Community Blessings

Community Blessings is rooted in a South Asian folk art tradition, where a woman inaugurates the day by painting a pattern (a rangoli which means colored drawing) on the threshold of her home. In the course of the day, the pattern is gradually erased as friends and family walk over it and the ritual is repeated once more the next morning. This tradition is embedded in a ritual practice that is centered on the protection and well being of one’s family. Similar traditions exist in other cultures including Native American, Mexican, Tibetan and Guatemalan.

I have worked with various communities including ones in Evanston, Glenview, Barrington, Chicago, Peoria, IL and Providence, RI to create Community Blessing drawings.

“I saw a lot of sharing and back and forth here today. It’s really remarkable what we can all create when we work together” said a previous participant. “It was so much fun” said another participant “I did not know I had it in me to be an artist!”

will bring diverse members of the Scottsdale Arts Festival community together to participate in an artistic experience that will engage them in the intricate beauty of nature and our connections to each other.

Community Blessings, Chicago Field Museum