International Day of Peace: Live Painting

Seth Kinzie, our local Rotary Peace Fellow, has been studying and implementing an African Peacemaking Database over the last year. He will talk about his travels through Ethiopia, Somalia, and Malawi, while guiding us through a Peace Mapping visualization. Local painters Joan Gilbert (whose new exhibit, 55×55, goes live next month), and Kasiah Sword will be performing a live painting to visualize our peace practices throughout the lecture.

Dessert potluck – bring a dish!

Donations will be gratefully accepted towards our local Rotary Club’s international programs–which include scholarships, youth exchanges, and Peace Fellowships.

About the Artists 

Joan Gilbert: After my youngest flew the nest I started thinking about dipping my toes into fine art. In the past when I entertained the thought, I floundered because I could not commit to a style or direction. Many styles of art I saw, I wanted to try. I couldn’t get over the idea (drilled into my head by the illustration industry) that I needed to pick one style, perfect it, and be known for it.

To deal with this “problem,” in 2019 I came up with a project: Wallowa Lake 55×55. By the time I turn 55 years old (August 2022), I will have created 55 pieces of art of varying styles and mediums, all relating to Wallowa Lake. Close to the month of my 55th birthday, Josephy Center of Arts & Culture in Joseph, Oregon, will hold an art show for this project and these 55 pieces. I am not under any delusion that I will end up with 55 pieces of brilliance. Rather, I aim for this display to simply show the path, struggles, and successes of an artist. And I’m hoping at this point to have found a style or two on which to concentrate.

Kasiah Sword: Kasiah is a recognized artist, and sole proprietor, who has been showing paintings in the pacific northwest going on 15 years.

Happy Day Paintings specializes in whimsically fine oil cartography, supporting living artists and the planet by encouraging planet friendly practices. Our paintings are all authentic original designs and a percent of all proceeds helps support real living artists. Eco-conscious materials & carbon offset printing keep us mindful. Explore her printshop for your own goodies and contribute to the cause today.

Seth Kinzie: Seth Kinzie is a peace ambassador and piano composer from Oregon, USA. He comes from an inter-religious family, which includes Buddhists, Jews, and Anabaptist Christians, who taught him the value of harmony and love from a young age. He attended the Parliament for the World’s Religions in Barcelona at the age of 16, and it sparked his desire to work towards friendship with different cultures.

His passion has allowed him to work with humanitarian organizations in Pakistan, Nigeria, Cameroon, Austria, and Malawi.

He is the founder of the African Peacemaking Database, his current project. This idea developed after noticing how current peace indices are government-focused, not people-focused, and improperly apply western standards upon non-western countries. The Database template, in sponsorship with the United Religions Initiative and the African Union, explores how people practice peace at a daily level and took him to Ethiopia, Somalia, Malawi, and Uganda in 2022.