How cool is this!

My friend filmmaker Bill Rogers is collaborating with me on getting more web visibility for the Woven Voices project. A few days ago he showed me how simple it is to make a short video clip and post it on-line. So here it is! Enjoy!

It's so true.

There's an old saying that the most important action we can take is to just show up. On November 11th, I showed up in Market Square Portsmouth, NH. I showed up to read messages of hope and renewal that have been entrusted to me by hundreds of unknown friends. I showed up so that I could honor these messages by reading them out loud in public. I showed up because it matters to me that these messages are given voice, are spoken out loud. I showed up and was greeted by strangers,friends and family. I showed up and was humbled by the power of just being present. With the help of a dozen folks, I read over 200 new messages. These messages will now be ready to be woven into prayer flags.

Back in the studio, the weaving progresses along. All are welcome to come help with this process. Completed flags are being shipped out slowly. Watch your mail box for yours!

Be well, Sarah

Eleven/eleven at noon ~ Reading messages of hope and renewal

November 11th at noon, Market Square Portsmouth, NH. Please join me to read or just listen to over 200 newly gathered messages of hope, peace and renewal. I will be there until about 1 PM.

Please know that this project is on-going. I have removed any thought of a deadline. The messages keep coming, the flags are slowly getting woven and the energy is still strong to keep this project alive. All are welcome to come weave in my studio. Please email me to make a date. Spread the invitation to contribute messages!

I am building a gallery of pictures of the installed prayer flags and will post the link soon! Here are a couple of prayer flags~ one out in the wind and one in a yoga studio.

A special thank you to all my wonderful weavers ~ Sarah

November 11th ~ Join me to read messages!

Late summer moves into fall. Like leaves falling from the red maple, messages are gathering in small piles here in my studio. I will head back to Market Square in Portsmouth on November 11th at noon to read over 200 messages.

Weavers continue to show up at my studio to help create the prayer flags, and slowly I return them back out to the world. I am waiting to receive photos of the installed flags and will post them as they arrive.

Keep the messages flowing, we need positive energy now more than ever! And I hope to see you in Market Square, or come to the studio to weave.

with all faith in the world ~ Sarah

Market Square Sept 11 noon 2008

Today I went to Market Square to read the messages of hope, peace and renewal that have been gathered from around the world. It was a beautiful September day reminiscent of that painful day 7 years ago.

Friends and strangers helped to read over 150 messages. There was the reluctant policeman, the tourists, the businessmen, the mother/daughter pair, old friends, the sad and confused man, friends of friends, and the wonderfully positive young man from Somersworth. Here are two photos from the event.

Now all the messages have been read. But PLEASE continue to send messages! This will keep the project alive as well as nurture hope and peace in our fragile world.

The weaving is in progress. Please join me to help weave prayer flags in my studio, no experience necessary! Email me to set up a date. Thank you to all who continue to support this project!

With heartfelt gratitude, Sarah

The longest string of prayer flags

Saturday I had two sweet girls and a mom come to weave prayer flags. They were fast learners and fast weavers, we had a blast! Here is a photo of the completed flags, which I will deliver to "Voices from the Heart" a local 200 member womens' chorus tonight.

Please join me on Thursday to read messages of hope and goodwill. September 11th, noon to about 1:30, Market Square, Portsmouth, NH. I look forward to seeing each of you!

With gratitude, Sarah

Releasing the positive messages to the world

Thursday September 11th, noontime, I will be in Market Square Portsmouth reading and gathering messages of goodwill, hope and renewal. Please join me if you can. Even a few moments of listening and reading these amazing heartfelt words from around the world brings a sense of well being. I truly appreciate the support!

I continue to have weavers join me here in my studio to weave the prayer flags. All are welcome, no experience necessary! Slowly and steadily the number of flags woven is building. I plan to deliver more next week, so watch for photos of newly installed prayer flags!

Send more messages, spread the words and please join me in building positive energy in this world. Peace to all, Sarah

More photos of prayer flags

For your pleasure ~

A prayer flag hanging out in a garden in NH and one on the loom.

Enjoy!
Sarah

Weaving, Reading and Releasing the Messages

Sunshine prevails!
After weeks of rain here, we have had a full week of sun. I for one am particularly happy, having just returned from a week on an Maine island. Before I left for vacation, my friends Brigitte and Mary joined me to weave some prayer flags. Here are photos of them weaving in my studio. I welcome more weavers to help me produce the over 300 flags needed to complete the project, no experience necessary!

On September 11th, I will return to Market Square in Portsmouth, at noon to continue reading the messages. This act of reading messages out loud to a random public gathering feels brave and profound. Please join me and be open to surprise.

Thanks to all for your support, kind words and encouragement. Namaste, Sarah

200 messages read today !

Monday August 11th. Rainy, cool and gray.
I was just settling in on a bench near the fountain in Market Square, when I looked up and saw two of my friends crossing the street to join me. It felt so wonderful to have their support. The three of us read messages for over an hour, and solicited a few passersby to contribute and read messages. A few other friends drifted in and out over the hour we were there. I am grateful for the time and effort everyone took to show up today. Thank you.

My favorite person was David. He was a good looking guy, all smiles, who helped us read several messages. After awhile he revealed that he was homeless. I was so delighted to meet him and have his participation. My long range dream is to take this project to groups such as the homeless shelter where he lives. I want to give voice to these people in our community. To have David show up and be so open to participating was a real gift for me. The light continues to shine on this project.

Thank you to all. Here is a photo from today's event. And please remember to sign up for a weaving date soon!
Namaste, Sarah

Reading and releasing the messages

Tomorrow, August 11th, I will be reading messages in Market Square, Portsmouth, NH beginning at noon. Please join me to listen or help read.

Also, if you are interested in helping to weave, please email me to make a studio date. The project is growing like the zucchini in my garden!

Here is a photo of a completed prayer flag.

Thanks to all for the support and please keep sending those positive messages!
Sarah

The first set of flags are woven!

July 29th.
Yesterday I completed the first set of prayer flags and shipped them off to Philadelphia for the "Peace and Politics" exhibit at the Philadelphia convention center. Learn more about this exhibit www.AmericanMadeAlliance.org

Here is a photo of the four flags hanging in my yard. I am pleased with the flags and am ready to invite weavers to join me. I welcome help with preparing the messages for weaving, with the weaving, the finishing and the sending them out to the world. In order to allow each helper a quality time in my studio, I ask that you email me to sign up for a date. The dates that are open are July 31, August 12,14, 26, 28. My plan is to keep Tuesday and Thursday afternoons as Woven Voices studio days. I look forward to your help!

On August 11th, I will be back in Market Square reading and gathering messages. Please join me, help read, solicit messages from the public or just listen. I am also looking for help with documenting this event. Is there anyone who might be able to video tape this event ? I am ever grateful for all the support and help each of you has provided for this interactive global art project.

Namaste, Sarah

Keep the messages coming!

This photo is from July 11th's event.

The day after the amazing event in Portsmouth, I left for a week's vacation. Each year I go to a remote island in Maine with a diverse group of women. We swim, eat, chant, sing, write, draw, sleep and hike. It is heaven.

I am filled with new energy and commitment to the Woven Voices project. An exciting piece of news is that the first series of flags have been accepted in an exhibit in Philadelphia called "Peace and Politics~an artists' agenda for America". For anyone in the Philly area the show is August 2-4 at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Here is the link: http://www.americanmadealliance.org/events.htm#

On Friday I will begin the weaving. After I have worked out the basic design, I will begin inviting the community to come to my studio to help weaving the prayer flags.

On August 11th, I will return to Market Square in Portsmouth to continue reading the messages. Please keep them coming. Spread the invitation to participate. The more messages the better for this beautiful earth we all inhabit.

Namaste, Sarah

400 messages have been read !

By all accounts, yesterday was a total success. I arrived at market Square in Portsmouth about 11:30. I sat patiently waiting to see who would show up. On the next bench was a homeless woman dressed in a heavy overcoat with an overflowing push cart parked next to her. After a few minutes she approached me and said "Nice bags" (commenting on my large size LL Bean bags). From there we launched into a conversation about bags to carry things and then about my project. I asked her to contribute a message of hope. She hesitated and then with a little encouragement and help with spelling she wrote "I hope that all the people will pull together when things gets rougher." This was a blessed beginning to giving voice to all the prayers of the world.

By 1:30 over 400 messages had been read by a collection of people ranging in age from 3 years to 80. There were tourists from as far away as Jerusalem and as close as a Portsmouth day camp. Friends and family joined me to read and to pause a reflect. Again, I am ever grateful for the help of Bill Rogers for helping me to document this event. Stay tuned for video clips and photos of this beautiful day in Market Square. If any of you reading this blog were there and took photos...please send me a few!

I plan to come back to market Square on August 11th to continue reading messages. Around July 28th I will be inviting the community to join me in weaving the prayer flags in my York studio.

Here are links to two wonderful newspaper articles about the project:
Thank you to all who help read and who listened. Many heartfelt blessings and thoughts of gratitude.

Sarah

Read the story.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080712/NEWS/807120321/-1/NEWS09&sfad=1
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080710/NEWS/807100414

700 messages of peace

Yesterday I finally completed cataloguing all the messages of hope and peace I have received so far. And to my surprise there are well over 700 !

I have cleared with the city of Portsmouth NH to hold a "street performance" on July 11th at noon in Market Square to read aloud these positive messages. The public is invited to come listen, help read these messages, or contribute a positive message to be included in this interactive global art project. I am grateful to my friend Bill Rogers of Coruway Film Institute, Court Street Media, in Portsmouth for helping me to document this part of the Woven Voices project. Check out his website ~ http://www.coruway.org/

After the messages have been read, they will be cut into strips and hand woven into brightly colored prayer flags back at my studio. As the flags are completed, they will be sent back to those who contributed messages. These colorful hand woven flags will be hung outside in communities around the world to fade, unravel and release the messages of hope, peace and renewal.

Happy 4th of July to you all. Peace, Sarah

July 11th ~ Noon ~ Reading the Messages !

Hooray!

I have set a date to read the "Woven Voices" messages out loud.

On Friday July 11th at noon, I will be in Market Square, Portsmouth, NH. My friend Bill Rogers has graciously volunteered to help me by videoing this event. A heartfelt blessing to him.

So please join me in reading these messages out loud. You will be moved and inspired by the words of the over 400 messages.

Please come for a few minutes or the whole time (not sure how long this will take!). Please bring friends and colleagues. I want many voices to read these messages.

I am excited to move this project forward!

Sarah

And of course new messages are welcome!
Send them to me at P.O. Box 452, York, ME 03909
(Photo from a recent community weaving workshop.)

My hope for the world

June 8
These words "My hope for the world..." begin the paper prayer by an eight year old. He hopes that there is less hunger. How simple.

The little girl on the left is holding her clothespin person. I worked in a school in MA this week, creating a Mandala Community Weaving. Her little person is a reflection of herself as an artist. Hopeful and filled with joy. This is a positive message in another form.

My wish for today is that one more family will go to sleep with full bellies and that all children have big dreams rich with possibility.

I continue to solicit messages of hope and peace. No date set yet to read them. But will have a date by the end of the week.

Peace, Sarah

The Slow Lane

Well, I had all good intentions of having a series of prayer flags woven and delivered back out to the message senders by this time. However, my vision for a creating a project with integrity and lasting effect has put me on a slower path. Right now I am trying to secure documentation for the reading of the messages that I have received thus far. This reading will take place in a public place, most likley Market Sq. Portsmouth, NH sometime in the early summer.

Please keep sending me messages. I will read each one aloud before it is cut and woven into the prayer flags.

Here is a photo of an Iraqi writing her message.

With love and gratitude for all your support, Sarah
Send the positive messages to :
P.P. Box 452, York, ME 03909

Messages from Iraq

The messages from my friend Peter Buotte, stationed in Iraq arrived yesterday. Peter works with Iraqis in a linguistics class.

To help focus the writing, Peter asked them to write their hope for the future. The photo I have included here is of one of the Iraqis holding his message of hope for the future which reads: "To live happily".

Sarah
May 18.

Spring Blooms

It's been a full week, working in an Oncology waiting room, at an Assisted Living Facility and teaching 3rd graders. All good work but kept me out the door and on the road from Waterbury CT to Concord NH.

I am scanning my calendar and looking at a date in early June to read the messages in Market Square, Portsmouth NH. I just have a couple things to confirm before I set the date. Keep posted!

Here is a photo of some sweet and thoughtful messages from the collection I have received. Heartfelt gratitude to all those who have made the effort to contribute.

Namaste, Sarah

Monday's Message

Glorious New England Spring! This time of year always feels like a health tonic to revive my winter weary spirit.

Hear are a few messages that I received from a calligraphy class. Aren't they lovely? ...these will be hard to cut up!

Before I cut all these messages up, my goal is to transcribe them, to have them read aloud in a public location and to video this event. In other words, to document as fully as possible the messages before they are cut up and woven into prayer flags. I will be posting an invitation to these events soon! My current teaching schedule is so full, I cannot seem to think beyond next week! Stay tuned!

Saturday ~ Always a sweet relief from the hustle of the week. Today I want to share another image of the messages I have been receiving from all over the world. This is the one I used to make the postcard I had printed to promote the project. It is of a pile of messages written on both paper and ribbons. You can sort of read some of them.

I have decided that before all these messages are cut up in preparation for weaving the prayer flags that all these messages need to be read aloud. My plan is to take a collections of messages to a public spot, like Market Square Portsmouth, and start to read them. My intent is to release the sound of the positive messages to the universe prior to weaving them into the flags. I will post an invitation to join me with a date and location . Blessings to all. Sarah

Woven Voices from Iraq

As promised I am including an image from my friend Peter Buotte in Iraq. He got his linguistics class to write messages about the future...and he used his pillow case to make the strips of fabric for the folks to write their messages on...now that is an act of true commitment to the project!

For those who are in the dark about this project...here is my original email invitation:

“Woven Voices: Message from the Heart”

Dear Friends, Family and Colleagues~

As the year turns from 2007 to 2008, I am charged with abundant energy and vision for a new venture. I am writing to invite you to participate in a community art project that has grown from my work as a community artist/healer.

“Woven Voices: Messages from the heart” is inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, Shinto paper prayers, and many other cultures around the world that use cloth and paper in their spiritual practices.

My vision is to collect positive messages of hope, dreams, wishes or prayers from people all over the world. These messages will be written in pieces of paper, which I will cut into strips and weave into brightly colored prayer flags.

My dream is that messages from Iraq will be woven with dreams from Iowa, and hopes from Arizona will be woven with prayers from Pakistan. The more messages I receive, the more flags I can create. As a series of flags is completed, I will send them out. These colorful woven flags will be hung outside in a variety of communities to allow the messages to be released to the universe. As the seasons go by, the flags will fade, and unravel to release the messages of hope, peace and renewal.

The details: Please send me positive messages of hope and renewal, dreams, wishes or prayers written on paper of any size, color and weight. I will cut or fold the paper as necessary to weave it. I prefer that the messages are hand written. If you need to, you can email me the messages. If you wish to pre-cut the paper into strips that is fine. Cloth or ribbon strips are fine too. Once the messages are woven into the flags, they will become unreadable. In return I will send you a flag or series of flags to hang in your yard, your town, your school, your city.

The delivery: By snail-mail: P.O. Box 452, York ME 03909

By email: sarah@sarahhaskell.com

I hope you will join this community art project. I will begin to post photos as the project grows. Thank you for your support and efforts. Let the positive messages spread! Share this email with your friends and colleagues. I hope to have many contributors to this project.

With peace, Sarah

The first post. May 8.2008

Today I am posting the first tidbit about my project "Woven Voices ~Messages from the heart" This will be a minimal post, because I am away from all my photos and other notes. I'm working in Boston for a few days, and soaking up sunshine when I can in the Boston Public Gardens .

A couple of days ago my friend Peter who is a captain in the Army reserves and serving in Iraq emailed me some photos for the project. He took his pillow case and tore it into strips. The he had his linguistics class (all Iraq citizens) write positive messages of hope and renewal on these strips. The writing is in their native text. So when he emailed me the photos of each person holding up their strip, he included a translation of each one. I am humbled by this offering. Photos will be posted soon.
Peter will send me the actual strips soon to be included with the other messages from around the globe.
Please read more about this project on my website: www.sarahhaskell.com/wovenvoices