Students create unique ecological art exhibit to inspire past, present and future students

Students from the MEd Ecological Consciousness through Embodied Transformation class have created an interesting ecological art exhibit that they hope will spread positivity to current and future Lakehead students as well as alumni.

The project aimed to advocate ecological consciousness and demonstrate the relationship between humans and the natural world. Under the guidance of course instructor Dr. Thomas Puk, 17 students from diverse backgrounds created the exhibit to illustrate their insightful perspectives.

The project primarily involved creating an interactive exhibit composed of individual "petals" and the word “happiness” in six different languages (English, Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, Bangla, and Cornish). The exhibit parts are painted on high-density fibreboard, basically sawdust and glue – a good use of used material.

The stand is made from local cedar, lilac and honeysuckle, all of which were destined to be disposed. The frame edges are from a countertop made from local birch. The maps are out of date maps of the local area from the Geography department’s map library. The frame holding the fibreboard is leftover scraps of spruce. The students also used flyers, cardboard, leave pressings, leaves, and bark.

The exhibit includes sub-themes of ecological literacy and reciprocal relationships with natural processes. Through this project, students developed an emotional connection with nature, which they learned in their Master of Education course.

They did the project face to face on the Thunder Bay campus this fall, 100% of the time outside, or as they refer to it, Intree, a term that means outdoors.

Aparna Roy, one of the students from the class, said she learned a lot from the project.

“Essentially, the ecological sculpture project will be a bridge for alumni, current students, and future students at Lakehead University by showing them the equality and unity that we as humans have developed with nature.”