Peace, love and welcome

Five workshops and five pillars, three workshops and four seatcovers , fourteen bike racks, a bicycle, a railing or two - and the  response from the people of Dandenong has been  truly awesome.

They were invited to use any words and symbols in any language to decorate the recycled knit projects.  In every workshop with no prompting from us far and away the favourite word was peace closely followed by love then welcome, caring, friend. 

Margaret and her partner Rod in the evening just before the launch of Cultural Threads

Thursday morning   at  Vision Australia  was amazing.  Their craft group was making 
 some of the most exquisite crochet and knit.   A word we should all take note of raised a cheer  - equal. These women did not muck around - straight into it and by the time we left we had five tags, two of them incorporating braille.

Thursday afternoon a

 group from all over the community....

Ling chose to write in mandarin and to stitch a koala in a gum tree on Thursday, finish it on Saturday and helped to install one of the seat covers (she also stayed to do the railings).

The warm and fuzzy pillars are being hugged, photographed and now added to.  It was such a lovely surprise to discover an addition by the  indigenous basket weaving class . Another lady has added flowers to celebrate the relationship between herself, sisters and their mother who was a CWA president in NSW.  

the three pretty flowers next to the "A ''

We met so many lovely and interesting people and shared their stories. What took us by surprise and what we are truly thrilled by, was that it should be such a strong  means of self expression for the community.   To be involved in a public art  project that is decorative, fun to do and yet means so much to so many people when its finished has to be the best job in the world!

More to come on two workshops that have not yet been mentioned and the hair raising day of the installation ..........