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Social icons by Tim van Damme
12
Jun
We are accepting reservations for our July 13
Creative Connections workshop.
RSVP karen@29pieces.org
05
Jun
We are now taking reservations for our July 13 Creative Connections workshops. Space is limited.
RSVP now: karen@29pieces.org
29
May
Our June 22 Creative Connections workshop is full!
However, if you would like to be placed on our waiting list, email Karen Blessen at karen@29pieces.org. Or reserve your spot for the July 13 workshop now!
08
Apr
Karen Blessen was featured on the Blog “Fridays with Friends!” by Jasmin Aldridge (April 5, 2013).
(Source: youtube.com)
03
Apr
A BIG project is brewing! Many of the arts organizations in Dallas are partnering together to form The Dallas LOVE Project. A summit meeting of arts and education leaders was held at the offices of 29 Pieces on March 2. More details to come!
03
Jan
Happy 2013!
Thank you for your support in 2012. 29 Pieces’ successful programs operate at the potent intersection of art, social and emotional learning and spirit. We ask you to continue to support our work which uses art to teach strategies for peace to children (MasterPEACE) in 2nd through 12th grade and to adults (Creative Connections).
What works? ART Works!
28
Dec
“All of the 29 Pieces MasterPEACE lessons should be required for Dallas ISD schools.”
“29 Pieces’ MasterPEACE lessons support our work in social and emotional learning at Salesmanship Club’s Jonsson School and they will do the same for any school.”
06
Dec
Salesmanship Club Youth & Family Center professionals create collaborative MasterPEACE artwork.
Karen Blessen and Vicki Millican recently trained about 40 professionals at the Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Center. They conducted a team building and staff development session using the MasterPEACE Commitment lesson.
The small tabs around the edges of the artwork indicate each artist’s individual commitment to peace.
“The MasterPEACE lessons supports our work in social and emotional learning at Salesmanship Club’s Jonsson School, and they will do the same for any school.”
Sandy Nobles, Director of Education
Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Center (SCYFC) of Dallas, TX
20
Nov
This week of “thankful” reflection brings to mind all those teachers, supporters, friends and collaborators who have helped us grow the MasterPEACE program and made it such a wonderful success.
Our fall training was well attended by teachers from across the Metroplex and now they are teaching their first MasterPEACE lesson to their own students!
We are so THANKful for your GIVING…your time, treasure and talents…to 29 Pieces and MasterPEACE! We extend our hands in “peace” and “thanksgiving” to you all!
30
Oct
Our MasterPEACE Teacher Training class of 10-27-12.
Teachers from Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, Uplift Charter Schools, L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary and the Maya Angelou High School for Pregnant and Parenting Teens attended last Saturday’s training session.
The entire month of October has been full of MasterPEACE training sessions. Teachers, counselors and staff from ten different schools/organizations were represented in the training.
A 235-page full-color online instructional manual has been produced that teachers are using to bring the 14 art-based lessons on peace and nonviolence to many new classrooms.
MasterPEACE: Young Artists Making a Kinder World has achieved great success in the past year, its fourth in Dallas classrooms. In these four years our staff and volunteer corps of 30 artists and instructors taught the program to over 3,000 children in 16 schools. This Pilot program to train teachers to conduct the art-based lessons themselves will bring MasterPEACE to thousands more children.
A MasterPEACE Facebook Group has been created to encourage sharing of ideas, experiences and student artwork as the teachers/counselors start to conduct the MasterPEACE lessons.
22
Oct
MasterPEACE Teacher Training has been in full swing all during the month of October.
29 Pieces is accredited by the Texas Education Agency to give staff development credits to teachers who train in MasterPEACE with us. This month we have had a variety of schools and institutions represented at our training sessions…for example, teachers from Maya Angelou School for Pregnant and Parenting Teens, Baylor College of Dentistry, and Multiple Career Magnet School. We’ll be training every Saturday in October, and will be working with 100 educators and counselors in our area. This is the next step for the MasterPEACE program. We will reach thousands more children this year.
02
Oct
29 Pieces celebrates the birth of Gandhi today. Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, Kathiawar, West India, this Indian Nationalist Leader studied law in London, but in 1893 went to South Africa, where he spent 20 years opposing discriminatory legislation against Indians. As a pioneer of Satyagraha, or resistance through mass non-violent civil disobedience, he became one of the major political and spiritual leaders of his time. Satyagraha remains one of the most potent philosophies in freedom struggles throughout the world today.
In 1914, Gandhi returned to India, where he supported the Home Rule movement, and became leader of the Indian National Congress, advocating a policy of non-violent non-co-operation to achieve independence. His goal was to help poor farmers and laborers protest oppressive taxation and discrimination. He struggled to alleviate poverty, liberate women and put an end to caste discrimination, with the ultimate objective being self-rule for India.
Following his civil disobedience campaign (1919-22), he was jailed for conspiracy (1922-4). In 1930, he led a landmark 200 mi march to the sea to collect salt in symbolic defiance of the government monopoly. On his release from prison (1931), he attended the London Round Table Conference on Indian constitutional reform. In 1946, he negotiated with the Cabinet Mission which recommended the new constitutional structure. After independence (1947), he tried to stop the Hindu-Muslim conflict in Bengal, a policy which led to his assassination in Delhi in 1948 by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic.
Even after his death, Gandhi’s commitment to non-violence and his belief in simple living—making his own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet, and using fasts for self-purification as well as a means of protest—have been a beacon of hope for oppressed and marginalized people throughout the world.
28
Sep
H4 - Hip Hop Helps Heal Kickball Tournament
Sunday, October 7
11:30am - 4:00pm
Team ArtLoveMagic is playing for 29 Pieces!
The tournament will feature 8 teams representing 8 different hip-hop, art and music organizations from around the city. Each team is playing for a different cause and all the money raised will go to the winning team’s chosen charity.
GO Team ArtLoveMagic! Thank you for your generosity!
15
Sep
29 Pieces invites you to celebrate Peace Day by stopping by our studios onSaturday, September 22, during the Deep Ellum Art Walk to see The Peace Project’s traveling exhibit and to celebrate the International Day of Peace.
WHEN: Saturday, September 22, 2012, 6:00pm-10:00pm
WHERE: 29 Pieces Studio, 124 N. Peak Street, Dallas
Let us know on Facebook that you’ll be there:
http://www.facebook.com/events/239026266219314/
Artwork by Dallas area artist, Barbara Miller
My Vision of Peace:
This butterfly is full of pure peacefulness and her wings display peace symbols. Butterflies are free, and peace is true liberty. My vision of peace is illustrated by these words from the Dhammapada: “Those who give up resentful thoughts, surely find peace. For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love. This is an unalterable law.” And by the words attributed to Jesus of Nazareth: “… love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Peace seems as ephemeral as the butterfly; let’s make it last! Love&peace, Barbara
Medium: Cut paper collage
11
Sep
PEACE DAY September 21, 2012
Whether it’s through music, sports, dance or art, The International Day of Peace a/k/a Peace Day is about spreading peace your way. Whatever action you take to mark September 21 is up to you.
The nonprofit organization, Peace One Day, founded by the British documentary filmmaker and actor Jeremy Giles, lead a successful campaign to pass UN Resolution 55/282 recognizing September 21 as “Peace Day,” a day of global ceasefire and non-violence. 29 Pieces has a long relationship with Jeremy. In 2005, 29 Pieces Co-Founder Karen Blessen collaborated with Jeremy to create a children’s book titled “Peace One Day.”
Anyone anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon or just sitting in silent meditation.
Peace Day is also a Day of Ceasefire- personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind!
Artwork by Charme Robarts
