Clam City

One of the (medium) clams at Clam City. 
Photo by Cas Grupstra.

For our last Found Color class, we wanted to have a fun, easy day and just take the kids out drawing. We chose a site called Clam City that has a lot of giant clams. Their curved, complex shapes and electric-bright colors were the perfect finale for our drawing class. It was actually very fitting that are our artist, Kim Jermain, wanted to go there because clams are called "Kim" in the Palauan language!

I do have to be honest - Clam City was not quite as impressive as it should have been. A decade ago, the site was full of unfathomably enormous clams in shades of bright blue, green, and yellow. There are still clams at the site - even a few of the impossibly large ones - but there are also a lot of large, empty shells. Smaller individuals are more easily found. It seems to me that there must have been a mortality event in the last 10 years or so, and now new individuals are recruiting to replace the lost population. Seeing the state of the clam population actually gave us a good opportunity to talk about conservation with the kids. 

My giant clam drawing - not bad.

When we first got there, the kids were more interested in swimming than drawing. We splashed around in the water for a while, but they eventually each chose a spot to work. It got much quieter as our students studied their clams. They were surprisingly focused. 

I had exactly one goal for Clam City: draw a giant clam accurately using color techniques I had learned from Kim. When we worked on the seagrass scene, I had a very hard time drawing clams, so I was determined to get it right this time. I think I did pretty well - or rather, Kim said I did pretty well. I had to remove all conscious, intentional thoughts from my mind - I had to forget everything I thought I knew about clams and just draw what I saw. It was a really fun exercise. 

As we pulled away from Clam City, it was bittersweet. We had an amazing time with the kids - teaching them, learning alongside them, swimming and exploring with them. I actually really enjoyed Found Color and am so glad we did it. One of the students gave each of us four (Kim, Matt, Cas, and me) handmade coin purses as gifts. She's still just in middle school, but that girl could be a marine scientist someday. Even if none of the kids chooses an ocean career, I hope we helped them learn to appreciate nature a bit more. Maybe they'll pull out their pastels someday and decide to go draw outside. If nothing else, I hope they understand the value of Palau's pristine habitats and choose to protect them. 

Some of our students at Clam City. Photo by Cas Grupstra.