ADRIAN — The official celebration of Earth Day 2024 is Monday, April 22. The Adrian Center for the Arts, meanwhile, is celebrating Earth Day with two days of classes focusing on environmental conservation on Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21.
Earth Day is an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first held on April 22, 1970. Today, a wide variety of events are held on or around Earth Day in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2024 is ‘Planet vs Plastic’.
At the Adrian Center for the Arts, 1375 N. Main St., Adrian, classes being held this weekend focus on the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling.
“We will be featuring a wide variety of classes, including eco-scarves, eco-painting, garden marker stakes, wearable art, hypertufa pots, recyclable plastic and ink, and recyclable paper projects,” said Valerie Herr, executive director of the Adrian Center for the Arts. .
ACA provides arts education and resources to facilitate creative endeavors for people of all ages. The organization provides stipends to artists and volunteers who “enrich and cultivate an environment that has become a catalyst for creativity.” Classes are offered to people of all ages and skill levels.
Details and information about these classes being held this weekend at the Adrian Center for the Arts are listed below. ACA is on the campus of PlaneWave Instruments, which is across from the Lenawee Intermediate School District/Tech Center. Registration for each class can be done online at adriancenterforthearts.org.
Activities on Saturday, April 20
Earth Day: Earth-Friendly Painting with Pi Benio: The cost of this class is $30 per person. Learn about earth-friendly natural dyes using plants to dye wool, which will be harvested right on the PlaneWave campus. Participants will also try spinning wool, making thread using vintage spinning wheels and spindles.
Earth Day Hypertufa Pots with Julia Tomaro: The cost of this class is $50 per person. Hypertufa pots are eco-friendly and suitable for outdoor planting, ACA said. Hypertufa pots are made by mixing cement, vermiculite and peat into a slurry. Participants will then drape old towels into the mess. The towels will be placed upside down on a form to dry. Drying takes three to four days depending on the weather. Participants will have to return to collect their pot. Several pots of different sizes can be made. The class size limit is recommended for up to six people from teens to adults.
Earth Day: Recyclable Plastic and Ink with Jill Shaffer: The cost of this class is $40 per person. Recyclable plastic and ink known as Yupo is a Japanese alcohol ink product. This class is experimental, ACA said, and a fun way to start an art project. “We will also use acrylic in this process. Come and let your creative juices flow. Everything is furnished,” ACA said.
Earth Day Eco-Scarves with Julia Tomaro: The cost of this class is $30 per person. Ecoprinting refers to printing with leaves and flowers on fabric so that the tannins in the plant world imprint an image of the plant, ACA explained. Participants will make a silk scarf with patterns from plants of their choice. The class will last one hour, but the printing method requires two hours of processing time. The scarves will then be ready for pickup.
Celebrate Earth Day in Letterpress with Kathryn Royer: The cost of this class is $25 per person and ages for the class are 15 to adult. Those who are 12-14 years old will need to work with an adult. Participants will use recycled paper to make their own unique envelopes with full page illustrations from old magazines. Those registered for this class will learn the traditional craft of wood and metal letterpress as they create cards, small posters or signs on any theme.
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Activities on Sunday, April 21
Earth Day Garden Makers with Laura VanCamp: The cost of this class is $25 per person. In this class, participants will make a set of 10 clay garden markers. “You will design and decorate the markers specifically for your garden,” ACA said.
Earth Day Copper Wearable Art with Annemarie Kallenbach: The cost of this class is $30 per person. From 1:00pm to 3:00pm, copper tubing and piping can be turned into wearable art. Participants will cut, anneal, hammer, apply other textures and shape around a mandrel to create wide copper bracelets.
— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at [email protected] or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.
