On May 20th, 2010, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Medical Campus held a first-ever Service of Remembrance for the families of patients who died there in the past year and the staff who cared for them. I was honored to work with Rhonda Cooper, the Chaplain at the Center, to design an interactive sculpture on which family members could leave their memories and messages to loved ones, helping them transition from grief to celebration. After the Service, hundreds crafted their remembrances on strips of cloth and then wove them into the sculpture.

This spring, on March 14 and 15, 2011, my collaborators at the Kimmel Cancer Center and I will share this experience with community artists and activists from around the country at the Community Arts Convening in Baltimore. In a city where so many struggle to overcome the loss of loved ones due to violence, it seems important as a community artist to help communities heal, celebrate and strengthen resolve toward understanding. The Convening is a beautiful opportunity for us to learn from each other and explore the special role that art can play…

In a powerful synchronicity, Mid-Govans community leader Sandi McFadden has asked me to help design a site to memorialize Baltimore City Council member Kenneth Harris at Dewees Park. Sandi and fellow community members will join me in presenting this project and the promise it holds for moving beyond a memorial to become a tribute to Harris’s vision of peace and non-violence for his community. Together with community artists from all over the country, we’ll work to explore the role of art, ritual and healing that can move us all toward a firm resolve to create a more peaceful community.