Eco Arts Week 2026
Text by Colin Secore
In celebration of Earth Day, MKAD has annually put on Eco Arts Week: a week-long series of environmentally-conscious workshops. A wide variety of mediums and practices will be explored, combining art education with environmental awareness and solutions. This year, MKAD is doing something a little different and embracing a new residency program. In the weeks leading up to Eco Arts Week this April, we will feature a different artist in residence with vastly different disciplines and practices. It’ll provide a rare opportunity for people to become acquainted with their creative processes through demonstrations, workshops, and even studio visits. All of which will be free of charge and open to the public.
Eco Arts Week also kicks off with the Art Yard Sale on Saturday, April 25th. With donations from people across the community, we gather a plethora of tools, media, accessories, and miscellaneous items not limited to art supplies. This massive, colorful spread will be available to peruse from 10:00am to 5:00pm and operates on a pay-what-you-can model.
This year marks the 5th anniversary of Eco Arts Week, and with it we wear the theme of Because We Care, a culmination of ideas that we have strived to represent over the past 5 years. It constitutes the ethos behind environmentalism, taking the health of the Earth into our own hands through our capacity for love of this planet. Each featured artist brings their own conversation around environmental thinking through their work. It is with all of us together through art that we make great strides in awareness.
FEATURED ARTIST: Maxine Leu
Maxine Leu is a multi-disciplinary artist and environmentalist, as well as the producer of Eco Arts Week. Hailing from Taiwan, she carries with her a deep culture of recycling and minding the Earth. With the culture shock of moving to a new country that is much less environmentally-conscious, Maxine was inspired to raise awareness. She’s an experienced art educator, giving classes and workshops over several years and teaching not only how to make art, but also how to upcycle garbage into works of art. One of Maxine’s most iconic works is a series of gnome sculptures made out of upcycled materials, all of which holding litter grabbers as little symbols of community service.
In Maxine’s mission to raise awareness, she’s found that injecting a little humor into her work engages people with this otherwise daunting subject. With a scolding tone, it feels more like an obligation to people. Through a little lightness, Maxine bridges her concerns to more natural inclinations within the community. For example, in her video The Bags she takes up the mantle of Plady, a lady made out of 250 plastic Topps bags. She took to Topps and put individual grapes in each bag, demonstrating just how unnecessary our use of plastic bags is. In the sequel The Earthday-Action Main-Street Two Hours Collection, Plady takes to the streets in the Toxicar and picks up litter for Earth Day, each piece of litter being accompanied by a sound and a light to signify how recyclable it is like a video game.
It is with her lively humor and bright smile that Maxine has contributed to the prosperity of Kingston and its art scene for years, and she intends to take things even further.
