Please join us for MassArt's 5th annual Climate & Justice Teach-In
Earth Day! Wednesday, April 22, 2026
This year’s theme: Waste to Wonder focuses on resources across campus and in our practice, use and reuse, and cradle to cradle explorations. Through collaboration and conversation, we can make our way from waste to wonder!
We have content from FA2D, 3D Arts, Foundations, Fashion, Illustration, ISBA, Sustainability, Career Development, and more!
This is a one-day convergence of making, sharing, and learning.
Please bring your classes, and invite your friends!
11:30am – 12:30pm, DMC Lecture Hall
Snapshot Presentations
Snapshot presentations give us a glimpse into the variety of sustainability focused practices, artwork, and research happening across campus. Presenting this year:
Michelle Chen (student, fashion), Sara Hartmann (faculty, Business), Carolyn Lewenberg (faculty, Studio Foundations), Ella Mercer (student, Art Ed / Sustainability), Jeffery Nowlin (faculty, Humanities / Art Ed), Sophie Pinciaro (student, Sculpture / Sustainability), Beverly Sky (student, Fibers), Rebekah Wright (staff, Career Development), Stephanie Xiao (student, Architecture)
Here’s a sneak peak…!
1pm – 4pm, DMC Atrium
Workshops, Skillshares, Info Tables, and More!
Walnut & Friends Resilient Ink
Ric Allendorf (faculty, Illustration)
Luanne Witkowski (staff, DS9)
An introduction to resilient inks made from assorted, locally-foraged materials such as walnut, acorn, lichen, etc.
Waste Pigments Workshop
Sophie Pinciaro (student, Sculpture / Sustainability), Jane Marsching (faculty, Studio Foundations)
We will be using byproducts from our making practice as pigment sources, then we’ll be grinding up the pigment and demonstrating how to make watercolors with simple ingredients. People will be able to participate by helping grind and mix pigments.
Non-Toxic Print Techniques
Elizabeth Mooney (faculty, FA2D) and students
A pilot program featuring BIG (Baldwins Ink Ground), an innovative new non-toxic ground, and Akua soy-based inks, a less toxic alterinative easily cleaned with soap and water.
Check out the pop-up exhibition in the Sustainability Studio (D110)!
Clothing Swap
Fashion Department / DON Magazine
Organized by MassArt’s DON Magazine group: bring your unwanted clothes, get new ones!
Also check out more opportunities below where clothing can be repaired / reused in other ways!
Mending Workshop
Yasemin Isaacs and Morgan Brown
(Fibers students)
Have a garment with a rip or tear that needs to be repaired? Fibers students will be available to consult with you and demonstrate simple mending techniques!
Pick and Patch!
The Sewing Club
Craft and sew some patches, charms, or anything your heart desires. Bring some old clothes or fabrics to reuse, but scraps will also be provided! Mainly hand sewing but a Home Sewer Machine will be provided.
Build Baskets from Recycled Materials
Marie Turley (Registrar’s office)
Learn how to make baskets from used t-shirts, yarn, and plastic waste! Materials will be provided, but you can also bring your own.
Superb Sock Animals
Jason Higgins (Staff, Youth Programs)
Do you have a pair of socks in disrepair, and you can’t bear to part with them? Learn how to repurpose them into a new stuffed animal friend! Choose an animal from the variety of templates provided, we’ll guide you through sewing and stuffing your creature. Participants are encouraged to bring their own socks, but (clean) socks and all other necessary materials will be provided.
Zero Waste Showcase
Michelle Chen, Marilyn Gongas T. Medeiros (students, Fashion / Sustainability)
A demonstration of the different unique ways zero waste patterns can be utilized to reduce the disposal of muslin.
Fix Yer Bike
Joshua Hart (amateur bike mechanic and faculty, Studio Foundations)
Chain squeak? Shifting trouble? Flat tire? Soft brakes? We have tools for most minor to moderate repairs: chain lube, rags, and nitrile gloves, but no spare parts. If there are parts that you know or suspect you’ll need, source them from your local bike shop in advance and bring them along with your bike. A healthy can-do attitude doesn’t hurt either.
Decorate Yer Bike
Rebekah Wright (Staff, Career Development)
Is your bike feeling kind of bland? Does it blend into the streetscape? Come and DECORATE YER BIKE and make your bike as unique and interesting as you are! Stop by to make decorative items for your bike (like fabric flowers or safety pizzas) or bring your bike in to give it a full decorative overhaul. Some materials will be provided, but feel free to bring anything you want to incorporate as well! (Rubber ducks not included.)
Weaving Empathy
Carolyn Lewenberg (faculty, Studio Foundations)
In this workshop, participants will get to know the material properties of abundant materials such as oriental bittersweet, corn husks, glossy buckthorn and upcycled fabric. Observing and playing with their strengths and capacity for creating structure together, participants will explore the possibilities of making functional baskets with them.
Repair, Rewear, & Reimagine your Jewelry!
Heather White, Emily Cobb (faculty) and the J&M students
Bring in your broken, worn-down, or dirty jewelry and find out if we can repair it so you can rewear it! The Jewelry and Metalsmithing program will also be accepting donations of your broken or unwanted jewelry. The donated materials will be used in the creation of new, reimagined jewelry pieces in future classes.
Beauty in the Broken: Visible Ceramic Mending
Jody Burr (faculty, Ceramics)
In this workshop you will learn some methods of visible mending inspired by kintsugi, a Japanese practice of mending broken ceramics by highlighting the repaired cracks with gold, celebrating breakage and repair as adding to the history and meaning of an object. Bring an object to repair – we’ll guide you through the steps!
Waste Paste: Ceramic 3D Printing
Miguel Lastra (faculty, Ceramics)
The waste paste workshop will demonstrate how ceramic waste such as excess glazes can be reused to create forms using the Potterbot. But can we go beyond clay and use the printer as an extruder to print other waste materials in the form of paste? Feel free to bring your waste material and give it a go!
Papermaking Samples
Amber Tourlentes (faculty, Studio Foundations) and students
Come take a look at what is possible in the world of Papermaking! We’ll have samples of paper made with natural fibers and recycled pulp.
MassArt Materials Map
Luanne Witkowski (staff, DS9)
Curious about how to find, share, and reuse materials at MassArt? This workshop/demo is a hands-on introduction to the MassArt Materials Map and resource-sharing platform—designed to help you save money, reduce waste, and discover what’s already available within our community.
Waste Trade
What materials do you have that someone else could use? Think beyond common scrap and what might go to the ReStore.
Consider the byproducts of your process, debris, offcuts, dust, fragments, residue…
Put that material in someone else’s hands, instead of in the dumpster.
Info Tables / Other Resources
ISBA Projects with Caroline Hu
Business of Creative Industries with Sara Hartmann
Sustainability Internships / Residencies Slideshow
Life Cycle Stories Projects
Facilities’ New Composter!
The Climate and Justice Teach-In is led by the MassArt Sustainability Initiative and the MassArt Sustainability in the Curriculum committee.
Any questions? Please contact Jane Marsching and/or Marjee Levine.