Art as Activism – peacedoodle

September 18, 2021September 18, 2021

International Day of Peace 2021

The UN established the International Day of Peace in 1981 as a day devoted to the ideals of peace by observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire and since then it has had a rich and storied history. This year as the entire globe strives to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic there is a call to think together creatively to create a more equal, just, equitable, inclusive, sustainable and healthier world. Peacedoodle wants to help.

There are so many ways to make a difference.

☮️ Sketchnoters are encouraged to sketch their solutions or an action step that can be taken immediately to make a difference. The art will spread peace and your ideas will ripple out far and wide.

☮️ Adults and students can take photos of acts of kindness witnessed around them.

☮️ We can all make peace with someone.

☮️ We can stand up against acts of hate both online and in our regular lives.

☮️ We can spread compassion.

Please join us and share your actions, images, and ideas – big or small. We will collect them here but you can share on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram with the hashtags #peacedoodleSept21 and #peaceday There is also a Padlet set up where you can upload your creations, write about your actions, record a video and more.

You can read more here about the initiative and access many resources to share the information with others who want to take action for peace. Let’s make peace with one another. Let’s make peace with nature.

Let’s help the world recover from the devastating divide that has widened between people, especially the marginalized and underprivileged, due to the effects of the pandemic.

Let’s keep it going today and every day.

Peace one doodle at a time.

October 1, 2020

International Day of Peace – 2020

Entries from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, India, Florida, Oregon, and North Carolina. The goal is the same – heal our world through peaceful thoughts and actions. Thank you for participating everyone.

April 19, 2020April 20, 2020

Sketchnoting for Italy – #codoodle

Our International community of Sketchnoters is generous and kind. We genuinely like each other and relish in the diversity of the group. From neutron scatterers, to scrum masters, University Professors, graphic facilitators, artists and engineers. We support and encourage, share, teach and learn from each other.

When this season of virus began. The world watched as the virus overtook China. We marveled at the rapidity with which the government reacted. Building hospitals in the hardest hit areas with superhuman speed. Watching from a distance there was hope that the infections would stay localized, transmission would be halted, and the threat for the rest of the world would diminish.

We were shocked, collectively, when the spread to Italy became so swift and devastating. Back then, around March 11th, Claire Ohlenschlager came up with the idea to have our merry band of about 17 Sketchnoters, all share a sketch in honor of Mauro Toselli, and Mario Foglia, both residing near Milan – the epicenter of the Coronavirus outbreak. We would each sketch a message of cheer for our friends, tagging them in the post and reminding them of happier times. The messages, like our group, would be unique and multi-layered. We signed up for dates and started posting on March 13th, led by @Claire_ohl we used the hashtag #cocreate and began spreading smiles. Making a sketch a day for our friends in Italy felt like a way to ease the burden of isolation and fend off the infection for our friends.

Sending my love to our friends in Italy. Entry #16. #cocreate

My date was March 28th and I was #16 in the que. By then, we learned of another Italian friend, Federica Tabone, to add to the message, and we were joined by many others spreading the focus outward as the quarantine, isolation, and death spread to every country in succession. Our virtual community had always communicated over digital devices, time zones, and languages. The quarantines did not impact the friendships we have developed over time. What it did was bring us closer in a virtual hug where we all took the time to reach out to each other, the hardest hit at first, to just say we are still here. We are thinking of you. Stay safe and sketch on.

#cocreate doodles from the heart to offer joy and to share smiles around the world. The group continues to grow. Sketchnoting to create change.

Spread peace, One doodle at a time.

February 23, 2020February 25, 2020

The Haywood Street Fresco Project

Art as Social Justice, Art as Change, Art that Brings Joy and Elevates the Spirit
Art is a Gift

What if you transformed the kindness you have experienced in your life and payed it forward?
Be it the generosity of time, talent, finances or spirit you have experienced.
What would happen if you payed it forward?

Recently I have been privileged to witness the creation of a work celebrating those that are disenfranchised. Those who the polite society in trendy towns try to ignore and exclude. Those who the Haywood Street fresco project embraced in a timeless medium of art on a precipice of an island in between main roads and interstates. I have watched the process from its inception, seeing the initial watercolor proof – to each individual subject sketch to cartoon and completion. There are no words for the magic of this process. Fresco, a medium once used to immortalize nobility and pay homage to patrons of the arts, is making sure in 2020 that we see those marginalized by society in living color.

I have attended the services at this house of worship. Watched as the attendees became the speakers to the word. What is offered here is not your standard fare. This is something different. Come as you are. Come when you are able. Be treated with dignity and respect. Share your experience. Help one another. Yes, help one another. Here, the sky is the limit and all are welcome. These folks cannot be categorized, and neither can this work of art.

I am honored.

Being witness to this project from ideation to completion: fund raising, implementation and celebration, has influenced my humanity in a profound way. This work of art transcends and for Peace Doodle it is notable. The subjects informed the art. Honoring them was and is the point. Volunteers, pastor, faith leaders, healer, addicts, homeless – these informed the art.

The service for the unveiling to the public took my breathe away. Not only were there no seats available, but the folks inside spanned every facet of human experience. Hopeless to those who seemingly sit on top of the world. I sat in the back and marveled at the tapestry woven in celebration. Living proof that all are welcome here.

Looking up to the finished piece I witnessed a drawing forth. For me, I was so micro focused on each aspect of the whole, I had not noticed the movement of the piece. Mary, the central character is heralding the welcome table forth TO the homeless on the ground, in repose, in the shadows. With sure steps and a proud air about her. The table above and the helpers behind urging this abundance forward.

As if they are saying: “We will not be deterred. We are sharing the grace with all and anyone in our midst.” The principal artist, Christopher Holt, made this drawing forth real. He, and the other artists, selflessly transferred the gifts and kindness in their lives to transform the lives of not only the people in the fresco but anyone lucky enough to view the fresco in person.

Timelessly paying it forward in word and deed – The Haywood Street fresco.

Category: Art as Activism

peace_doodle