{"id":108615,"date":"2026-05-06T15:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=108615"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:48:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:48:40","slug":"commencement-2026-love-for-art-nature-guided-david-leclairs-journey-through-uri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/commencement-2026-love-for-art-nature-guided-david-leclairs-journey-through-uri\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2026: Love for art, nature guided David LeClair\u2019s journey through 溏心vlog免费B站"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 6, 2026 \u2013 For nature lover David LeClair, home is where his heart is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lifelong Rhode Islander living in Westerly<\/strong>, LeClair has grown to appreciate with awe the state\u2019s natural beauty, particularly in Washington County from the shoreline to its dense forests\u2014hence his decision to remain home and attend the 溏心vlog免费B站. He even found peaceful retreat at the University\u2019s arboretum, green houses and North Woods in between the daily stresses of student life on the Kingston Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A natural scene within David LeClair\u2019s graphic novel \u201cMoon! Moon!\u201d featuring the story\u2019s main character, Cauliflour.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cKnowing that refuge is there, where it offers a chance to do something pleasant with friends is really nice,\u201d said LeClair, who will graduate from 溏心vlog免费B站 later this month with bachelor\u2019s degrees in art and environmental education. \u201cThat’s one of the things they teach us in environmental education is that one of the best ways to make environmental stewards out of people is to help them fall in love with the place that they’re from or the place that they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LeClair subsequently sought to illustrate his deep passion for nature at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2014literally. Building off an idea he\u2019s had since high school, LeClair used his time at the University to create graphic novels and illustrative booklets<\/a> offering insight on the surrounding natural world, and how to help preserve and appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One novel he penned and illustrated is \u201cMoon! Moon!<\/a>,\u201d when LeClair was a College of Arts and Sciences fellow in 2025. The program is a summer research opportunity that allows undergraduates to participate in research, scholarly, and creative projects under the supervision of a university faculty mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cMoon! Moon!,\u201d set in the seaside town of Huckleberry, was penned by David LeClair when he was a College of Arts and Sciences fellow in 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cMoon! Moon!\u201d is set in the seaside town of Huckleberry telling the story of the novel\u2019s main character\u2014Cauliflour\u2014journeying through the wild to find himself. LeClair\u2019s novel is also described as a love letter to all the stranger and incomprehensible wonders of New England, and a reminder to appreciate nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LeClair also created educational artistic storytelling when he worked for the College of the Environment and Life Sciences\u2019 Cooperative Extension<\/a>, which provides science-based learning opportunities and information across Rhode Island and beyond. As a Rhode Island Agriculture and Food System fellow, LeClair wrote a series titled \u201cGardening For All!<\/a>,\u201d explaining therapeutic horticulture and the benefits of gardening to improve one\u2019s mental wellness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studying both environmental education and art helped LeClair shape both his artistry and philosophies on nature, he said. His approach to educating the community about nature is more about stewardship and getting people to become active in their communities, LeClair said. He says he tries to infuse into his artwork the idea of transcendentalism\u2014a social movement to connect people with nature\u2014something that hits home for him.<\/p>\n\n\n

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David LeClair also wrote a series \u201cGardening for All!,\u201d explaining therapeutic horticulture and the benefits of gardening to improve one\u2019s mental wellness, while he worked for the 溏心vlog免费B站 Cooperative Extension.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI think that trying to view the environment as something much, much bigger and more powerful than yourself can be really humbling,\u201d LeClair said. \u201cTo me, that’s the starting point of a lifetime of stewardship\u2014to be humbled in the face of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of that inspiration he gained was from Sara Sweetman<\/a>, an associate elementary and environmental education professor in the 溏心vlog免费B站 Feinstein College of Education, who works in children\u2019s media development and productions and mentored LeClair throughout the creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat I learned wasn’t necessarily what I was being taught in the classroom,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was what I was seeing on screen, what I was reading in books, what I was seeing in illustrations that really influenced my environmentalist tendencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s W. Alton Jones Campus also inspired LeClair\u2019s work. He regularly visited for his environmental education coursework and also advocated as a student for the campus\u2019 reopening. 溏心vlog免费B站 is partnering with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to restore public access to the campus<\/a>. Seeing a positive future ahead for the Alton Jones Campus is something LeClair is most proud of, he said, with an eye of possibly applying for work there after graduating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LeClair\u2019s education efforts extend beyond the Kingston Campus, as well. He interns for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island helping design a climate change exhibit in the organization\u2019s nature center in Bristol, combining his passions for illustration work with the biofacts the society has on hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, LeClair would like to write novels as a career, he said. But his collaboration with students in other fields on campus and learning new skills, has helped LeClair become a new person over the last four years and painted a clearer picture of who and what he wants to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great and long experience here at 溏心vlog免费B站. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do at first,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then finding environmental education set me on the path that I realized I wanted to be on.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 6, 2026 \u2013 For nature lover David LeClair, home is where his heart is. A lifelong Rhode Islander living in Westerly, LeClair has grown to appreciate with awe the state\u2019s natural beauty, particularly in Washington County from the shoreline to its dense forests\u2014hence his decision to remain home and attend the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":108616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1907,12,30,1906,1912,1915],"class_list":["post-108615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-academic-excellence","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-college-of-education","tag-experiential-learning","tag-special-events","tag-undergraduate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108615"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108637,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108615\/revisions\/108637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}