A cooperative Arab-Jewish children's project led to the creation of this peace sculpture, now permanently installed in the Peace Garden at Seattle Center, in the shadow of the Space Needle.  Under the direction of project founder Amineh Ayyad, Palestinian-American, and local Iraqi Artist Sabah Al-Dhaher, Arab and Jewish children came together for many weeks to create this sculpture.  The project was sponsored by The Arab Center of Washington, The Middle East Peace Camp (an Arab & Jewish children's summer camp), Kadima (a progressive Jewish community), and the Iraqi Community Center.

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Chris chats with Callum at an ice-cream break

CHRISTOPHER BODENHEIMER KNAUS is an educator, human rights
advocate, writer and poet.  Born and raised in California, Chris grew up amidst poverty and violence and found an escape in the safety of creative expression and poetry.  He was awarded his Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington in 2002.  He focused his dissertation on critical cultural expression and the role of education in promoting social identity formation.  Christopher has taught courses in education and social work at the University of Washington and currently teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. 

"For me, the most magnificent part of this project was seeing the children sculpt, using their hands, arms, fingers to chisel away as if peace might actually come through the smoothing out of the particular area of marble they were responsible for. Their hope spread throughout the sculpture and our hearts, and I often return to the calming images and sounds of peace being softly toiled from the massive rock."  Chris expresses his thoughts about the sculpting process.

Chris also shares that being at the sculpting studio and in Sabah's presence as powerful.   He also describes Sabah, the artist, as not only calming, but instilling a deep sense of responsibility in the children and adults alike.

Chris also affirms that artistic expression will lead the way to peace, and that his belief was reaffirmed through this project.

 

Please feel free to contact Chris at:

African American Studies

660 Barrows Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 04720
(510) 643-5453

Email:  cbknaus@uclink4.berkeley.edu 

Sample of a project Chris worked on at the University of Washington:

http://depts.washington.edu/samaa/programs/EMPOWER.html

 

 

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Please email amineh@peacesculpture.org with questions or comments.
Copyright © 2003 by Middle East Peace Sculpture.  All Rights Reserved.
Last modified: September 08, 2006