Arts and ecology — Ascending Aesthetic

Arts and Nature

This section is archived

please visit Projects 2023 here for our current projects

“In the womb of nature in the primal ground of creation where the secret key to all things lies hidden.” - Paul Klee.

Our Eco- Arts initiatives will be in par with Klee’s thought.

Contemplating on Nature, one finds solutions to any problems of the world. Nature profoundly affects our overall well-being and Cultures have evolved with that knowledge around its proximity. We try to explore these connections through our Eco-Culture-Arts projects.

E2E2Re projects that started from Earthday 2022

(Earthday to Environmental day to (America) Recycles day)

are coming together to culminate into

E2Re Collaborative Fall events 2022.

E2Re project aims to bring together groups from Community, Campus and youth groups on a creative Eco-Culture-Arts platform.

This project is a collaborative undertaking of Spurlock Museum , The Museum of grand Prairie , Urbana Park district, IDEA store, PACA, Ascend Art360, educational advisor- Shannon Percoco, Project designer- Kuldeepa VM

This project is almost over except for a community Art showcase open for public at the IDEA store through 15 December, 2022. Some useful links mentioned below.

Details on Arts and Humanities Month, here

Details on America Recycles Day here

Details on Art with Museums here

A blog with all links, here

As we are nearing the end of E2Re project, we would like to Thank

Beth Watkins, Kim Sanford, Katie Snyder, Shannon Percoco, Savannah Donovan, David Subers, Kuldeepa VM for their help in planning and kick starting this project and to Thomas Warde, Christa, for their help Showcasing community displays at their respective venues.

Thanks to Mrs Linda Thiele, Dr. Sang Lee, Dr Sowmya Anand, Mr Grant Thomas, Mr Micheal Burrus, Ms Madison Blackburn, Ms Kathie Kading for organizing the creative upcycling events in their respective groups.

Thanks to volunteers- Julie Nieset, Nazanine Agassi, Kuldeepa VM for their help setting up, cleaning up, and managing the events.

Thanks to Ms Chong-Hwey, Dr Sayee Annak and Ms Julie Schubach for their Moral Support and encouragement in pursuing this project.

We are grateful to the many Parents, Community members and volunteers that are not seen but played an important role in success of this Project.

The content below is archived for reference links to events.

E2Re Project begins from October. Join us to celebrate the Arts and Humanities Month. followed by America Recycles Day month.

Art with Museums: more details here

‘A Contemporary look at Classics’ will be hosted at Spurlock Museum on 29 October, and is part of the Arts and humanities Month
9 Oct., 13 Nov. - ‘Spurlock Sundays’ Crafts at Museum
AMERICA RECYCLES DAY: REPAIR IT AND RE-WEAR IT!’ at Museum of the Grand Prairie on 18 and 19 November. More details here

Other E2Re events:

1 Oct - 15 Nov. ‘Upcycle a map’ Art competition ‘Architreasures’ Scavenger hunt, Open house at PACA. more details here
1 OCt- 22 Oct- ‘Learning while Recycling’ an Art challenge by Ascend Art360. Submit Entry form here.
22 Oct. Virtual meet with designers from various fields and participants of Language arts, Fabrics exhibit. More info here
5 November: ‘America Recycles’ with Urbana Park District.

Collaborators:-

Spurlock Museum , The Museum of grand Prairie , Urbana Park district, IDEA store, PACA, Ascend Art360

Thanks to Shannon Percoco and Kuldeepa VM for helping coordinate with respective groups.

More info will be updated on this page, stay tuned!

The content below is for reference to the start of E2Re project. Most of the activities are closed now but we are still planning Nature hikes. Join us casually for some Fresh Green Air!

E2E2Re projects- Earthday to Environmental day to (America) Recycles day Eco-Culture-Arts projects will resume 22 April and run through end of the year. Join us for one or all the following projects. Write to us for more details or if interested in collaborations.

Nature Art w/hikes will resume with Nature-Art creations at Urbana Park District’s ‘Earthday for Everyone’ event on 23 April and will resume Art hikes from environmental day. This project is focused on youth involvement. Contact us if you like to help organize hikes.

Art with Museums will open collaborations starting April (Earthday) to celebrate events in October-November. Check here for more info and theme. We are inviting performers and Youth artist to join us in fall events with the Museums.

Language Culture project that started in Febryary with an exhibit at IAS UIUC Library in March will continue throughout the year reaching out to youth groups and educational institutions. some excerpts from the virtual event can be found here-Language-Arts Virtual event

Spirit Of India 2022 The ‘Fabrics of India on the Silk Road’ Exhibit and online events that will follow are part of the Cultural aspect of this project. More info on SOI event here.

The Nature Art Hikes began on 5 June to commemorate Environmental day. Kids explored the beauty of nature in their own way.

Weaver Park Urbana IL.
**‘Wetlands Week’ was celebrated 4-9 April 2022** in collaboration with **Anita Purves Nature center**, **Illinois Natural History survey**. Contents and recordings will be shared soon. Huge Thanks to David Subers from APNC, Julie Nieset from INHS and Kuldeepa VM from AArt360 for leading the many interesting activities and events related to Wetlands ecology.

We are Thankful to Urbana Park District for making us part of their ‘Earthday for everyone’ celebrations. We had dried pods/ seeds/ straws/ leaves, which usually people see as ‘Yard Waste’, as our raw-material to engage the visitors in creative pursuits. Some creations can be seen in this post.

We will continue Nature Art with Hikes all through the summer. Fill up the form to join the meets.

Art Playdate at Meadowbrook Park Interpretive center.with David Subers from **APNC** and Martial Arts educator, Bogdan Heretoiu from **Grasshoppers club**.

**‘Inspired by Nature’**
An Exhibit to commemorate
**‘ America Recycles day’2021**
Check the
**excerpts here.**

We are grateful to all Participants and the Asian American Cultural Center for hosting our exhibit, to Guest Speaker:
David Subers from Anita Purves Nature Center, to Ms Bobbi Trist for help with editing, to Kuldeepa VM for curating the exhibit.
Also Thanks to Guest artist
Shannon Percoco , Mrs Linda Thiele,
Ian (Yu) Wang,

Grant Thomas, Julie and George, Bobbi Trist, Roger Bliss, Ms Guirong, Xing Gao, Ms Mohan K Tracy, Smt Nandini Topudurti, and to all our youth members-Brielle and Ava Lee, Katherine Kutz, Novah Hardbeck, Khushboo Mehta, Nico and Teo Percoco, Vyom Mehta,

Earth is not just mud and crust, it is made up of and is created by each of us- living and inanimate Life elements! Let's celebrate the wonders and beauty of the only Living Planet we know of, as Yet!

Earth week 2021 Eco-Cultural Arts events have been inspiring! Check our program links below.

Huge Thanks to Beth Watkins from Spurlock Museum for Co-hosting our virtual events

Harshal Jagdale for her creative support

Nazanine Agassi and Kuldeepa VM for helping organize.

Earth Day 2021 (ED) Eco- Cultural Arts event links:

ED- 18 April- Materials and Water Conservation. https://youtu.be/LkVk-3ZvUFw

We are thankful to: Beth Watkins, Julie Nieset, Bobbi Trist

ED- 21 April- Silk Road and Cultural Music https://youtu.be/FmRJU2dVasM

We are Thankful to- Augusto Espiritu. Five Faces of Exile Tania Arazi Coambs, Maria Coastelo and Nazanine Agassi

ED- 22 April- Natural Clothing and Eco-Arts https://youtu.be/PZWwqKneOMo

We are thankful to: Beth Watkins, David (Prairie) Monk, Michael Sherfield, Mohan Tracy, Mr. Burrus

ED- 21 April- kids special https://youtu.be/DqX-r8cqZEo

We are thankful to: Kids- Shravani Khakker, Jiya Borgavker, Khushboo Mehta

Guest- Julie Nieset, Moms- Aditi Mishra, Jyoti Ruhil, Moderator- Kuldeepa VM

ED- 21, 24 April- Ladies Special meets (links can be shared later with whoever interested, apart from attendees)

Angelica Pluta, Harshal Jagdale, Nirmala Gehlot, Nada Sweid

ED- 23 April- Rain Barrel Demo video https://youtu.be/zBuN_6AOmm0
We are thankful to: Roger Bliss

Guest for Earth day 2020 were ‘Grand Prairie Friends’, and Prairie Monk. A Huge Thanks to 4H Illinois https://extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/4-h-champaign-county for hosting our virtual meet. Find link to guest webpages in Gallery below.

One of the Guest for SOI 2020 was Aadya Joshi, a 12th grader who founded ‘The Right Green’ , an organization based in India that promotes Native tree planting. Check the excerpts here