Beauty of Water
Water heals and it fills
Water flows but it can also retain
Water is a body as well as essence
It is soothing but also carries immense strength
Water is silent yet talks in innumerable ways.
Water is an element that makes life sustain.
- Kuldeepa VM (Full version here)
The Waters project starts from World Wetlands day. Wetlands are an important ecological feature that is crucial for health of this Planet. Some more info on this blog
We will look at Waters in its various forms through our Eco-Culture-Arts Water projects.
UPDATES- all events are closed during summer break and will resume mid-August 2023. Stay tuned for Water projects phase- II ( Language project, Meet-n-Make) to resume from mid-August.
We are Thankful to Urbana Park District for including us in their Wetlands week, EDE 2023 celebrations and Asian American Cultural Center for making us a part of their 2023 SAAL Conference.
We are grateful to Ms Maria Cardoso from Unit 4 Schools for making us a part of their International night cultural displays.
Big Thanks to Planted for showcasing our handmade and language arts at their venue which was part of Boneyard Art Fest 2023
We are thankful to all our guests on Language of Water talks. these will continue as Environment- inner and Outer talks starting Environmental day.
Thanks to all the participants who made our Water projects a fun and successful events. Check some snapshots of events below.
Join us back mid-August for phase II
As we end the Phase-1 of 2023 Water projects we open proposals for phase 2 while celebrating the
World Environmental-day
5- 10 June 2023 on zoom
Environment can be a space, an aspect, a feeling…. Environment can be outer and inner
how do you look at Environment as?
United Nation’s ED theme for this year is #BeatThePlastics The white patches in background picture are small plastic bits flowing on Florida beaches. They were not thrown there intentionally, and no-one knows from where they sipped into our Waters. That’s how the Great Pacific Garbage Patch might be created? While we clean the plastics, can we work on decreasing their use? How?
Let’s gather and explore contamination and cleansing both in terms of outer environment and our inner wellbeing (emotions thoughts) for a healthy environment, inner and outer.
Join us to celebrate Environment week 5-10 June, hybrid events.
For details and a link to join, contact us here
Lets celebrate World Environmental Day by Decreasing Plastics and increasing Bio Diversity.
Join us to delve into the inquiries and discussions for exploring Environment- Outer and Inner.
Join our activities-
Join the wetlands visits in nearby parks, or share ‘Water’ Poems/ writing in your mother languages, or ‘Make’ things with us on creative recycling virtual meets and explore how that can affect our waters.
Stay tuned on this page for updates as the events happen.
Waters makes life possible and Wetlands make filteration of that Water, naturally possible while maintaining the carbon balance on our Globe. Wetlands are much more productive than they are credited for.
Check some of the Wetlands related links in this blog
Join us for the Wetland celebrations happening all through the month of April. More details on the link below.
https://www.urbanaparks.org/celebrate-wetlands-in-april/
We are grateful to Urbana Park District, Illinois Natural History Survey, Homer Lake Interprpetive Center, CCFD for including us in their celebration.
In planning is a virtual event Mid-May and Early June (‘Environmental Day’)
Stay tuned for updates to come here.
Earthday for Everyone 2023 organized by Urbana Park District
Thanks to Urbana Park District for including us in their Earth celebrations. Some useful links that talk of UPD’s sustainable outlook towards their water resources.
https://urbanaillinois.us/Better_Lawns
https://urbanaillinois.us/stormwater
Join us to explore the ‘Beauty of Waters’ at Meadowbrook Interpretive Center o 22 April 1:00-4:00pm.
On display will be artworks created during March (repurposed) Crafts Month fun and Language-Arts/ Poems by youths and community members.
Some useful links-
An initiate by U of I Extension for creating and maintaining Rain garden
An organization with web resource connecting us with our rivers
https://prairierivers.org/about-us/
https://prairierivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/10-ways-to-connect-with-water.pdf
A day to clean our waters
A group that welcomes and stimulates Climate Coalition
Wetland enrichment by Urbana Park District and Natural History Survey teams at weaver park, Urbana IL. with students of Dr Preston Elementary school, Urbana.
Crafts with repurposed materials made at the Creative recycling workshop with 4-H youths. Learn more about handmade on the link
Language-Arts workshop at Siebel Center for design organized by AACC UIUC. Learn more on the link.
Displays at EDE event by Urbana Park District included art works, examples of community initiatives, and informative links
State map with watersheds Courtesy @Urbana Park District
various crafts generated during March and earlier, were part of display
Educational posters of water ecologies. Thanks to George Hardebeck for these valuable additions to the display.
Wetland wonders 2023 will be building upon Wetland week project 2022. celebrated 4-9 April 2022
in collaboration with Anita Purves Nature center, Illinois Natural History survey, Ascend Art360.
Here are some clips of Urbana School Students testing their diy water filters, educational talks and prairie wetland hike. Huge Thanks to David Subers from APNC, Julie Nieset from INHS, Matt Finzel- a UIUC student and Kuldeepa VM from AArt360 for planning and leading the many interesting activities and events related to Wetlands ecology.
We are grateful to Julie Nieset for organizing a virtual guest talk- "Wetlands in Cameroon: Challenges and Prospects". by Dr Kongnso W. Edith from the University of Bamenda, Cameroon and Dr Kongnso for adding value to the Wetland week celebrations.
A Nature Play-date at the Meadowbrook park was part of the Wetlands week 2022 and included a grounding session with Grasshoppers club teacher, Bogdan Heretoiu, a hike around Meadowbrook prairie with David Subers from APNC and puppet-making with magazine papers facilitated by Ascend Art360.
More info will be added on this page, Stay tuned.
Interested in planning/ helping/attending? Please contact us to get involved.