Environmentally-friendly Earth Day classes are this weekend at the Adrian Center for the Arts

Brad Heineman, The Daily Telegram
·4 min read

ADRIAN — The official observance of Earth Day 2024 is on Monday, April 22. The Adrian Center for the Arts, meanwhile, is observing Earth Day with two days of classes that center on being environmentally friendly on both 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 take place on or around Earth Day in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics.”

At the Adrian Center for the Arts, 1375 N. Main St., Adrian, classes taking place this weekend focus on the importance of reduce, reuse and recycle.

Among the handful of Earth Day themed classes this weekend at the Adrian Center for the Arts is a class that allows registered participants to make their own hypertufa pots. Julia Tomaro will lead this class on Saturday, April 20. Hypertufa pots are made by mixing cement, vermiculite and peat into a slurry. Hypertufa pots are eco-friendly and good for outside plantings, the ACA said.

“We will be featuring a wide variety of classes including eco-scarves, eco-friendly dying, garden marker stakes, wearable art, hypertufa pots, recyclable plastic and ink, and recyclable paper projects,” Valerie Herr, executive director of the Adrian Center for the Arts said.

The ACA provides arts education and resources to facilitate creative endeavors for people of all ages. The organization provides a fellowship of artists and volunteers who “enrich and cultivate an environment that has become a catalyst of creativity.” Classes are offered to people of all ages and skill levels.

Details and information about those classes happening this weekend at the Adrian Center for the Arts are listed below. The 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 completed online at adriancenterforthearts.org.

Classes on Saturday, April 20

Earth Day: Earth-Friendly Dyeing with Pi Benio: The cost of this class is $30 per person. Learn about earth friendly natural dyes using plants to dye wool that will be collected right on the PlaneWave campus. Participants also will experience spinning wool, making thread using vintage spinning wheels and drop spindles.

Earth Day Hypertufa Pots with Julia Tomaro: The cost of this class is $50 per person. Hypertufa pots are eco-friendly and good for outside plantings, the ACA said. Hypertufa pots are made by mixing cement, vermiculite and peat into a slurry. Then participants will drape old towels into the slurry. The towels will be placed upside down over a form to dry. Drying takes three-four days depending on the weather. Participants will need to return to pick up their pot. Several pots of different sizes can be made. The class size limit is suggested for up to six people teens through 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 product of alcohol inks. This class is experimental, the ACA said, and is a fun way to begin an art project. “We will also be using acrylic in this process. Come and let your creative juices flow. Everything is furnished,” the ACA said.

Earth Day Eco-Scarves with Julia Tomaro: The cost of this class is $30 per person. Eco-printing refers to printing with leaves and flowers onto cloth so that the tannins in plant life print an image of the plant, the ACA explained. Participants will make a silk scarf with patterns from any plants they choose. The class will last for one hour, but the printing method requires a two-hour processing time. Scarves will be ready to pick up after that.

Celebrate Earth Day with Letterpress with Catherine Royer: The cost of this class is $25 per person, and ages for the class are 15 through adults. Those who are 12-14 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 who are registered for this class will learn the traditional craft of setting wood and metal type while creating cards, small posters or signs of any subject.

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Classes 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 garden markers out of clay. “You will design and decorate the markers specially for your garden,” the ACA said.

Earth Day Copper Wearable Art with Annemarie Kallenbach: The cost of this class is $30 per person. From 1 to 3 p.m., copper pipes and tubing can be repurposed into wearable art. Participants will cut, anneal, hammer, apply other textures and form around a mandrel to create wide-cuff copper bracelets.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian Center for the Arts has environmentally-friendly Earth Day classes