2025 Year in Review

Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,

We are delighted to share a review of a few of our 2025 projects with you. Each one of these collaborative works of art reminds us that people can achieve great things together, even when faced with overwhelming challenges.

The Desert Willow Branches to Roots Singing Tree of Propagation and Regeneration, 8' x 8'

This project was funded by NOAA and led by Fernanda Lugo in conjunction with a citizen science propagation of El Paso's native trees. People from ages 7 to 85 from many heritages - Hispanic, Chinese, Indian, Native American, European, African-American - came together to add their vision of blossoming, watering and working for a world where everyone thrives. The coming together of people to nurture nature and people is the world we are striving to build.

The Casa Oak Singing Tree of Trust, Love, and Community, 8' x 16'

The Casa Singing Tree project began with a Lead Design Team that included the three owners and twenty managers of Casa Auto Group based in El Paso, Texas. They selected the theme of trust, love, and community, designed the mural, and painted the background. Then five UTC facilitators took the mural to six Casa locations in El Paso, Las Cruces and Alamogordo with 419 employees contributing images to complete the mural. We explored the bold theme - CASA is home and home is heaven.

The Sea Grape Singing Tree of Goodwill, 3' x 5'

Facilitated by UTC Board member De Palazzo with eight seniors from the Five Star Senior Living in Pompano Beach, Florida. One participant wrote "The Five Stars deserve their name - A community so alive and gracious, so encouraging. Friendship everlasting. To live is made easier. Love. Love."

The Ash Singing Tree of Grace and Grit Embracing Our Purpose and Pain, 5' x 3'

Laurie led an in-person three-day Innovative Team Building workshop in El Paso to train six Singing Tree Facilitators. The training was filmed in order to provide future on-line instruction for leadership training, collaborative art and peace literacy.

The Monongalia County Singing Tree of Patience and Acceptance While Branching Out Into the Future, 5' x 3'

Certified Singing Tree Mural Facilitator Sonda Cheesebrough led the first staff development session of 2025 for 20 art teachers in Monongalia County, West Virginia. During the six-hour session, the teachers learned about the collaborative art process rooted in nature and created a vision of their students successfully rising to the challenges they face in school and in day-to-day life.

The Maple Singing Tree of Our Values, 8' x 8'

Facilitated by certified Singing Tree Facilitator Andrea Marchyok, Arts Education Specialist of the Siskiyou County Office of Education in Yreka, California. The mural was made with 150 students at Scott Valley Junior High School.

"Painting together is like being in an artistic community where you can be more open with each other, and you feel more welcome, more belonging."

The Elm Singing Tree of Light in the Darkness, 4' x 8'

This painting was created for the benefit of Candlelighters, El Paso, a non-profit who serves children and their families experiencing cancer. It was made possible by a donation from CASA Nissan. Over 100 people contributed images of Light in the Dark on the leaves and prayers for those being served by Candlelighters. The were attending the International Day of Peace Symposium on Sept. 20th and 21st at the University of Texas at El Paso. Afterwards, the children and their families added images on the candles and birds. The central figure of a child holding a candle in the darkness stands for all children who are wrestling with hardship and challenge, specifically with cancer. The mural was a gift to Candlelighters' new facility across from the Texas Oncology Center.

The Mulberry Singing Tree of What We Love About Our Neighborhood, 3' x 4'

35 people attending District 7's Community Meeting were invited by Representative Lily Limon to add drawings of their appreciations and dreams for their neighborhood. They also shared the stories behind the drawings. The painting was unveiled three weeks later at the next community meeting.

"For 46 years my wife has been telling me I'm stuck. You got me unstuck."

The Rainbow Eucalyptus-Wisteria Singing Tree of Women’s Leadership

This piece shares the inner light of the women corporate professionals in Japan who took part in a virtual workshop as part of the annual J-Win Conference.  Our workshop was called "Art as a Team Building Tool" We invited 179 women to share images and stories of healing and success in a document we are putting together.  The diversity-based conference had five focus groups - Politics, Economy, Social, Technology and GreenX - and each group shared amongst themselves, coming away with new insights.

"It was so refreshing not to compete with each other, but instead to learn about each other." 

Gravity Rocks Resistance, 4' x 6'

What happens when 120 educators, artists, and activists gather to explore what it means to be rooted in community, to flow with creativity, and to face resistance with open hearts? Certified Singing Tree Facilitator Carrie Ziegler and poet Jennifer Johnson were honored to keynote the Envriomental Education Washington State Conference this year with a three-day collaborative offering. Together, through mural-painting, collaborative poetry, movement, and deep reflection, they created a living experience—rooted in art, grown by community, and shaped by nature herself.

The reach of our projects is made possible by the organic growth over these past 23 years of intergenerational relationships among people working for a world ofcompassion, understanding, and peace. Like the mycelium of a fungal colony, these relationships form a precious network of invisible threads connecting us to one another and giving us a solid foundation for the future. 

As we go into 2026, we thank you for being an essential part of that network, of this endeavor, of our future.

With blessings for a joyful New Year,

The UTC Team