Beaded Pouch Project - June 2007

What does one do with bits and pieces of cloth, old magazines, empty cookie bags or even a tea bag? By adding at least one bead to a “pouch” and inserting a positive word or statement, any one can take part in a traveling exhibit known as the Beaded Pouch.

Mount Vernon Nazarene University invited Mount Vernon and Knox County residents of all ages to participate in a community-wide art project. at MVNU’s art gallery, located in the R.R. Hodges Chapel/Fine Arts Center. This project involved children, teens, parents, the elderly and everyone in between as well as schools, churches, businesses, clubs and organizations to join us in this effort. Thanks to Lori Wilkes for all her inspiration and help in getting this event started.

These tiny pouches range in size from 1”x1” square to 4”x5”. Each one contains a wish, a hope, a dream, a prayer or a sentiment sealed inside. They can be made from anything that can form a pouch—fabric, metal, paper, recycled items, plastic, fiber, yarn, etc., and each must utilize at least one bead but may have as many as the creator desires. The general tenor of the project is to reflect positive thoughts and ideas. Pouches that are overly political, violent in nature, lewd or cultish will not be accepted.

The beaded pouches were on display in the MVNU art gallery during the month of March, 2007 and have now traveled to Gallery 202, Partners in Art, Inc, in Uptown Westerville.   They will be on display through June, 2007.  We are encouraging the creation of more pouches to add to the already 1300 pouches on display.

A similar project was initiated in 2000,  by a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over the next several years, this professor gathered nearly 5,000 of these miniature works of art and displayed them around the world as traveling exhibits celebrating unity and diversity.