What I do best.......

prayer flags in NH garden

As a weaver, my work is all about building webs, creating connections. I use threads to create visual works that nurture, support and inspire connections between people, animals, nature and the invisible mysteries of this world. This is what I do best.

Gifting prayer flags to Kopang

Last night I had a very sweet surprise when I opened my email box. There I found a note and photos from an Phaphama, organization in Johannesburg, South Africa. This winter I sent several prayer flags to them while I was in Cape Town.  The big surprise was that I thought that the flags had been lost in the mail and I had given up hope of locating them.

Little did I know that the ripple of love and peace that began months ago with the gathering of these messages was weaving magic thousands of miles across the globe.

In this photo, two of the prayer flags are being gifted to a women's project called Kopanang, an embroidery project run by women who are infected by HIV/AIDS. I am so moved that these flags are being used for such powerful and healing work.
This is peace, hope, love and community in action. This is the Woven Voices project at its best.

Garden door prayer flag

Jack and Jean London at Topsail House Simonstown, South Africa
http://www.topsailhouse.co.za/

As noted in previous a previous blog I am creating a Grand Finale for this global community art project.

In order to make this happen I need your support. Please check out the Kickstarter website. There is a two minute video that explains everything.

Loraine in Simonstown, South Africa

~ Peace ~

Please share the opportunity to support this project  . This is what I do best......use my skills as a weaver to build community, foster positive energy and build a stronger web of love for this planet for all beings.
I am grateful for your support and affirmation of this work.

Namaste ~ Sarah

1000 prayer flags for Peace ~ The Grand Finale !

Positive message from around the globe

Today is Friday June 3, 2011. Nearly three and a half years ago I began "Woven Voices: Messages from the Heart".

Messages from Iraq

My original thought was that this would be a 6-8 month project. Little did I know that I would receive over 800 messages in the first month, and over the next few years, the messages have kept coming, and coming. Heartfelt, eloquent, simple and artistic. Messages from schools, book groups, individuals and communities. Each message has been read out loud in Market Square. Each message has been spoken and released to the breezes. Each message has been given voice by someone other than the creator. Each message has been heard and honored.

The looms have traveled to bring the weaving out to the greater community

These messages have been woven by community volunteers into over 500 prayer flags. Many messages are still waiting to be woven.

Reading messages in Market Square Portsmouth, NH

Prayer flags hang all over the world

Dispersed over all over the world are over 500 prayer flags. Some hang in private homes and gardens. Some are in very public locations and some are installed in secret venues.

These prayer flags unravel, fade and release the messages of peace, hope and renewal to all beings.
One of the founding principles of this project has been the Buddhist concept of impermanence. Nothing lasts forever. And so it is with this project. I have decided to bring this project to an honorable and fitting conclusion.

Bringing the project to closure by weaving 1000 prayer flags.

 My plan is to weave 1000 prayer flags by September 11th, 2011. Between the dates of September 11th (the 10th anniversary) and the 21st (International Day of Peace) I will disperse these prayer flags to a variety of international locations, including dozens to Ground Zero in NYC.

Please help  ~ Today I launched a Kickstarter fund drive to help fund this grand closure to "Woven Voices". You can help by making a pledge here. Every dollar will help fund studio overhead, weaving materials, postage to send these prayer flags and for travel costs to NYC on 9/11/11. Plus there are rewards for donors...check it out!

I have self funded this project from the start, but I now need your support. Please go to the Kickstarter site and make a pledge to help bring "Woven Voices" to a grand culmination.

I am SO grateful to everyone for your continued support for this project. And I look forward to your help to fund this final phase of "Woven Voices: Messages from the Heart".

Prayer flags in Nepal

Thank you. Peace, Sarah

P.S. I will be continuing to accept your messages to be read and woven into prayer flags until August 15th.

The Surprise

Yesterday at noon, I showed up in Market Square, downtown Portsmouth, NH. I arrived a couple of minutes before noon, and sat quietly on a near by park bench. I had two canvas bags with over 150 messages of hope and peace the were gathered from all corners of the globe. My mind and heart were racing. The words in my head were "This doesn't get any easier." That was one big surprise. You would think that after three years of showing up in public to read these messages, that I would feel more confident and at ease with this public performance.

But no, it in fact does not get easier. The part that has changed for me is that I am confident that something unique will happen. And even though I am feeling like I either want to vomit or cry from anxiety,  I am compelled to show up. I have made a commitment to read these messages. I have made a commitment to make an effort to build a better world. No one said it would be easy. So I show up, butterfly stomach, dry mouth and all.

The church bells strike twelve noon. And I begin to read the messages. I read and read. Twenty minutes goes by. I am alone. I make eye contact with a few passers by.  I have never felt more alone in this work. Then friends, family and supporters begin to show up.

The surprise here is not that people came to read and support this effort. I know very well that many many of you support this work. Many of you have come to Market Square when you could. Many of you have come to the studio to weave. Many of you have sent me emails to share your words of support. Your messages of hope and peace have come from all corners.
 

The surprise is that I felt so anxious. The surprise is that I forgot you are with me. Like so much in my life, I need repeated lessons. So I will show up again. I will feel nervous again. I will be reminded of all the love that is in this world if I just show up.

prayer flag in private garden

 Speaking of love, one of my favorite parts of this project is giving away the prayer flags. For those of you who sent messages a long time ago....hang on your flags are coming! I am sending out a batch today. And then there are those flags that are hung and given away randomly.

Rosamund Fowler St. Helena Mid-Atlantic

I am formulating a grand event to culminate this project on or around September 11th. I believe that a ton of love will be needed on that day. My way to promote that is through a grand finale of this project. I will unfold the details as I define them.

Sally Kruger's Mom in South Africa

So please know that I am aware of your love and support. Please know that I hugely appreciate all your efforts to support this project.

I am simply surprised at how many repeated lessons I need in order to remember and receive this love.

Namaste ~ Sarah

Stepping Out ~ May 11th noon ~ message reading

Spring in New England is pure magic. After long, dark months where the only color one sees is grey, or maybe shades of brown; all of a sudden one day you wake up and kaboom...! there is an explosion of greens, pinks, yellows and purples. Seemingly overnight the world is transformed from a dull, colorless vista to a wild parade of joyous technicolor, akin to what happens to Dorothy when she steps into the Land of Oz.

I actually have no right to complain about the long winter because I was away for all of it. But never the less, I am still in awe of the magnificent celebration that Mother Nature is putting forth this week.

Here in my studio I continue to celebrate being home and getting back to what I love to do ~ weave, make art, teach and build community. With the Woven Voices Project, I have messages to read and flags to be woven. Here are the details ~

On my travels across the Atlantic I stopped at St Helena, where I visited with the students and teachers at Pilling Primary School. I gave a dozen prayer flags with this sweet school who have installed the flags going up the inside stair way.

While at the school, I was given over 100 messages of hope and peace from the students and teachers. On May 11th at noon in Market Square, Portsmouth, NH I will read these messages along with dozens other beautiful messages. I hope that you will join me.

My other invitation is to come weave prayer flags. There are four looms in the studio ready to go. To entice you to join this community art project...here is what your prayer flag will do ~ bring a ray of hope, a moment of peace, a ray of sunshine to someone somewhere in the world.

Here is Sedick Davidson, curator of The Heritage Museum, Simon's Town, established in his family's house (built in 1858), which belonged to the Amlay family until they were forcibly removed from the town when it was declared a white group area in September 1967 under the Group Areas Act of the Nationalist Government. There is still much sadness and pain from this era of South African history. Sedick was touched to receive the gift of a prayer flag. I gave him two, one for his daughter who suffers from a debilitating disease.

If you have a couple of hours, I welcome you here to weave and spread hope and peace around the world. Email or call me to make a date to weave!

I will keep posting images of prayer flags from my recent travels, as well as share the inspirational stories. I hope to see you on May 11th at noon in Market Square! Peace and gratitude ~ Sarah

From sea to shining sea

I am home!! Yes, on March 18th we landed in Barbados after 51 days at sea. It was an amazing trans-formative passage that allowed me to spend many, many hours just staring at the horizon, contemplating the "meaning of life".

clouds that kept unfolding into heavenly patterns

No, I do not have it all figured out. It is still a giant mystery, a complicated web. I do know that I am an incredibly fortunate person to have been able to spend weeks at sea living closely with the natural world, sharing a small boat with three other people, and to have had the unique experience of observing a landless/human-less horizon for  nearly 8 weeks.

There is so much that I want to share about this voyage, that I will have to take a few posts to reveal the stories and images. Please be sure to check out my website and my Macomber Looms blog for other points of view on this same voyage.

The Egg Man in Green Market

 While on this whole trip I was mindful of dispersing the 130 prayer flags that had been so lovingly handwoven prior to my departure. I will share in a series of blogs where those flags landed.


Just to begin, here is the Egg Man a street performer in Cape Town's Green Market. He is an colorful vibrant ambassador for South Africa, even though he hails from Benin. I tied a blue prayer flag to his right shoulder in honor of his work as a community artist. At the Green Market, I also met a Senegalese priest dressed in a brilliant celebratory costume. He was handsome and regal. I gave him a prayer flag also. Sadly, I lost a few photos when I transferred the images from my camera to a thumb drive. The photo of the priest was one of those lost.

Jackass penguins

penguin waddling away from his nest

The boat that I sailed on, Bahati was at a marina in Simonstown, False Bay, just south east of Cape Town. In this village there is a park where the Jackass penguins live. They are adorable, quite tame and rather entertaining. I decided that these penguins should get a prayer flag. So while this guy waddled away from the shrubs where his nest was, I stuck a prayer flag in amongst the shrubbery.

prayer flag in penguin nest-shrubbery

So for today, that is where I will leave you. There are many more images and many more stories. These will get unpacked over time. Thank you to all who have supported this passage, most especially my family and loving husband Ben who held a steady vigil for my safe return.

The web of peace in South Africa

St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town

I landed in Cape Town South Africa on New Year's Eve. Today is January 20th, 2011. I've been here for nearly three weeks. I am sitting in an Internet cafe in Simons Town, it is about 5:30 in the afternoon and it is about 85 degrees. The wind is gusting up from the south, so we are not leaving to round Cape Point until things settle down a bit.The good thing is that I finally have an opportunity to get some news out about distributing the 130 prayer flags that I brought.

To date I have given away about 80 of your beautiful prayer flags. Each time I give one away, I always get a hug. No kidding! People are amazed, honored, curious and appreciative. I'll share a few stories here.

Simons Town Penguins

This is a photo of Mary who works in the administration of St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town. Behind her is the labyrinth that is built in the enclosed garden of the cathedral. I gave her three flags to hang in the garden and she was thrilled!

Right now I am in Simons Town, South Africa. About a 10 minute walk from the marina is a penguin preserve. These little fellows are pretty darn cute, so I had to hang a prayer flag for them in a shrub not too far from a nesting area. When I get home, there will be many more photos, but working in the "rough", I am a bit limited.

Monwana Game Lodge staff

Earlier in the month our crew went on a safari up near Kruger Park.  Our first night we stayed at Monwana Game Lodge. I decided to give the staff each a prayer flag. Most of them did not speak English and were not sure what this gift was all about, but they were still very appreciative to receive a gift! I am sure there were some questions and stories after I left! 

Sabi Sands Game Reserve

Yes, we saw lions, elephants, rhinos, hippos, zebra and more. Just to tease you, here is a photo of a elephant that we watched munch down a few large trees!

There is much more to share, and many more photos to come. The many flags that I have distributed have brought such joy and amazement to each receiver.

When I first arrived in Simons Town, I went to the Tourist Information center to ask some questions. The young woman there was so helpful, I gave her a prayer flag. She was thrilled, and said, "Wow! No one has ever given me a gift for helping them!"  I so grateful to everyone for all the wishes, support and effort to help make this trip possible for me. Hopefully I'll blog again before we cast off.

Please be sure to check in to Bahati's blog. That's the best way to learn about this boat, her captain, crew and voyage. Peace, Sarah

Have prayer flags...will travel!

Sarah at the loom!

Yes!!....thanks to everyone..... there are 130 prayer flag traveling with me to South Africa and then across the Atlantic all the way to the Caribbean.

Pat and her brilliant smile!

For the past three weeks, almost two dozen community volunteers came to the studio to weave prayer flags.

Pam and Sally get acquainted as they weave.

Most folks who come have never woven. It is my joy to share this creative and meditative way to share good will.

Cleone's hand fly as they weave.

Busy hands, happy heart.

Read more...check out the York Independent story about this community art project. Pages 4-5.

Lesley and Mark came for the last night of weaving.

Mark, the only guy who rose to the challenge!

Friends Lesley and Mark came for dinner and the final weaving date.

Prayer flags all ready to be sewn

The last evening in the studio, we had a spontaneous party! Three weavers, plus me, two dogs and two guitars. Music, singing, glad hearts....all lifting me to travel lightly with an open heart.

Ben and Nancy offer sweet music.

I am so blessed to be traveling on this mission ~
  Art-ambassador of peace and love from Maine.

See you in March ~ Sarah