachers in groups of 4 became the apples and some became the leaves. They "fell" to the "ground" and were all "blown" away by the wind. St. Mary's Academy, The Dalles, OR.

Amelia's Hand: Camp Create at St. Stephen's Church in Marin County, CA teamed up with Art For the Sky in a version of Amelia Earharts actual hand print which she made in ink when she was alive. 80 youth and councelors moved in and out of the hand as a moving spiral . . . a teaching about our spiral path through The Mystery. August, 2006

Cougar Sky: 600 students at Crescent Elk Middle School in Crescent City, California create a 200 ft long cougar in their field.

PROJECTS WITH INDIGINEOUS PEOPLE

The Resurrection of Chief Washakie: In between blizzards and just down the road from Sacajawea's grave in Wyoming, 450 Fort Washakie Indian students and teachers collaborate with Art For the Sky in a magnificent rendition of their well loved ancestoral Shoshone chief who presided over their tribe for sixty years in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Spring, 2009

The Sky Canoe: Collaborating with American Rivers and the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Art For the Sky film celebrates the restoration of the Penobscot River and the importance of the birchbark canoe. Fall, 2008

Bison Dreams: A giant living painting of a White Buffalo was the result of an Art For the Sky collaboration with five Salish-Kootenai Tribal schools in Montana in the fall of 2006. This film features the song, Bison Dreams and the photographs of Edward Curtis.

The Taos Eagle: Near the oldest continually occupied dwelling on North America, the Taos Pueblo, a sky art eagle was formed by the Taos Day School. The bird was built of composted soil, sheets, cottonwood leaves and the smiling bodies of students and staff. Fall, 2007

The Apache Star: All the schools of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe collaborated with Art For the Sky in the creation of a giant version of their beaded morning star design. Approximately 700 students and staff became living "beads" and together, with 8 tipi skins, created a wonderful symbol of the power of unity . . . comm-unity. Spring, 2007

The Art of Dam Removal: An exciting depiction of an entire school becoming "a river" as they enact the removal of an antiquated dam called "Condit" on the White Salmon River. The dam is scheduled to be removed in 2008. This was a project sponsored by the Umatilla Nation and Columbia River Keeper at Sunridge Middle School in Pendleton, Oregon. This film features Neil Young's song, Long May You Run, with new words by Daniel Dancer. Winter, 2007

A-MAZ-ing: The Gila River Indian Community celebrates the recovery of their water rights after having them stolen for almost 100 years. The ancient symbol of "the man in the maze" is the centerpiece of their moving, sky art celebration of water. This film features the song, Tashawashunkatah which means "flow like the water" in Lakota. Winter, 2006

Dream Bear Ceremony: A beautiful aerial art ceremony with the United Auburn Indian Community in California featuring Sequioia Raven Moon, a firedancer.