Over the last two months I have shared several stories about a fun global art project entitled ‘Peaceflowers From Around The World’. I sent out requests to all my Facebook friends asking them to draw peaceflowers on city sidewalks using coloured chalk and then email - peacefulwarrior333@hotmail.com - their artwork to me for my photoalbum – . I’ve been extremely happy to watch this simple idea grow and grow. Peaceflowers have been sent to me from Australia, China, Mexico and Japan – to name just a few countries.
This is another addition to my collection – from Australia! My FB friend, Becca, spends her time working and creating with the youth at a community centre in New South Wales. Many of the youths thought that this project was a really cool idea and I’ve received many artworks from them.
In 2002-04 Joanne and I were living in Nova Scotia. I had a job working in a bar – I was the head bartender, Tuesday night’s DJ and Sunday nights ‘singing bartender’ during our weekly karaoke event. I became good friends with many of the regulars and we still send emails to each other, from time to time. I was super happy when this peaceflower was sent to me by one of the friends I had made – actually, I guess it was their daughter who had created this art using stones from the shores of The Bay of Fundy.
Sheri and I went to high school together and now – many years later – we have reconnected because of Facebook. Sheri knew that her daughter would enjoy drawing with the colourful chalks and you can see from Kirin’s smile that she was right! I thought that the use of ‘hands’ inside the flower petals was a really cool idea.
The next day, I received an invitation to participate in a peaceflower event. Apparently, one of my London FB friends thought that my idea was so inspiring that he organized an event through a group called ‘Lightworkers of Ontario’. You can imagine how honoured I felt to have someone take my simple idea to the next level! Of course, I agreed to attend…
The event took place in London’s downtown Victoria Park between 1-2 pm. on Monday, August 10th. After a few of us had gathered and had made introductions it was time to begin. I shared the story about the peaceflower petals that had been created using handprints and I suggested that we should begin by creating one ‘group effort’ peaceflower using this technique.
I began by drawing a large circle for the peace symbol and then I traced everyone’s hand, using chalk. The owners of the handprints filled them in using blue chalk and then someone suggested that we should print our names above our hands… and so we did!
This young person was having a great time and he wanted to help out a bit more, so I suggested that he could draw the inside portion of our flower… and so he did!
While he was finishing that part of the peaceflower, I added a long and wavy green stem and leaf to our creation.
After the group photo was taken, everyone went back to complete their own artworks…
Soon, everyone was finished and it was time to take lots of pictures…
Angela was really enjoying herself and she just couldn’t stop drawing – LOL! By 2pm she had created three peaceflowers.
This is Shawn Jason. He is the one responsible for this ‘art attack’. Thanks for creating this event, Shawn! It was a really cool way to share inspiration and meet other peaceful folks!!!
I hope that this story has warmed your heart and put a smile on your face. I hope that you are now inspired to join in this effort and I look forward to finding your peaceflower photos in my ‘inbox’ soon!!!
Jim
This is another addition to my collection – from Australia! My FB friend, Becca, spends her time working and creating with the youth at a community centre in New South Wales. Many of the youths thought that this project was a really cool idea and I’ve received many artworks from them.
In 2002-04 Joanne and I were living in Nova Scotia. I had a job working in a bar – I was the head bartender, Tuesday night’s DJ and Sunday nights ‘singing bartender’ during our weekly karaoke event. I became good friends with many of the regulars and we still send emails to each other, from time to time. I was super happy when this peaceflower was sent to me by one of the friends I had made – actually, I guess it was their daughter who had created this art using stones from the shores of The Bay of Fundy.
Sheri and I went to high school together and now – many years later – we have reconnected because of Facebook. Sheri knew that her daughter would enjoy drawing with the colourful chalks and you can see from Kirin’s smile that she was right! I thought that the use of ‘hands’ inside the flower petals was a really cool idea.
The next day, I received an invitation to participate in a peaceflower event. Apparently, one of my London FB friends thought that my idea was so inspiring that he organized an event through a group called ‘Lightworkers of Ontario’. You can imagine how honoured I felt to have someone take my simple idea to the next level! Of course, I agreed to attend…
The event took place in London’s downtown Victoria Park between 1-2 pm. on Monday, August 10th. After a few of us had gathered and had made introductions it was time to begin. I shared the story about the peaceflower petals that had been created using handprints and I suggested that we should begin by creating one ‘group effort’ peaceflower using this technique.
I began by drawing a large circle for the peace symbol and then I traced everyone’s hand, using chalk. The owners of the handprints filled them in using blue chalk and then someone suggested that we should print our names above our hands… and so we did!
This young person was having a great time and he wanted to help out a bit more, so I suggested that he could draw the inside portion of our flower… and so he did!
While he was finishing that part of the peaceflower, I added a long and wavy green stem and leaf to our creation.
After the group photo was taken, everyone went back to complete their own artworks…
Soon, everyone was finished and it was time to take lots of pictures…
Angela was really enjoying herself and she just couldn’t stop drawing – LOL! By 2pm she had created three peaceflowers.
This is Shawn Jason. He is the one responsible for this ‘art attack’. Thanks for creating this event, Shawn! It was a really cool way to share inspiration and meet other peaceful folks!!!
I hope that this story has warmed your heart and put a smile on your face. I hope that you are now inspired to join in this effort and I look forward to finding your peaceflower photos in my ‘inbox’ soon!!!
Jim
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