Each year, the United Nations opens its regular meeting of the General Assembly by declaring the International Day of Peace. It is a time for nations and their people to reflect on peace and its meaning. The day will be commemorated with concerts, peaceful activities, festivals, and simple moments of silence. The UN encourages people to participate in practical acts of peace, so that the meaning is put into action.
Arts and culture are a powerful way of sending a message of peace throughout the world. Living Felt encourages its followers to participate in Peace Felt. They’ll spotlight many friends’ creations with the hope that the collective desire for a peaceful existence really makes a difference in the way people move through the world. In this way, participants are publicaly displaying their willingness to actively participate in loving kindness and good will to all.
The mission is: “To promote peace and connectivity among nations, loving kindness among individuals, gratitude in our hearts and in our consciousness – knowing that WE create our world through our thoughts, words and actions.”
To, as Gandhi reminded us, ‘Be the change we wish to see in the world.’
To promote awareness of the ancient art of felt making and the modern craft of needle felting for its qualities of being earth friendly, extremely versatile, and easy to learn!”
Tree of Life by Marke Spaulding
Living Felt founder, Marie Spaulding, is giving her friends and followers an opportunity to not only participate – this activity includes felting a peace product, plus giving and receiving from other participants around the world – but also receive a heartfelt work of art that is created from felt. For those who are able, holding felting workshops is a great way to gather like-minded artists to collectively work towards peace.
Participants are matched with a receiving partner, and in this way, lasting friendships are created on an international scale. Painters, sculptors, mixed media artists, and weavers may consider incorporating felt into their forms of expression. It makes a beautiful statement about the blending of cultural differences, and the beauty that comes from it.
Currently, 20+ countries are participating in Peace Felt. The International Day of Peace will be commemorated on September 21, 2012.
This year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encourages nations, corporations, and individuals to focus on sustainability. Most conflicts in the world center on valuable natural resources like oil, diamonds, water, timber, and gold. By focusing on protecting the environment, and helping to rebuild war ravaged societies, the earth can begin to develop abundance for all.
Many of the felting projects will focus on sustainability and its importance to world peace. Living felt will feature works from participating artists leading up to International Day of Peace.
Registration is from August 1 – 31 of each year. People who wish to participate can sign up at http://peacefelt.org
JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION AND SEE WHAT OTHERS ARE CREATING HERE: Peace Felt on facebook
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