Spotlight Project: MasterPEACE: Young Artists Making A Kinder World
2011-04-13
Dallas (April 13, 2011) – Today Marks the Beginning (TMtB), a non-profit arts organization that uses art to impact public awareness of social issues, created a project called the “THRIVE” lesson which is being taught at the Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School and L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary. The project helps students make the connection between gardens, nature and peace by creating peace-inspired artwork. The students will also plant a garden and create mosaic peace poles that resemble those from The Peace Pole Project, which are made by hand and spread the message of “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” The poles are made by using recyclable materials (bottles, glass) and items from mother earth (pebbles, stones).
The “THRIVE” lesson is one of the 14 project-based lessons of the MasterPEACE: Young Artists Making a Kinder World, the core program of TMtB. To thrive is to flourish, and TMtB wanted the students to plant a garden to showcase how nature can “thrive” and provide people with a way to relax, meditate, think and nurture living things.
Below are the objectives of the “THRIVE” lesson:
· To learn and identify different kinds of gardens: vegetable, rock, Zen, Shakespeare, cactus, etc.
· To encourage the student’s attention to turn to nature and the outdoors.
· To encourage students to spend time in nature.
· To consider: What makes a Peace Garden? (Relax, play, re-center, dream, think, meditate, appreciate, sit and look)
· To consider commitment to a growing, developing think – like a garden.
· To encourage students to seek help and support of adults to make a real garden.
“This lesson helps students understand the peaceful side of nature, as well as giving them the materials and skills to create their own peace artwork, garden of “Zen” and peace mosaic poles,” said Karen Blessen, creator of the MasterPEACE program and co-founder of TMtB. “With Earth Day coming up, it was the perfect time to teach this lesson to promote peace, and educate the students on the positive effect they can have on the environment and the people around them.”
The peace mosaic poles created by the students will be on display by Sunday, May 1 at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary.
About Today Marks the Beginning
Today Marks the Beginning, created in 2005, is a non-profit organization full of creative individuals who use art to bring public awareness of important social issues through a diverse range of projects. The organization strongly believes that art is a powerful vehicle for promoting issues of peace and social justice. Their work is guided by artistic expression, open dialogue, and creative solutions tied to a social purpose.
View all