Arts & Spirituality Center

AL-AQSA QUILT PROJECT

DOORWAYS TO PEACE MURAL

Nurturing dialogue in the diverse Kensington South neighborhood through the creation of an authentic Islamic ceramic tile mosaic, as well as a painted Interfaith mural

A collaboration with Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, the Mural Arts Program, community organizations of Kensington South, and area schools (Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy, LaSalle Academy, Moffet Elementary Public School, and Hancock St. John's United Methodist After School Program)

On Sunday, November 14, 2004, the MasterPeace^TM Doorways to Peace Mural was dedicated. Doorways to Peace is a collaboration of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, the Arts and Spirituality Center, the Mural Arts Program, artists Joe Brenman, Cathleen Hughs, and Fadwa Kashkash and neighbors, and community organizations of Kensington South. Preparations for this project began over a year ago as the collaborators planned for ways to strengthen neighborhood relationships and bridge cultural barriers and to create needed beauty in the neighborhood. Participating schools included the Al-Aqsa Academy, LaSalle Academy, Moffet Elementary Public School, and Hancock St. John’s United Methodist After School Program.

School children and community members of diverse faiths joined with the artists to create an exquisite ceramic tile mosaic and painted mural that adorns two sides of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society building with distinctive and lasting beauty. The mural on the mosque entrance side adds a unique example of Islamic mosaic art to the Philadelphia landscape while the community mural reflects the strengths of each cultural group and depicts the experience of a shared humanity and desire for peace.

On November 14 we held a joyous dedication celebration, with over 500 participants sharing in the exciting impact on participating community members as well as witness the mural itself. The Al-Aqsa Islamic Society also hosted a Children’s Festival welcoming neighbors to partake in the festivities that will including food and an array of fun activities for children.

Doorways to Peace is one of the first programs of the Arts & Spirituality Center’s MasterPeace^TM, a citywide initiative launched on September 11, 2003. MasterPeace engages schools, community groups, and congregations of different faiths in responding to needs for peace or justice in their community through art making and spiritual expression. During its 20th year, the Mural Arts Program is focusing on the theme of peace and justice. Mural Arts invested great artistic and other resources to the Doorways to Peace endeavor and celebrates it as a unique example of its work enabling transformation. Please check out our on-line photo album (with special thanks to Edd Conboy for sharing these images!).

Doorways to Peace was also generously supported by the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy, the American Street Empowerment Zone, the Anna H. and Elizabeth M. Chace Fund, the Arab American Development Corporation, and the Independence Foundation.

More about Artistic Leadership:

Joe Brenman

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AL-AQSA QUILT PROJECT

Building stronger community among 12 different cultural groups within the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy through the creation of a 12-paneled, boiled-wool quilt

A collaboration with the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy

Our MasterPeace^TM Quilt Project engaged 72 students of the Al Aqsa Islamic Academy, a school associated with the Al Aqsa mosque in North Philadelphia. The school has a diverse population within its walls, with students from many different cultures and ethnicities. Currently, the student body reflects 12 cultures including West Indian, East Indian, African American, Moroccan, Egyptian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Sudanese, Bangladesh, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and European American. Yet, despite their disparate backgrounds, the students of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy share the difficulties associated with acceptance of their Muslim identity. Within their North Philadelphia neighborhood and in the wider culture, they face significant, on-going prejudice and misunderstanding.

The Quilt Project was designed to help the Al-Aqsa community address internal tensions and strengthen relationships among different cultural groups within their school. The goal was to generate deeper appreciation of each individual’s own cultural heritage and strengths, while broadening the children's education about and respect for the other cultural groups within their school.

The first phase focused on fostering communication between the students. While the students worship and learn alongside each other, they have few occasions to learn about the strengths and traditions of their peers’ family and heritage. Dr. Cathy Cohen of our Interfaith Youth Poetry Project encouraged each of the 72 participating students to interview family members and significant others in their cultural group about the distinctive art forms, symbols, customs, struggles and celebrations of their heritage. Through story telling, creative writing, photography, and painting, they were able to learn about their own unique cultural heritage – and to share that experience with faculty and other students at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy.

The second phase celebrated the diversity within the whole and allowed the children to create an enduring work of art to represent their unique yet connected cultures. Artists Claire Brille and Molly Wing-Berman designed a quilt to celebrate diversity within Islam. Using the students’ drawings for inspiration (incl. floral designs, a landscape, and significant architecture such as the Kabbah), the artists designed one panel for each ethnic group represented in the school. For the four ethnic groups where an applicable children’s drawing was not available, the artists researched traditional Islamic prayer rugs from that culture and used this information to design the panel. To further enhance the theme of unity within the quilt, women from the mosque community embroidered the Five Pillars of Islam (Prayer, Faith, Fasting, Charity, Pilgrimage) in both English and Arabic onto black strips of felt, using traditional Palestinian embroidery and ornamentation.

Using boiled wool as a medium provided the children a significant role in constructing the final work. Together with Fadwa Kashkash and Adab Ibrahim from the Al-Aqsa community, the artists facilitated workshops for the children to construct the twelve quilt panels. In each workshop, the children gathered around tables of dyed wool fibers. Using turquoise, a traditional color in Islamic art and architecture as a background color, additional dyed fibers of various colors were added to create the image for each panel. Once the raw fibers were in place, the artists poured boiled water and soap over them. Then the children rolled up their sleeves and carefully worked the warm mixture together with their hands, causing a chemical reaction which made the fibers mat together and become felt. In this way, the images were within captured in the fabric itself!

The Al-Aqsa Quilt provides a stunning visual presence, installed in a prominent location at the center of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy. The Quilt will evoke pride for years to come as it portrays a positive image of the diverse communities celebrating their common faith to the world around them. This project was generously supported by the Douty Foundation.

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Go to next page (MasterPeace : Peace Garden) >>


	AL-AQSA QUILT PROJECT [Skip ahead to Quilt Project] DOORWAYS TO PEACE MURAL Nurturing dialogue in the diverse Kensington South neighborhood through the creation of an authentic Islamic ceramic tile mosaic, as well as a painted Interfaith mural A collaboration with Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, the Mural Arts Program, community organizations of Kensington South, and area schools (Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy, LaSalle Academy, Moffet Elementary Public School, and Hancock St. John's United Methodist After School Program) On Sunday, November 14, 2004, the MasterPeace^TM Doorways to Peace Mural was dedicated. Doorways to Peace is a collaboration of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, the Arts and Spirituality Center, the Mural Arts Program, artists Joe Brenman, Cathleen Hughs, and Fadwa Kashkash and neighbors, and community organizations of Kensington South. Preparations for this project began over a year ago as the collaborators planned for ways to strengthen neighborhood relationships and bridge cultural barriers and to create needed beauty in the neighborhood. Participating schools included the Al-Aqsa Academy, LaSalle Academy, Moffet Elementary Public School, and Hancock St. John’s United Methodist After School Program. School children and community members of diverse faiths joined with the artists to create an exquisite ceramic tile mosaic and painted mural that adorns two sides of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society building with distinctive and lasting beauty. The mural on the mosque entrance side adds a unique example of Islamic mosaic art to the Philadelphia landscape while the community mural reflects the strengths of each cultural group and depicts the experience of a shared humanity and desire for peace. On November 14 we held a joyous dedication celebration, with over 500 participants sharing in the exciting impact on participating community members as well as witness the mural itself. The Al-Aqsa Islamic Society also hosted a Children’s Festival welcoming neighbors to partake in the festivities that will including food and an array of fun activities for children. Doorways to Peace is one of the first programs of the Arts & Spirituality Center’s MasterPeace^TM, a citywide initiative launched on September 11, 2003. MasterPeace engages schools, community groups, and congregations of different faiths in responding to needs for peace or justice in their community through art making and spiritual expression. During its 20th year, the Mural Arts Program is focusing on the theme of peace and justice. Mural Arts invested great artistic and other resources to the Doorways to Peace endeavor and celebrates it as a unique example of its work enabling transformation. Please check out our on-line photo album (with special thanks to Edd Conboy for sharing these images!). Doorways to Peace was also generously supported by the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy, the American Street Empowerment Zone, the Anna H. and Elizabeth M. Chace Fund, the Arab American Development Corporation, and the Independence Foundation. More about Artistic Leadership: Joe Brenman [Back to top of page] AL-AQSA QUILT PROJECT Building stronger community among 12 different cultural groups within the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy through the creation of a 12-paneled, boiled-wool quilt A collaboration with the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy Our MasterPeace^TM Quilt Project engaged 72 students of the Al Aqsa Islamic Academy, a school associated with the Al Aqsa mosque in North Philadelphia. The school has a diverse population within its walls, with students from many different cultures and ethnicities. Currently, the student body reflects 12 cultures including West Indian, East Indian, African American, Moroccan, Egyptian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Sudanese, Bangladesh, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and European American. Yet, despite their disparate backgrounds, the students of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy share the difficulties associated with acceptance of their Muslim identity. Within their North Philadelphia neighborhood and in the wider culture, they face significant, on-going prejudice and misunderstanding. The Quilt Project was designed to help the Al-Aqsa community address internal tensions and strengthen relationships among different cultural groups within their school. The goal was to generate deeper appreciation of each individual’s own cultural heritage and strengths, while broadening the children's education about and respect for the other cultural groups within their school. The first phase focused on fostering communication between the students. While the students worship and learn alongside each other, they have few occasions to learn about the strengths and traditions of their peers’ family and heritage. Dr. Cathy Cohen of our Interfaith Youth Poetry Project encouraged each of the 72 participating students to interview family members and significant others in their cultural group about the distinctive art forms, symbols, customs, struggles and celebrations of their heritage. Through story telling, creative writing, photography, and painting, they were able to learn about their own unique cultural heritage – and to share that experience with faculty and other students at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy. The second phase celebrated the diversity within the whole and allowed the children to create an enduring work of art to represent their unique yet connected cultures. Artists Claire Brille and Molly Wing-Berman designed a quilt to celebrate diversity within Islam. Using the students’ drawings for inspiration (incl. floral designs, a landscape, and significant architecture such as the Kabbah), the artists designed one panel for each ethnic group represented in the school. For the four ethnic groups where an applicable children’s drawing was not available, the artists researched traditional Islamic prayer rugs from that culture and used this information to design the panel. To further enhance the theme of unity within the quilt, women from the mosque community embroidered the Five Pillars of Islam (Prayer, Faith, Fasting, Charity, Pilgrimage) in both English and Arabic onto black strips of felt, using traditional Palestinian embroidery and ornamentation. Using boiled wool as a medium provided the children a significant role in constructing the final work. Together with Fadwa Kashkash and Adab Ibrahim from the Al-Aqsa community, the artists facilitated workshops for the children to construct the twelve quilt panels. In each workshop, the children gathered around tables of dyed wool fibers. Using turquoise, a traditional color in Islamic art and architecture as a background color, additional dyed fibers of various colors were added to create the image for each panel. Once the raw fibers were in place, the artists poured boiled water and soap over them. Then the children rolled up their sleeves and carefully worked the warm mixture together with their hands, causing a chemical reaction which made the fibers mat together and become felt. In this way, the images were within captured in the fabric itself! The Al-Aqsa Quilt provides a stunning visual presence, installed in a prominent location at the center of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy. The Quilt will evoke pride for years to come as it portrays a positive image of the diverse communities celebrating their common faith to the world around them. This project was generously supported by the Douty Foundation. [Back to top of page] Go to next page (MasterPeace : Peace Garden) >>
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