It is our belief that the participation by students in the Artist-in-Residence projects this year will help promote the respect and caring for others that can lead to a more peaceful world. Violence and war are carried out by the demonizing of others. To kill, one must first demean and devalue people, perceiving them as less than human. The Artist-in-Residence project is proving to be a wonderful avenue for helping children in Maine appreciate differences while they learn about the underlying commonalities that make us part of one human family.

"Changing Face of Maine" exhibit

Here you can find photos of the 93 self-portraits painted by fifth grade students at the Riverton School in Portland under the supervision of Natasha Mayers, Peace Action's first Artist-in-Residence. These portraits make up two traveling exhibits that are visiting a number of suburban and rural schools. The exhibits have thus far gone to Whitefield, Gardiner (where they were seen in a regional art show as well as four individual schools), and the Cumberland/North Yarmouth schools.

Each portrait is accompanied by an artist's statement that tells about the painter ­ her/his interests, culture, religion, traditions, and family. The exhibit affords teachers many options for having students explore their own backgrounds and traditions while also learning about the artists. In Whitefield and Cumberland/North Yarmouth, each student picked a portrait, then wrote a letter to the artist. We have included on these pages some excerpts from the letters sent to the artists. Due to privacy issues, we were not able to include the artists' statements. We hope the excerpts will give you an idea of the interest the students have in each other's varied life experiences and the pleasure for them in discovering their commonalities.

Portland West Mural

In the last issue of PeaceTalk, Natasha described the murals painted at Portland West under her supervision. One of the murals, painted by 14 children, mostly girls, ages 6-12, from Portland, Somalia, The Congo, Ethiopia and Sudan, was accepted for the well-received art exhibit "Eliminating Racism," held at the GALEYRIE in Falmouth. Portland West arranged for the artists and their families to visit the exhibition and it has been quite a thrill for all involved! The mural is now back in the Learning Center at Portland West, its permanent home, and you can see it there if you missed it in Falmouth.

"The Changing Face of Maine" exhibit will be available to schools, libraries, community centers, churches, etc through December of this year. Please call Peace Action at 772-0680 if you would like to host the paintings. After December, the paintings will be returned to Riverton School where they will hang permanently.

Without the funding from the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Community Foundation, this project would not have been possible.

Karen Wainberg

Note from Natasha Mayers

Something happened last week to underscore how important this project is. I was meeting with two classes of fifth graders in a rural school and they asked how come in one of the self-portraits the girl was wearing a headscarf? I asked if any of the students knew why. One guessed that it might have something to do with her religion, but no one knew what religion that might be. Not one of them knew what religion most people in Iraq practice. Not one of them knew what Moslem or Islam is. They did not know where most of the countries were located that many Riverton students come from: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Bulgaria, Croatia, Afghanistan, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Papua New Guinea.

But in the letters written to the Riverton students, Maine fifth graders are friendly and interested in these Portland kids (whether native or newcomers). Where they perceive similarities (when they like the same rock stars,, video games, sports heroes, hobbies, etc.), they are comfortable and enthusiastic, and where they perceive differences, they are genuinely, if shyly, curious and eager to learn more. The Riverton students are writing their responses to the Whitefield letters this week. I am curious to see what else is shared and what friendships are begun.

Natasha Mayers

Letters
Students at the Whitefield School Write to Riverton Students Fifth grade students at this Portland school wrote statements to accompany their self-portraits. The first exhibit took place in early May at the Whitefield School, and below are some of the first letters written in response to viewing and reading about the paintings. Riverton students are from the classrooms of Ms. Saldanha, Ms. Hester, and Nancy Kopack, who was the in-school coordinator of the project. The exhibit of Mr. Chard's and Ms. Mercier's students' portraits is currently at the Cumberland School. Some of the portraits are making the rounds of four or five schools in the Gardiner School district.

Dear M: My name is P. Is the food a lot different in Egypt and Somalia than in Portland? Do you like Portland? What sports did you play in Somalia? Did you watch any t.v. in Egypt and Somalia? How long did it take to get from Egypt to the U.S.? What do you want to be when you grow up? Whitefield has a lot of woods.

Dear S.: My name is M. I love to play video games and make origami. I can make swans, canaries, boxes and a whole bunch more. My favorite food is spaghetti. I almost know how to make it, too. Once I had 3 helpings of it. The only bad thing in Whitefield is the black flies. They are the worst! What kind of bugs do you have where you live?

Dear S.: My name is D.. I have an aunt who lives in Guam, a country by the Philippines (which is near Vietnam). All I know about my family history is that my dad's side is Irish. My mom's side is Indian, I think Swedish, too. Now I have a few questions for you! How old were you when you moved to the USA? Do you remember what Vietnam was like? What type of house were you living in? I read in the encyclopedia that the language is Vietnamese and the people speak 3 different dialects. Did Vietnam have any Walmarts, McDonalds, Wendys, Shaws, Shop’N’Save or any restaurants, fast food, department stores like in Maine? Which place would you rather live, the U.S. or Vietnam? You can say that Whitefield is a very peaceful and quiet place to live. If we want to buy things we usually go to Augusta. Maybe you can come to Whitefield!

Dear C.: My name is S. I hear you like all kinds of sports. I also like football and hockey. Another thing we have in common is that you have ancestors from Germany. I have plenty from there. Whenever my grandfather gets really happy or mad he says stuff in German. What's it like living in Portland in a big city or going to a school with 45 different languages must be tuff. But I think that it would be cool!

Dear J. My name is R.. My dad's side of the family is French. I know a couple of words. What languages do you speak? What kind of food do they eat in El Salvador? Do they wear different kinds of clothes than us? In Whitefield we can look out the school window and see cows. There's lots of grass and lots of farms. Hope we can meet!

Dear A.: My name is C. In Portland how close is the closest store from your house? It is about 3 or 4 miles for me!. What is it like to live in a big city? Do you like to live in a big city? Why? I like to live in a town because you have space to play and privacy. There are fields everywhere. We can see cows out our classroom window..

Dear H.: My name is E. My brother is very loud and a huge pig. My sister laughs a lot. My dad is my twin, we have the same shirts. My mom is a really good cook. My hobbies are eating, singing, being weird, and talking. My mom's grandpa is German and grandma is Irish and other grandparents are French. My dad's grandparents came from Canada and England. In Kenya what did you eat and wear? What activities did you do? What was the language like? Did you have T.V.s in Kenya? What was it like traveling?

What's your favorite color? Life in Whitefield is like the same day over and over again.

Dear S: My name is K. My family's ancestors came from Ireland, Italy, and England, also from the Penobscot Indians and France. My grandmother's dad is full-blooded French. He knows very little English. He lives in North Maine, in St. Francis. How many languages do you speak? What was the food like in Afghanistan? How did you get here? What are your favorite activities? What is your favorite food here? Whitefield is a small town with only 3 stores and one school. The people here are cool, nice, and friendly. The population is 2,273. I have to go to Augusta to buy groceries, clothes, and toys, to go out to eat and pretty much anything else that's fun. I hope you write back!.

Dear S: My name is E. It must be awesome that you can speak 3 different languages! I wish I could speak Egyptian. I love playing video games and hanging out with my friends

Dear M. I noticed that you spoke Dari. I would love it if you could write in Dari, if you would like to, but it is up to you and if you do, please translate. Thank you so much for making a painting of yourself. J.

Dear P:: My name is C. We have driven from Maine to Florida. It took us 2 days to get there. I have lived in Maine all of my life so far. Do you speak many different languages? What is your favorite food? Mine is lobster. Do you have to do chores or work? I do. It stinks.

Dear P.: My name is A.. I used to live in Michigan with my mom, dad, and brother. I do not like having a brother. He is very annoying. We like to fight a lot. Do you like having 8 brothers? It must be very hard living with them all the fights and sometimes it could be fun. What do you like to record on your video camera? Do you like doing art? I thought your picture was very good, better than mine!

Dear T.: My name is R.. From what I read off your biography you've had an interesting life and my life could not compare. My life is pretty normal. I like to read, I collect rocks, and I'm probably the goofiest looking kid you've probably seen. But you never know. What was the name of the war that you moved away from? I also have ties to Europe though not the way you do. My ancestors came from Scotland. Kinda cool huh.

Dear T.: My name is M.. I heard you moved a lot. I've never moved. I'm glad you came to America so that you could live a normal life like everyone else. It must have been hard moving around a lot. I think that it would be very very difficult. I play the piano and the clarinet. I sing in the choir. I love animals, basketball and baseball. I babysit. That's lots of fun. Questions: Do you speak English very well? How many languages do you speak? Do you like it here in America?

Dear C.: My name is B.. I am French, English, blacksmith, Irish, Indian, German. My mom can speak French and sometimes speaks French at home. I eat lots of pasta because I'm a little Italian, too. I hate coming home to an all-messed-up house, know what I mean?

Dear B.: My name is T. My mom's side came from Ireland during the Potato Famine. My dad's side came from Scotland and Germany. How does it feel to live in a different country? How is the US compared to Afghanistan and Hungary? What types of food did you eat? Are you glad you came to the US? Where I live we have a big town but small population. We are so small we have one school. We have to go to another town to go to high school.