Count me in! And Thing 1 and Thing 2 as well.

: )

Wow Meron, what extraordinary fun! In addition to working out collage technique, I have been building out the sleeping loft in the hay loft -- its the brown bit in this picture to the right. I hope they'll LOVE it! And thanks for the reminder: I forgot to mention that this a very kid friendly experience -- all are encourage to join their parents and come along!

Quick note: there are bed and breakfasts in the area for anyone with a preference for greater privacy, comfort, and such good things :) As the dates get nailed and we get a little more clear on the numbers of folks who'll come together, I'll help folks sort out their logistics by posting information about arrival/departure locations, alternative lodging, places to eat, and all that good stuff.

Thanks Lars. The kids and I have been talking about it since you mentioned it a while back and we are all pretty excited! It's going to be our summer vacation : )

Sleeping in the hay loft sounds like fun to me ... I haven't done that since I was a kid!!! :D

Well, you are certainly welcome to stay on longer! Let's chat by email about how else you'd like to spend your vacation, how long etc and I'll see what I can do to get you all set up comfortably up here :)

I'm trying to lure a friend or two to come up with me....would love to see a few more ONetters there. Anne Marie, Darlene...this is not more than a few hours away, right?

Talking with my husband to figure out what our travel options are for this summer, we have a lot of driving ahead! I want to come and see you Lars, and this sounds like the perfect time for peacetiles.

evonne, we have pledged to meet in 2007 -- this would be a really wonderful way to make it happen. i'd just love to be your host :)

Please put me down for a tentative yes. Late July will be much harder for me to pull off, early August much, much more likely (I think). It sounds like an incredible three days, and I'd love to be there.

oh, can I be on the list of tentatives? Please? And do you want us to be asking art educators or others to come?

This looks great, and it may actually be that I and my family could swing by, we are planning a week in Maine in that period. So put me down as tentative. I have so admired Peace Tiles work!

oh boy this sounds wonderful!! Lars, that looks like my dreambarn:)so incredibly perfect.and RED:)

I would looove to come to this....it's going to be a busy summer- I'll be having an artshow in England (ENGLAND!:)!?), contemporary art fair midsummer and am planning to Finally go to BurningMan this year...but this sounds like another must if it's at all feasible to make another escape (just have to get rid of that pesky 'job' thing altogether it seems;). DO want to get PeaceTiles workshops going..And what a set of folks:). Will do my best to figure out if it's possible!

Hi everyone -- thanks so much for your enthusiasm and support of this effort -- we are completely thrilled this side of the lilypad!

Jean, of course!

Mark, we'll shoot for early August (board members are not excused ;)

Darlene, Congratulations on the UK gig! And do hope your juggling skills work in my favor ;)

As we get closer to the dates I'll provide some logistics info etc. If the group gets too big I'll help find homestays and other creative solutions.

The other thing we might want to think about planning, in terms of maximizing out time together, is to pick and issue or "home" for whom we'd like to create/produce a mural. I can think of several potential beneficiaries, in Vermont, in the US, and abroad...

What are your ideas?

Yes, yes, the dream, RED barn! I SO want to be there with you all this summer! Lars, put me on the list of folks who believe in miracles and so, just maybe, I'll be there.... =-)

You are on my 'miracles' list Pash :)

Small piece of good news: the Institute for Social Ecology, which was my fiscal sponsor for Peace Tiles' World AIDS Day initiative in 2005, has agreed to be the "project" sponsor for as long as we'd like. Great! So now begins some modest grant-writing activity to support the following activities:

• Getting Peace Tiles into schools
• Getting Peace Tiles (kits) as a resource into refugee camps, orphanages, and community centers
• Support for a significant World AIDS Day 2007 effort
• Support for a "children in conflict" effort

More to come ...

wowie zowie!

:D nmw

interesting link nmw pos disc 5

Darlene, let's figure out a way for you to get rid of that pesky job thing. I think we should get an RV and pick up Onetters across the country to take to Burning Man with us.

Brent's got some crazy thing to build in the desert.....he mentioned grabbing a few of the Illinois Onet-burners too. I think he's looking for tech help. We're going early and leaving early this year, as we're needed back in Illinois by 9/1 for family. I think Brent wants to build the core of the man's foundation.

Evonne, please put me on the Burning Man list too!

Tents and RVs...bring your sleeping bags too...it is a campground for Peace Tiles. Come all! Art. Love. Magic. Fire. and a great Red Barn.

one thing we could talk about is street art. i think our public spaces must be reclaimed. when you walk down main street, it would seem the only ones with the power to create and express dans la rue would be corporations. what are some of the best examples of enduring street are you've encountered?

early in january i put up some tiles at the main intersection in our little capital here, at "state" and "main." these were three tiles attached to three signs, each with a little message that, when combined, asked people to support MDG#2: universal primary education.

here is one tile:

I'd love to see lots more of them going up -- everywhere! and its really easy:

• make a tile with a message
• coat it with all-weather polyurethane
• get an extra long bolt, washer and nut
• drill a hole in the tile
• get up at 3 in the morning and attach the tile to a street sign
• bend back the bolt to make it a little more difficult to remove
• voila!

The good news is, you are not scarring or defacing public property.

Some examples of art on the street that I admire:

San Francisco Mission District:

.

There is a great tile collage (ceramic) in Philadeplphia on a home in downtown.

And I love The Women's Building in San Fran (and want to create something like it in Chicago--CatComm style):

thank you jean! i love murals, and these are wonderful examples! now here is a question: myself, i have always thought of street art as the 'spontaneous' work of an artist or group of artists working outside of authority structures. i am a big fan of 'public' art -- do you see them as the same?

I guess the more useful distinction in my mind is who makes it rather than is it legal or not. With the murals included in my post above, the art is generated by the local community. Yes, it is approved, even encouraged and supported.

Street art I am most familiar with is old and linked to snooty art now--Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz... But I always have my eye out for good graffiti.

I think the video projection they were doing at the Sudan Embassy in DC was really subversive and a sort of street art--invading a space to "project" meaning without defacing the space illegally.

Anyway, I do love the idea here of posting tiles to signs. And I would also love to see public art with peace tiles too. Surely we can do both. ;-)

Hm, 'public art' is often generated by the community: an artist or group of artists will work closely with a community to identify what they'd like, certain cultural stories and themes etc, and even draw on them directly to create works that respond to local roots. We had a great muralist in Washington, DC -- G. Byron Peck -- who created very 'clean' works that responded to DC's heritage and African heritage. Here is an example near Dupont Circle where I ran a community arts space for two years:

Hey, Haring got his start as a graffer! I like the whole potential of projection art... Some artists in DC wanted to project Man Ray images back in the '80s as part of a retrospective. I think it was one of those moments that galvanized the city -- and even got 'top' culture critics like Jesse Helms to say a few weird things!

Right. Agree. Public art is often generated by the community. Yes. And I like that. I really like art a a vehicle for people to express themselves--individually and collectively.

Again, I love the idea of peace tiles on signs. Cn we do photo documentation on that? And keep track of it online?

(Aside to Lars--have you seen the work of Ethiopian Julie Mehretu? I had her in a show I curated called Text and Territory back in 98. Her work at the time was this gorgeous mapping of diaspora. Hmmm, I should look at it again for my own mapping!)

Glad to see the pict of your PT on the sign, Lars. Is it still up there? Reminds me of the work of my venerable friend, "Scarlet Pimpernel', aka the Freeway Blogger (http://www.freewayblogger.com/). Although what he does is more statement than "art", (he's inspired people all over the world to post hand-painted anti-war messages on pieces of paper in public places--like over freeways!) the desire to get a public message across and the frustration that only big money can do this legally, is the same. Will tell him about your street tiles!