This project began with a simple act: stepping outside. Students walked through the school grounds as autumn slipped toward winter, searching the ground for fallen leaves. They became observers of seasonal change, noticing how time reshapes the natural world. Some leaves were torn by wind, some freckled by decay, some filled with intricate networks of veins that glowed in the low winter light.
Back in the studio, they began with an A5 analytical drawing, studying the leaf as if it were a small universe. They traced its branching structures, its scars, its textures, its curled edges. This close looking drew them into the kind of attention that transforms seeing from instinct into practice. It echoed the traditions we had studied in Byzantine art, where nothing was accidental and every tessera was a deliberate choice.
From this drawing, students enlarged their composition to A4 and began the slow, careful work of turning the organic form into a mosaic. The leaf became a field of small geometric fragments, squares, shards, slivers, rounded stones, repeated hundreds of times. The transformation mirrored Byzantine mosaics, where countless pieces of glass and stone created surfaces that shimmered with light. In our project, graphite replaced gold, but the logic remained the same: meaning emerges through accumulation, patience, and care.
This is a meditative assignment. It draws deeply on key Studio Habits of Mind. Students strengthen Observe by looking beyond the obvious. They develop Craft through steady, consistent mark-making. They practice Engage & Persist as they return to the drawing again and again, even when the repetition demands real discipline. And they learn to Stretch & Explore as they discover how organic forms can be rebuilt through geometry.
As the drawings grow, they take on an unexpected power. Some resemble aerial landscapes, others feel like maps of weather or bone. Every drawing becomes a record of attention. The leaf, once temporary, becomes something more enduring. The process becomes a way of learning that meaning often reveals itself slowly, through the patient joining of small decisions.
What the students create in the end is not simply a leaf drawing. It is a quiet reflection on time, on transformation, and on the way art can turn observation into something luminous and lasting.
MMI Art Expanded Classroom 
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