Visions of Peace
Visions of Peace celebrates young people's understanding of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child. More than twenty schools from Southern Michigan contributed art in a variety of media. This wonderful exhibit is poignant, delightfully inspiring and illustrates hope for the world's future.
Visions of Peace is the idea of former Director of the Wayne State University's Center for Peace & Conflict Studies, Lillian M. Genser, who believes that through the arts, people can connect with their own humanity. When Ms. Genser retired from her long tenure at the helm of the Center in 1990, an endowment was created to fund an annual scholarship devoted to the teaching of Human Rights and Peace through the Arts. The internship was centered on the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child: Visions of Peace was born. Deanne Bednar, an artist and art teacher from Orchard Lake, MI was the first educator who coordinated the first Visions of Peace and was instrumental in its initial success. Marilyn Zimmerman, Associate Professor at Wayne State University has served as curator of Visions of Peace since 2000.
The Visions of Peace exhibition was made possible thanks to the Lillian M. Genser Internship for Peace and Human Rights through the Arts, as well as the dedicated staff at the Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center & Gallery in Detroit where the children's art exhibition was first featured spring and summer 2001. For the second time in its history, Ann Arbor residents are able to enjoy this amazing collection thanks to the efforts of the volunteers from Ann Arbor's Artists for Peace, an off-shoot of Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace, and the contribution of the Ann Arbor City Hall and the Hands-on Museum, who kindly provided space for the venue.
For more information about Visions of Peace, contact Marilyn Zimmerman.