This peace sign came about because I was saddened, angry, and frustrated when reading my morning news feed. I decided I wanted to make a public declaration that I was for peace. I looked up peace flags for sale and they were not what I wanted to say. I thought, "Well, I'll just have to paint my own." Each letter is filled with the folk art of a current hot spot.

P - Persian minakari is the art of decorating metals and ceramics with a glaze that is fired at very high heat. Mina means heaven in Persian (known as Farsi in Iran), and is represented by the blue color. This art form has been practiced for at least three thousand years.

E - Ukrainian pysanky eggs are decorated with a wax-resist method. An old Ukrainian saying states, “As long as people paint pysanky, there will be love in the world." Each element and color has meaning. Used here are: butterflies/angels, fish/Christianity, flower/beauty and love, wheat/good health and harvest, red/happiness and hope, and black/darkest time before dawn and respect for the dead.

A - A Jewish shawl, worn during prayer, creates a sense of personal space and provides a portable spiritual home. Called a tallit, it was traditionally handwoven in wool or linen. It has become an iconic symbol of the Jewish people.

C - Russian artist Ivan Bilibin’s response to Soviet authoritarianism was to collect folktales and designs, and peasant perspectives. He used his art to encourage and remind the Russian people of their strength and longstanding traditions.

E - Early homesteaders in America saved every scrap of cloth to make quilts. President Calvin Coolidge pieced a tumbling blocks quilt top at age 14. He once said, “The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.”

! - The top of the exclamation point is in the style of traditional Chinese brush painting; it is meant to embody the inner spirit, with bamboo symbolizing the balanced way of an upright humble life. Kingfishers represent peace. Below is the ancient Taoist yin-yang symbol for harmony and the enduring dynamic balance between all things, such as light/dark, male/female, and heaven/earth.