Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,
Today we are focusing on the interdependent process of Life on Earth. The culture of the U.S. is steeped in the idea of rugged individualism. The fact is that individuals humans ONLY survive because of a community, and an ecological community at that. We are alive because of the oxygen given to us by the trees. Though our arms are like branches and our feet are like roots, the vast differences between trees and humans nourishes the fecundity of planet (when people aren’t narrow-mindedly destroying forests for short-term gains.) Every life form plays a role in the eco-system. If there was not diversity, there would be no Life on Earth.
Cultural diversity grows out of the unique lands of our planet that shape a peoples' food, music, dress, language, technology and ceremony. How blessed we are to be enriched by so many cultures in this time, instead of being restricted by the fear of “Stranger Danger” that has plagued humanity for hundreds of thousands of years.
In 2012, visionary art teacher Sonda Polk Cheesbrough celebrated the importance of diversity with her students in Morgantown, West Virginia. She facilitated The Singing Tree of Diversity on a corner wall of the school, adding the Blue Ridge Mountains under the tree floating in space. Her students decided to add leaves from many different kinds of trees on one trunk to symbolize diversity and inventing a new species in the process!
Her work went on to inspire Daniel Sky, a Creative Activist who makes giant images by organizing groups of people wearing different colored T-shirts into designs. His work is inspired by upon the Nazca lines of Peru. He reproduced the collaborative mural that Sonda had first painted with her students, bringing together 900 North Elementary School kids and staff in Morgantown, West Virginia. How magnificent to see his version of The Singing Tree of Diversity on such a grand scale. We were able to get in touch with Daniel to hear his thoughts about collaborative art and the Singing Tree Project in the interview below. We are reaching out to Sonda to hear her reflections as well. Stay tuned.
Daniel Sky answers the following questions:
Q: “Why is collaborative art so important to youth?"
DS: Art For the Sky is more important than ever because it provides a powerful antidote to the fragmentation and disconnection that dominate modern life. In an era where digital screens and individualism often take precedence over real-world collaboration and community, this form of participatory art offers a rare and profound experience of unity, perspective, and interconnectedness. Each person is a single pixel. No one pixel or paint drop is more important than any another. The parts combine to make the whole and everyone experiences the magnificence of creating something larger than oneself.
With so much of life happening online, the opportunity to physically gather with hundreds of others to co-create something never-before-seen fosters a deep sense of belonging and shared purpose. The concept of focusing and seeing the whole beyond just the parts is crucial in a time when people often get lost in details and divisions. Art For the Sky allows participants to experience firsthand the power of stepping back and seeing the bigger picture, seeing the whole—a perspective that is desperately needed in facing the monumental challenges of the modern world.
This work isn’t just about making giant pictures however—it’s about helping people feel interconnected, see the whole, and understand that each of us plays a vital role in shaping the world. In a time when cynicism and fear dominate the headlines, Art For the Sky offers a moment of awe—showing that when people come together with a shared vision, they can create something truly magnificent.
Q: What transformations have you witnessed?
DS: During the final assembly, when I witness kids suddenly seeing the result of their collaboration for the first time, they explode in expressions of wonder, excitement, belonging and awe. I am hopeful that something “clicks” inside them in this moment and they suddenly understand the power of collaboration and long-term thinking. The experience of being part of something so large and awe-inspiring can spark a sense of agency helping kids feel like they can make a difference. The ephemeral nature of these works teaches them that beauty doesn’t have to be permanent to be powerful—an important lesson in creativity and letting go.
I always tell the story of one kid who was in one of my first Art For the Sky images. When I ran into him 25 years later he said it was the only thing he remembered from elementary school. He said that it made him feel really good that he could see how he fit into the whole . . . that without him, it would have been different.
Reflections on the Singing Tree Mural Project:
DS: WOW . . . I am simply stunned by all the Singing Tree Murals created over the years! The Sky-Art Singing Tree rising from the Earth, all made of people feels like a giant mash-up of all the murals I’ve facilitated come to life and enacted in real-time on a beautiful spring day in West Virginia. Every single participant carried with them their own ancestoral relationship to the Tree of Life and in the depiction of the falling fruit, blowing leaves and melting glaciers, demonstrated their concern for what is happening to our beloved planet.
The diversity of every human’s mind, heart and soul is the resource we need to make a world that works for all beings, instead of a world that works for a few privileged and power hungry beings. Look at the beauty that happens when diversity is honored instead of repressed.
Laurie and the UTC Team
