CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It’s 5:14 a.m., and the sun hasn’t come up yet. I’m at the Illinois Arboretum parking lot among a crowd of 70 students, faculty and community members, all awaiting the beginning of the same event — interdisciplinary artist Deke Weaver’s sunrise tree planting procession.
Weaver, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign art professor, is in the midst of a lifelong project, “The Unreliable Bestiary.” “FOREST” is the latest installment in Weaver’s project, which creates an art piece for every letter in the alphabet, documenting a threatened animal or habitat.
“This is the first performance that’s based on a habitat,” Weaver says. “Habitats are complex systems of plants, soil, microbes, animals, birds, fish, amphibians, water, even air.”
“FOREST,” like Weaver’s other pieces, isn’t solely for viewing. It engages with the audience to create an immersive, interactive experience.
At about 5:30 a.m., we follow Weaver, Jennifer Allen — Weaver’s wife and creative collaborator — musician Jason Finkleman and other organizers into the Arboretum.
We gather in a semi-circle as Weaver and Allen pass out pieces of twine and excerpts from the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, the central prayer of gratitude of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also known as the Iroquois. Participants take turns reading the text to the tune of chirping birds and rustling leaves as the sun rises above us.
When the reading is complete, we are encouraged to walk around, greet everyone we see and introduce ourselves. As we walk around the grove, Weaver leads the group through a series of grounding exercises — lunging as we walk to feel our feet connect with the earth, humming to connect with our bodies.
We are then instructed to walk around and find seven natural objects to tie into our piece of twine, and to ask permission for their use and then thank the Earth. Into my garland goes one piece of bark, two twigs, a violet, a dandelion leaf, a blade of grass and a little clover flower.
When we arrive at the planting grounds, a plot south of Japan House, we gather as the organizers say a few words. We hold hands to connect to the people around us, and then we place our hands in the freshly tilled soil to connect with the Earth.
The landscape architecture department provided 2,846 native plants and shovels for participants to use. The planting begins at 7:30 a.m. and volunteers work throughout the day, with some coming and going.
This is the second event in the “FOREST” project, following “FOREST: Stories in Progress” on April 2. The project will continue with two main events in 2027, one in the spring and a final performance in the fall.
This is the seventh piece in “The Unreliable Bestiary” series, preceded by “MONKEY,” “ELEPHANT,” “WOLF,” “BEAR,” “TIGER” and “CETACEAN (The Whale).” Besides the performances, each installment also is documented in book or film form.
“In the past, it seems like a lot of human culture was about surviving, and a good part of that was trying to understand how the world works, a world where the air, the trees, the places — everything was alive and filled with spirits,” Weaver says. “I think the ‘Bestiary project’ is always hoping to find small ways of re-enchanting and respecting the natural world.”
Editor’s notes: To contact Deke Weaver, email dekew@illinois.edu. More information about “The Unreliable Bestiary” is available online.
“FOREST” is part of “Another Place: Storymaking the Entangled Prairie,” which showcases work by faculty members in the School of Art & Design and is on view at Krannert Art Museum through July 2.
