Inspiration- The Thread Project

My dear friend, SaoriWeaveMeister, Terri Bibby

sent me the link to the Thread Project , which is all about creating tolerance, compassion and building a  community of hope and peace.

It’s truly wonderful.  Please take a few minutes and click through the photo album.

Tears of hope, inspiration and  “Y E S !“  rolled down my cheeks as I looked at the pics and read the captions.

Here’s their press release:

 

Photograph copyright The Thread Project

Some say our world is hanging by a thread. I say–a thread is all we need. � Terry Helwig, Founder

THREAD PROJECT: ONE WORLD, ONE CLOTH
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBIT SEEKING PERMANENT HOMECharleston, SC � Nearing the end of a seven-year journey, The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth, an international exhibition encouraging diversity, tolerance and compassionate community, is seeking a permanent home for seven World Cloths. If the Fabric of Society were an actual textile, it might well resemble these seven amazing cloths, woven with threads gathered from people of all faiths and ideologies in 70 countries and seven continents. The cloths suggest: I am but a thread in the tapestry of the whole.

Over a span of five years, forty-nine looms were set up by women in fourteen countries to weave together tens of thousands of individual threads gathered across the globe into one of the most diverse cloths ever woven. Threads were pulled from the fabric of people�s everyday lives, from clothing and blankets to fishing rods and guitars. Some of the threads reflect tragic events such as those gathered on the Killing Fields of Cambodia and from 9/11 families; other threads celebrate milestones like birth and marriage. The resulting forty-nine panels of cloth create a visual art experience sure to stir the soul!

The panels have been buttoned together to create seven large tapestries (12� x 7�), some of which have hung in the United Nations and across from Ground Zero for the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Each of the seven cloths is a different color of the color spectrum and is named, reflecting a theme.* Just as the seven continents come together to create one world, the seven tapestries come together to create one world cloth.

A one-act play called The Thread Narratives: Real Threads and True Stories, written by Thread Project founder Terry Helwig and actress Carol Anderson is being offered with the exhibition. Helwig calls the exhibition a Performance Exhibit because it combines visual art with drama. Helwig says, �The play brings to life many of the compelling stories that have been woven into the cloths. In essence, the art, the cloths, have been given a voice.� The play also illustrates how Helwig�s first thread evolved into an international initiative.

For years, Helwig documented every letter sent to the project, considering herself a �keeper of the stories.� She says, �I wanted a way to convey to others the depth of human caring being woven into the warp and weft of each cloth.� One day, after reading a poignant letter sent by a prisoner named Michael, Helwig said her desire to share The Thread Project stories collided with her desire to write a play. During the writing process, Helwig saw actress Carol Anderson perform her play Hildegard of Bingen. Helwig was so impressed with Carol�s talent that she invited her to collaborate with her on the narratives.

As the project enters its final phase, under Helwig�s watch, she is seeking a permanent home for the cloths. Helwig says, �The ideal scenario would be to gift them to an organization with international exposure, one that celebrates diversity and tolerance.� In addition, other venues are being considered to stage The Thread Narratives as well as tour the cloths. Helwig is undaunted in finding a perfect home for the cloths. She says, �It may take a while, but I�ve had some experience in the arena of perseverance. I�ll let you know how I make out.�

Helwig’s life direction has been guided by her belief that people have within themselves the capacity to live compassionate lives, caring for one another and the planet. She also has a keen interest in people and their stories which led her to become a human development specialist, writing, lecturing and leading workshops on personal growth and spiritual development. She graduated with an M.A. in counseling psychology from The College of New Jersey, and continued to pursue her studies in Jungian psychology, archaeology and mythology. In addition to being the founder and director of The Thread Project, Helwig is writing a memoir.

Anderson has written, produced and acted in several one-woman shows including Size 7 Forever, on the subject of eating disorders, which aired on PBS. Anderson received an MFA in Acting from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and now resides in Black Mountain. She and her husband Jim Shores tour nationally as the theatre company �Acts of Renewal� producing theatre to delight the soul.

*Descriptions of the seven World Cloths:

Hope Materializing (Purple)
Elpis, the personification of hope, cried out to be set free after Pandora�s Box had been opened. Elpis knew that a world without hope topples into despair. The set of purple tapestries, woven in the aftermath of 9/11, celebrate the power and promise of hope. The buttons, created by clay artist Susan Ryles, spell hope in more than a dozen languages.

Threaded Harmony (Red)
Harmony, from the Greek harmonia, means to join or fasten; harmony unifies differences. The juxtaposition of tatted lace, animal fur, shoe-strings and cassette tape may seem more discordant than harmonious. But, when woven together, these fibers transcend their individual boundary of everyday life to create a distinctive fabric of unparalleled diversity, modeling how disparate views and differences might also be woven into a harmonious whole.

Ariadne�s Prayer (Indigo)
The richly colored threads, protruding from the indigo cloth, symbolize Ariadne�s thread, given to mythic Theseus, to help him navigate the Cretan labyrinth. Navigating the unknown, whether it is physical terrain or the terrain of differing world views, can be confusing. Ariadne�s Prayer is a simple prayer that humanity will find its way through the twists and turns of becoming a global society.

Weaving Reconciliation (green)
Somewhere, within the greenness of Weaving Reconciliation, a yellowed fiber from the Cambodian Killing Fields, which arrived with the message, �I dedicate this thread to all who died there,� is knotted snuggly against a white bandage from rural Iowa, sent by women who prepare bandages to send overseas. The two threads, one a witness to wounding and the other a witness to healing, were ritually tied together to symbolize healing the world�s brokenness. Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed�Zen teaching.

Dawn Looming (Orange)
Dawn Looming, with its textured weft, reflects the abstract striations of dawn. Visionaries are often gifted with an ability to see abstractions. While others slumber in a collective sleep, the visionary sees hues of possibility streaking the horizon. Dawn Looming invites us to awaken, throw open the mind�s shutters and herald a new day.

Lienzo Luminoso: Cloth of Light (Yellow)
El Salvadorian weaver Margarita Lainez helped name Lienzo Luminoso which means Cloth of Light. For centuries, lamps and lanterns have dispelled darkness and pointed the way to safe harbors. The yellow warp represents light piercing the darkness. To some, like the aborigines of Australia, yellow signifies the Mighty Giver in the sky. Hand-made Aboriginal beads, incorporating the color yellow, were woven into this cloth; may the Mighty Giver shine on.

Sophia�s Mantle (Turquoise)
The warp of Sophia�s Mantle bridges the color of earth and sky. The name Sophia means wisdom. One of the most unique artifacts incorporated into the cloths is the sturdy wooden shuttle woven into Sophia�s Mantle. This shuttle wove both the first and last row of cloth, bridging a span of five years. If wisdom could choose a scepter and bridge the divide between us and them, she would, no doubt, reach past the sword and clasp a sturdy wooden shuttle.

# # # EXCEPTS FROM �STORY� THREADSSpecial �stories,� like those recounted below, signify the intention and goodwill of all who participate; many threads encompass deep personal meaning while other threads reflect the creative and unique ways groups and communities have joined their threads together.

Sometimes, the smallest of things can cause an uproar in the universe. Let this weaving create an uproar of peace. � Nanette

Music is in our heart and soul. A string from my guitar, a piece of my heart and soul. � Steph

I brought a piece of yarn from a baby blanket I made for my son Joshua. He was born June 27, 1984. He had cancer for 3 years and just died January 9, 2005. So this blanket has great meaning to me. And now Joshua will continue to live on in my heart and in this beautiful cloth, woven with the threads of so many lives and love. � Jayne

Here�s a string from an old yo-yo that I made. � Glenn

I hope these are useable. They are handmade by political prisoner in Tibet. With admiration for your project. � Losang

The pink thread represents healing not just for me, but for all of those women before and all of those women after me who will sacrifice their breasts. � Lisa

I didn�t come prepared with a thread so I just took my shirt off and ripped this strip from it. That�s so you know I would take the shirt off my back to contribute to the peace and healing of our community. � Mario

Deb cut a strip from a World War II silk parachute to honor a young man who had no home to return to after the war.

I am from Poland. My blue yarn symbolizes the peace dove. The white is for independence and freedom. This is the symbol of a United European flag. � Yanusz

We braided a friendship bracelet for the World Cloth because we are best friends. — Mariah and Brittany

I’m sending a strip of fabric woven by lepers from one of Mother Teresa’s leper colonies outside of Calcutta. If people who have no fingers or toes can learn to weave, any of us can learn whatever we must to make it though. So weave on. � Rebecca

Martha sent remnants of cloth and trim she used to sew her granddaughter�s christening dress. �It seems that the birth of my granddaughter Grace on the day after 9/11 is a symbol of hope for tomorrow, for all of us.�

For the Hope Materializing Project. Netting from the wedding veil worn by my mother June 2, 1916, and satin from my wedding gown worn on May 14, 1943. � Bonnie

Odette, from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa sent strips of cloth designed and screen- printed by a group of Zulu women in the heart of Zululand.

Novelist Sue Monk Kidd cut ribbons from her baby shoes and tied them to ribbons from her daughter Ann�s baby booties. �We offer our ribbons, believing in the power of �first steps,� in the beauty of human beings making our wobbly way toward peace, in the notion that small beginnings bring undreamed leaps.�

Image Source: The Thread Project