Global Art Project - Piecing Peace Together

Global Art Project for Peace –

a banner created by a group

of local home educators

This post includes photos of our final piece,

and words from the project description

typed up to describe its creation.

How do we perceive peace?  This was the question we pondered during a gathering to come up with an idea for our group’s project.  We all agreed that we do not believe in an outer force that will change things in the world.  Rather, we believe that peace is a force that comes from within, a force that we have to desire, pursue, and cultivate for ourselves.  Peace starts with us, as individuals, and peace begins at home.  To be at peace in the outer world, we must be at peace with ourselves and in our homes.  We each have the responsibility to “do our piece,” which is our part in creating, establishing, and making peace a steady part of our lives, cemented into our being. 

We had a general idea of what we would do for our project, but we left a lot of room for creativity.  As participant Kiele Hunter shared, “My experience with the Global Art Project was so much fun! It was just a blast when you really just got to do whatever you like because it was your own art, no one told you how to do it or how they would like you to have it. You could just put your own personality into your art. It was also really fun when we got to finger paint the table cloth. I’m hoping we can do it again real soon, I’m also really excited that the art is going to Australia.”  Making peace through our piece together was a fun experience for everyone.  Everyone’s individual personalities went into its creation, yet it comes together into a pleasing, cohesive whole.  Then, our peace, through our piece, will travel the world.

To create what has become our Banner, we began with a fabric shower curtain.  Everyone pressed their handprints onto it, using poster paint, and some of the teenagers put their footprints on the fabric.  Part of the world was drawn on a piece of fabric and attached to the curtain.  The letters “P-E-A-C-E” were cut from cardboard in uniform size.  The Logans collaged words and images representing their ideas of peace onto the “P”.  Abriel decorated the “E” with fabric and foam paper.  Kiele and Ione decorated the “A” with felt and paint.  The Chamorro family created a mosaic on the letter “C” with foam paper and marker.  The “E” was decorated by four different families, with words and images they felt represented “peace.”  To attach all the pieces together, colorful string was used to hang the letters from the dowel rod.  Thirty-seven beads were attached, represented the thirty-seven participants of this project.  Buttons were attached to represent how peace must be fastened to ourselves before we can experience it in the world.  The words “DO YOUR PIECE” were added by using letter beads, and additional elements of a friendship bracelet, copper wire twisted together, and pipe cleaners were used to attach them.  The final touch of a safety pin holding a heart was fastened below the words.

Our statement of peace here in our project represents our belief that we all belong to the establishment of peace in our land and that it is up to us to realize our individual responsibility to peace, as we create it with our own hands.

The next post will feature the display of our banner at a local Earth day festival.