Woven Voices Prayer Flags in Nepal

I couldn't wait to share these wonderful photos of the Woven Voices Prayer Flags in Nepal. My friend Candy traveled there this winter to do service with remote village schools. I sent her with four flags to pass out. As you can see these flags traveled around before they were installed at the school. At the mountain temple, the resident monk accepted the flags, but mentioned that it was not an auspicious time to hang them.

I am grateful for these friends who took the effort to carrying this project to a new height!

Please join me Saturday April 11th, Market Square, Portsmouth, NH at 2PM to read and listen to over 450 new messages of peace and hope, including some from Nepal. The studio is open for weavers to help with prayer flags, and messages are always welcome.

Namaste, Sarah

Prayer flags travel ~ messages to be read out loud

March 30, 2009
Winter has almost broken here. There are still a few small patches of snow that linger in my yard, but more evident are the purple crocuses, the green shoots of daffodils and the verdant moss draped over the rocks. I am a life long New Englander, and I never cease to be in awe of the cycle of nature.

The Woven Voices project continues to grow and reach new corners of the earth. I have photos here with flags hanging in locations from as far as India and as close as Massachusetts. I have sent flags to Nepal, Africa, Germany, Haiti, Indiana and Maine this winter (still awaiting photos :). This photo is of Brother Martin from the Saccidananda Ashram
in Tamil Nadu (southern India) holding a prayer flag. I traveled there last year and my husband went there this year on a pilgrimage.

On April 11th at 2 PM in Market Square, Portsmouth NH, I will read the messages that have been gathering since last fall. I have close to 300! Please join me to help read or simply listen to these powerful messages of hope, dreams and peace. This batch of messages hail from as far as Washington state and as close as Maine.

Volunteer weavers are always welcome. Here are some of my weavers celebrating a long string of completed flags! And check out these creatively woven prayer flags still on the loom!

If you live nearby, please join me and weave, or to participate in the message reading on April 11th at 2 PM market Sq. Portsmouth NH. If you live afar, please send messages of hope and peace soon, so that we can include then in this first public reading of 2009. This project stays alive because of the commitment and support of many people. My heartfelt thanks to all, Sarah

PS. Any and all donations of threads, ribbons and sewing trims are welcome. You can ship these to my mailing address.

There is something about prayer flags in the snow

March 9th, It snowed 7 inches, Phew!
Today I sent four prayer flags to a friend who is heading off to Nepal to work with school age children in two remote villages. I sent her off with four prayer flags to hang in the schools. My fingers are crossed that we will get some great photos! But meanwhile, here in Maine, we have prayer flags in the snow. Here are photos from the Prospect Harbor Library and a friend's porch in Minot Maine. And still more flags will go out to folks here in the USA this week.

Piles of snow and piles of prayer flags

Today we were hit with another major snow storm, a nor'easter, in fact. So my teaching gig in MA was canceled and I had time to unroll the dozens of prayer flags that have been woven over the past month. Here is a photo of the pile of flags and the piles of snow outside my studio door.

This means that as soon as I can get them all sewn, I will be sending out a batch to my message writers. Thank you everyone for your faith and your patience!

The messages continue to arrive in my mail box. I have collected about 250 that need to be read. It appears that this might wait until the weather is warmer. I have some feelers out for inside reading locations, but no luck yet.

Stay tuned! Thanks to everyone for all your support. Special thanks to all the weavers!
Sarah

Why I didn't read messages today...

We had 8" of beautiful new snow delivered this AM. At ten o'clock it was still snowing and nothing was plowed. So I was unable to get to Portsmouth to read the latest batch of messages of hope and peace.

My plan is to find a location in Manchester to read next month on February 11th. There is a small park near where I teach on Wednesdays, and it seems like a perfect location.

As always, thanks to all for your support, kind words of encouragement and most of all your messages of peace, goodwill and hope.

Enjoy these photos of the prayer flags in the snow!

Peace, Sarah

Let's celebrate !

Today is January 2nd 2009. I began "Woven Voices: Messages from the Heart" a year ago with the intention of completing the whole project by early summer. Much to my delight and surprise, this project demonstrated that there is a long term need for community art that can foster peace and international good will.

I have received over 1300 messages from as far as India, Italy, Iraq, Spain, Washington and California. 110 prayer flags have been woven by 18 volunteers. All of these flags have been sent out to locations as far away as Africa and Italy and as close as York Maine. I have several photos of the flags installed, sending peace and positive energy back to the planet.

One of my visions of this project is to have it accessible to anyone, anywhere without cost. However, it is clear that I must seek funding to support basic overhead, the purchase of materials and the costs to send the flags back out the the world. I appreciate very much those individuals that have made financial donations. Any suggestions for funding support is welcome!

I continue to work on the photo gallery of flags installed in a wide variety of locations. These images are from the CA desert and the Pantheon in Rome. If you have prayer flags, please send me your photos or short videos!

If you are one of the generous folks that sent me messages, I continue to weave and send out flags as I am able. Thanks for your patience!

Positive messages are always welcome! This is a perfect time of year to put words of hope, peace and prosperity in writing...to make hope concrete and to share it with the world.

Thank you to all for your support and sharing my vision of art as a transformational vehicle for global peace. Many thanks to the 18 weavers who traveled to my studio to create prayer flags for others. Please join this effort if you are inclined and able.

Namaste, Sarah

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!