Celebration in Grey Park

This past Sunday, April 21, I helped build a fabric bridge in Grey Park.  It was a fabulously sunny afternoon as artists from the Open Studio Project led by Jan Ellenstein showed neighbors and friends how to begin weaving the bridge.   Merchants from the Main Street business district generously contributed supplies and Evanston’s own Mr. Rick entertained  the many children with songs as he played his guitar.

The theme of the day was ‘We Are One Community,’ a message heralded on brightly colored peace banners hung from a tree in many languages to represent Evanston’s cultural diversity. The celebration was one of several activities taking place as part of Evanston’s participation in Ten Thousand Ripples, a collaborative public art and peace education project.  Over the past eight months community groups throughout Chicago placed one hundred identical Buddha sculptures in nine neighborhoods plus Evanston.  Indira Freitas Johnson designed the Buddha sculpture, one of which sits in Grey Park slightly behind the seating of the amphitheater.

Look for the fabric bridge to be displayed in the gallery space of the Open Studio Project.

Peace banners with ‘We Are One Community’ in many different languages to represent all the different ethnic groups within Evanston.

The famous Mr. Rick finds another fan.

The long view of the fabric bridge under construction.

A close-up view.

An ingenious way to reach the top of the bridge!

Hard at work weaving the bridge in a rainbow’s array of colors, materials and textures!