32 Points - 32 Voices, A Compass of Peace

It was an honour to be part of this group exhibition in celebration of International Peace Day.  32 Points - 32 Voices, A Compass of Peace featured the work of 32 artists from 6 countries around the world. It was organized by Wendy Cooper-Parkinson and took place for three weeks during September 2019 at the Cedar Ridge Creative Centre in Scarborough (Toronto), Ontario. 

Each artist provided two works. I included my Lotus & Landscape sculpture, originally made for the Mentor & Metalsmith tribute. In its base is featured a realistic rendering of a lotus blossom, itself a symbol of Peace, and its mountain landscape with waterfalls and pools conjures up feelings of both exuberance and tranquility in nature (photos below).

My second work was a remaking of a previously exisiting triple candle holder which I now call Lights of Peace. The part that I added was the rope-like twisted wire pattern supporting a flame-coloured rhodochrosite crystal. When the entire candle holder is viewed from underneath, these rope-like wires perfectly form the Peace symbol (bottom photo).

My wife, Margaret, and I attended both the opening on September 8th, 2019 (photo left), and the celebrations at the gallery for International Peace Day on September 21st. We played flute and violin duets, another artist played harp, anothers told stories, launched a book, led a workshop, offered yoga and a meditation walk, and spoke about their art. One Canadian artist, whose entire creative output has been on the theme of Peace, spoke about her experience of sharing art with orphans and lepracy patients in Nepal. Another artist from the United States remained on location at Cedar Ridge gallery for two weeks and created a large panel using tracings of hands drawn by people in attendance.