Joan Root Ericksen and her husband Bob started the Sun Foundation in 1974 in Washburn to support the arts and sciences in community and educational settings and to impart to young people the importance of preserving their natural heritage. They brought the Suzuki School of Music program to this area nineteen years ago. Erickson has a master’s degree in fine arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art, a bachelor’s degree in education from Northern Illinois University, and had studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Sorbonne University in Paris, Bradley University, Northern Illinois University and others. She has taught children in various educational settings, and for several years was assistant professor in the humanities department of Chicago City College. She was recipient of the Julia Proctor White Arts Award from the YWCA of Peoria, and won a first prize for poetry from Northern Illinois University. She and her husband have produced film and slide productions, and her paintings, drawings and prints have been widely exhibited. She has also published books and articles. She and her husband have a son Brett, 19.
You and your husband Bob have devoted yourselves to establishing and operating the Sun Foundation for the last 25 years. Why did you start this organization? Where’d the name come from?
The Sun Foundation was chartered to advance the arts and sciences in public education, and to promote stewardship of our natural resources.
We chose the word sun because it represented creativity and renewable resources.
Tell us a little about your background.
I grew up in Roseland, Illinois, which has become the southern part of Chicago. The town was named Roseland because it was filled with wild roses. There were wild prairies, too. My grandparents lived in Pullman, Illinois, and I could walk from my grandparents ‘home to my parents’ home through a wild prairie.
On the way to school I would find little green snakes that were indigenous to the prairie. It was all open space. There were cows across the street, and it was close to wetlands and small lakes. It was near the city, yet still connected to nature.
Most young people in the community had grandparents who were first generation here, so there was a great diversity of culture.
I think that watching what my grandparents and my parents did to improve the quality of life in their community has transferred to me. It seemed like a natural part of my life, because I saw them do it everyday. It wasn’t something separate that they did on occasion.
How did you meet your husband?
I majored in education and minored in philosophy and the arts at Northern Illinois University. I went on to graduate school—an MFA program in painting and print making at the Cranbrook Academy of Art—where I met Bob.
He was from Seattle, Washington, and grew up with salmon spawning in his backyard. I think we had parallel experiences in the sense that we both grew up surrounded by nature and have the freedom of space.
In our early lives, we began to see this beautiful land turn into cities. We saw the effect as the natural lands that we had interacted with were reduced little by little.
Can you give us an example?
One of the prairie areas near where I grew up was made into a baseball field. As children we were able to play baseball, and in the wintertime the fire department would flood the area so we would have a beautiful ice skating rink. It was the center of our neighborhood.
One day I was coming home from grade school and found that a bulldozer was in the middle of the field. The children I was coming home with were probably among the first protectors of natural land in that area. They wouldn’t let the bulldozers go any further. They lay down in front of the bulldozers and their mothers had to come get them.
Who are some of the people who have influence you?
Bob and I had a wonderful opportunity in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s to work with Buckminster Fuller, the designer-architect-engineer. He had a great impact on our lives. At the time he was working on what he called the “world game.” He designed a new map showing the earth and the interconnectiveness of the world’s resources. He worked on the concept of getting nations to come together and look at the finite resources of the planet and ways we could enhance the quality of life for our children and for future generations.
His concept formed a lot of our thinking. The data was astounding in the sense that it was really clear that certain valuable resources were finite. He didn’t like the word "waste" or "pollution." Instead he’d say we were “misusing our earth’s resources.”
Studs Terkel, Chicago author and radio talk show host, was another very influential person in our lives. He began to work with us on many projects. He showed us the value of documenting the lives of people from all walks of life and the importance of oral history.
Studs, through his radio program and books, gave us access to extraordinary people: artists, writers, factory workers, philosophers, musicians, community organizers, farmers.
Who else helped form your ideas?
Another person was Dr. Henry Bieler who wrote the book Food is Your Best Medicine. In my late 20’s I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and myositis, a connective tissue disease. I was referred to Dr. Bieler through a family friend. He was my medical doctor for ten years.
Dr. Bieler recommended a nutritional program. The illness, which had incapacitated me for four years, was gone within one month of following Dr. Bieler’s program. A rheumatoid specialist at Northwestern University Medical School monitored my progress. When I stopped the nutritional program the rheumatoid test showed positive. When I returned to the program the blood tests were negative.
Dr. Bieler and I became lifelong friends. I had the privilege of studying with him every summer in Glacier National Park in Montana. We would visit with the Native American people there, people who still knew some of the old traditional medicines and ways.
The fourth person who influenced us was Dr. Bertram Carnow, head of occupational and environmental disease for the University of Illinois School of Medicine in Chicago. He introduced us to the medicine research being done on the correlation between the environment and disease.
What direction did you go next?
We left our teaching positions in Chicago in 1972 and went on the road to work on a film. We interviewed people around the country from all walks of life--farmers, scientists, educators, artists, homemakers--about what we had to do to ensure the success of our country, this experiment of freedom, this land of resources, for generations to come.
The film was called The Sun Gave Man the Power and it was used for public television and by the National Park system. It was seen here on Channel 47.
How did the film-making experience affect you?
What we learned in those two years on the road making that film laid the groundwork for the type of educational program that our Sun Foundation began doing in 1974.
We had also done a slide program called Regarding Nature as a Friend, which addressed many issues that young people were facing. Ken England, a director of the Illinois Arts Council, saw it and became interested in our projects. He suggested that we form a foundation that could apply for funds from granting agencies and businesses to do this work on a larger scale.
The Illinois Arts Council connected us with Lawyers for the Creative Arts. Stanford Gale was a Chicago lawyer who helped us form the bylaws and develop the Sun Foundation. He is still our lawyer today, still helping us 25 years later.
What made you come to the Peoria area to start your foundation?
One of the major things we had learned was the importance of young people being connected to nature, understanding how nature works and how important it is for us to be good stewards of the land.
Since scientists and artists use different tools and methods to understand our world, we had this concept of bringing together people we knew to do a summer program for children, an educational program that connects art and science, because the perception of both is necessary to understand the whole.
We talked to my mother and father about this project. My mother said, ”Why don’t you do it on our family farm (in Washburn). It’s a beautiful, wooded area and has many different habitats and environments.”
At the same time, we planned a summer arts and science program for children, the Art in the Woods program.
One of our neighbors in Washburn had a camp and said we could use it for this project. Our neighboring farm had wonderful fossil beds and creek beds. Our other good neighbor had another type of creek with wonderful clay beds and, of course, all the areas surrounding our family farm had a great deal of untouched wilderness and wildflowers and native species. Our farm has a fresh water marsh, an old hickory forest, a prairie remnant and fossil beds. So it seemed like a wonderful place to come together, to study nature firsthand, and to study the arts.
It wasn’t just learning about nature--it was learning about ourselves and being able to express ourselves and to find that creative part of ourselves that allows us to be human--to exchange the real sense of who we are with one another.
When was the first Art in the Woods program held?
In June 1974. Many local scientists and artists were willing to start this venture with us. So for two weeks they all came. There were 40 instructors and 450 students.
So many people donated their time. Dick Blick Art Materials has been supplying the Art in the Woods program with free supplies for the past 25 years. Through Lakeview Museum we offered scholarships for inner city students. Everyone helped.
What’s the current status of the Art in the Woods program?
Art in the Woods was shortened from two weeks to one week because of severe cuts in state and federal arts granting agencies’ budgets and the increase in the number of local organizations that compete for support on a local level.
The classes are sponsored by local businesses. Scholarship students come from Carver Center, Children’s Home, Common Place and Friendship House. We have a rather extensive scholarship program for rural and urban children. The program is also open to the paying public.
You brought the Suzuki music program to Peoria. Why?
We are always looking for new learning methods that could bring success to young people. Children have many modes of learning, not just auditory. The lecture method what we so often use, or the textbook method, is not for all learners.
In Japan Dr. Suzuki’s method of teaching music was having success, so the foundation brought the Suzuki Children’s Symphony of Japan here in 1979 for a concert.
The next year the foundation started the Suzuki School of Music in Peoria, and it’s now in its 18th year. The school is funded with tuition fees paid by participants’ families, and by public contributions and volunteer in-kind services.
I think that has been the pattern of the foundation, to introduce a new educational concept and see if the community is receptive. And if there is support, we try to establish a program for the community.
What else has the Sun Foundation been involved in?
In 1978 the Sun Foundation held the first state conference on nutrition here in Peoria. That was followed by a series of conferences and workshops for teachers, students and parents.
We brought in Dr. Bernie Segal several times to focus on catastrophic illness and the process of healing, and the connection between the mind, body and spirit.
Every time a conference was done it was basically done by the same method: finding local experts and state experts and national experts to come together to give a broad view of what’s available worldwide, nationwide and statewide, and what resources you have at your fingertips to utilize this.
Last fall you started a group that looks at cancer and our environment. Tell us about that group.
It is called Upstream and is based on the book Living Downstream written by Dr. Sandra Steingraber, a biologist who was born and raised in Pekin. It’s about our community: Peoria and Pekin. Sandra’s hope is that communities will use her book as a call to action to reduce the number of known carcinogens and known chemicals in the environment. It’s a big idea.
The Sun Foundation asked Sandra’s publisher to send out 60 copies of the book to community leaders. Then we invited the leaders to a meeting held September 8. There the new group, called Upstream, was formed using Sandra’s book as a basis for community activities. Each person on the committee makes a commitment to work in a specific area and report to the group. We meet the first Thursday of every month at the Checkered Raven gallery. Everyone is welcome to come.
What are some of the focuses of Upstream?
Upstream is beginning to develop an educational format. Three or four events have already been slated for the spring. We’re taking the book chapter by chapter and examining what we might be able to do in our schools, homes, park districts and businesses.
We’ve had a very good response. For example, D.A. Hoerr and Sons has volunteered to set up an organic lawn care supply area at their landscaping facility for home owners who want to experiment using organic materials to care for their lawns.
Also, there is a workshop for local dry cleaners demonstrating a water based dry cleaning fluid that is nontoxic.
There’s a workshop for farmers on how to convert form conventional farming to and organic program using a local model farm. And another workshop for developers and architects about economical and ecological ways that have the least impact on the environment.
We’re going to ask the Race for the Cure people--21,000 women who are going to be racing in May--to make a personal commitment to reduce the number of known carcinogens in their homes that may have a link to breast cancer or degrading the immune system.
The Clean Water Celebrations was started by the Sun Foundation. Tell us about that.
I think the role of the foundation is to provide that kid of leadership and be a catalyst to get something started and then to turn it over and be supportive of it. We try to involve many groups together to address the issues.
For the Clean Water Celebration, when we heard about the Southern Illinois University Rivers Project, which brings high school students from throughout the state to Peoria every year for a student congress on rivers, we thought it would be wonderful to open it up to middle school students to learn from the older students about their projects and the importance of water conservation.
The River Projects people agreed. So we talked to the water company, the Tazewell health department and local businesses to help raise the money to rent the Civic Center, and we started the Clean Water Celebration. Over 3,500 students came last year. This will be its fifth year. It will be held March 23.
When you go to the Clean Water Celebration, and realize that these young students just spent the past year researching and studying a body of water and recording data that is used by the EPA an the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, you realize what young people can do.
I really believe that young people are frustrated because we don’t give them the opportunity to participate in the community at the level they are capable of.
How would you rate community support for your programs?
The foundation has always benefited from getting input from the community before we start a project. We include many organizations and individuals on a project, so the maximum numbers benefit.
In our community we are fortunate that there is such interconnectedness between people. If you say you need a resource for a specific project, someone will be able to connect you to it in some way. The strength of our programs and services has come from utilizing the talent and abilities of wonderful local people.
All year round we have school groups coming to the Sun Foundation for field trips and to study the arts and sciences.
What is your artists in residency program?
Our artists in residency program, that the Illinois Arts Council sponsored for so many years, was probably one of the best programs because we could get professional artists out into the community.
One of the outstanding projects we did was with folk historian Tandy Lacy who came to do a residency in Marshall County. The county had lost its fiddlers--our indigenous fiddlers were all gone. So Tandy went into the community and found the traditional artists--some making violins, some doing quilting, some doing a form of lace making--and she documented them in a beautiful book. We had the artists go into libraries, sign the books and give them to the schools, so the children got to meet the artists and know them and their crafts.
How can individuals help children experience creativity?
We always think we need money to do things, but just give children a blank piece of paper and pencil or some paints. Give them a pencil and pad to write, to journal, to express themselves.
A study was done in which kindergartners were asked “How many of you can sing?” They’d raise their hands. “How many of you can tell stories?” They would raise their hands. “How many of you can paint?” They’d raise their hands. When college students were asked the same questions, rarely did a hand go up.
So how does creativity get lost? Where does it go? How do you feel when you dance? How do you feel when you sing? How do you feel when you express a feeling that you have? It helps us understand who we are. It helps us understand our world and allows us to celebrate who we are.
What would you like to say to our community?
Volunteer. Look at the needs in the community that you feel strongly about, and bring your time and talents to fill those needs. Don’t go overboard with volunteering and neglect your own home and family and personal needs. But if you have anything left over, find ways you can reach out to your community. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time to fill a need.
How many volunteers do you have working with your programs? How have the numbers changed over the years?
The Sun Foundation programs are assisted by 175 volunteers. Volunteerism has increased as community program offerings have increased.
For each program we have, we can point to a person who actually had this concept…this idea. When the Sun Foundation brought Jean-Michel Cousteau here to focus on our water issues, that idea came form a Peoria woman. When we did the wooden bird decoy program, the traveling exhibition, and the book, that idea came from a person who recognized that the carved bird was important to our community.
What keeps you going every day?
Every morning I have the pleasure of walking a beautiful four-mile hike and listening to the birds and seeing the trees. I think anyone who has experienced serious illness is appreciative of every day. You feel happy to be alive. I feel grateful for the people I work with and what I get to learn everyday.
Also, there is a great generosity in this community. People who have moved here from other communities may be able to see it even more. People are astounded at how friendly our community is and how many people volunteer and help-and what gets accomplished. We have to figure out how this works so we don’t lose it. Keep the kindness here.
What are your future plans?
We have a lot of work ahead... 25 years and we’ve just touched the surface. I would hope we could continue joint efforts with other organizations and groups to contribute to the vitality of our community. TPW