Foot for Thought

2010-10-23T13:16:00.000-04:00

Cathartic Heeling

2010-10-07T21:54:00.005-04:00

Now collecting images for the new footprint montage,
Cathartic Heeling. It's easy to participate... trace your
feet on white paper. On one image, print a trait that you'd like to
eliminate in your life; on the other, something you want to
achieve or honor. Add a bit of artwork and you're done!

Send your images to sgray@youngstownymca.org or to
Suzanne Gray, YMCA, 45 McClurg Rd, Boardmand, OH 44512,
and you'll be included in the new montage.
Include an email address and you'll receive a jpg of the
completed montage in early 2011.

Cathartic Heeling

2010-09-25T09:19:00.003-04:00

2010-09-12T11:46:00.002-04:00

After much inquiry from an interested following, a new collaborative foot print is in the works. This one will be called Catheartic Heeling, and again requires marking on the soles of participants' feet. The concept revolves around Heart Healing, by words and actions. Stay tuned for more information.

2010-04-29T08:12:00.003-04:00

Getting ready to send Peaceful Soleutions to our Global Art Project partner, the Box Hill Community Arts Centre in Victoria, Australia. Denise Dick and Bob Yosay did a great job in covering the story in the local newspaper. There's also a video clip online.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.

2010-04-01T14:47:00.004-04:00

Peaceful Soleutions is now complete! It has been matched with a group in Victoria, Australia and will be sent there during the last week of April. Thank you to the 300+ participants who lent their soles to the project. Everyone who submitted a photo is represented in the montage.

Peaceful Soleutions

2010-02-16T14:22:00.020-05:00

Peaceful Soleutions
Global Art Project for Peace 2010

Many thanks to contributors from Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America, Europe, --- Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine, United States --- Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin for their additions to the final creation.

Peace, rooted in the soles of all nations… a feat we can attain by dedicating our soles and our souls to the concept, one step at a time.

Eight years ago, I began photographing feet...babies, family, friends. The concept quickly expanded to include digital art created from those photographic images. Thus was born Foot for Thought...we are all the same where our soles touch the Earth.

Soles, souls; heel, heal; feet, feat; word and images...double entendre leads the viewer beyond the obvious to deeper introspection. Each of us is different, yet each is the same. Each leaves a unique footprint on this Earth. Small, smooth, curled in infancy. Calloused, wrinkled, withered as we age. Just as our life is mirrored in our face, it is also reflected in our feet. Regardless of how we color, distort, or manipulate our soles, we remain eternally connected to each other by our souls. Footprints remind us of the imprint, great of small, that we each leave behind.

In 2009, pondering the 2010 GAP art exchange, the idea of Peaceful Soleutions began to formulate. I solicited soles from friends and strangers alike, with a vision of creating an all-inclusive montage. In the end, people from six continents, fifteen countries, and sixteen states lent their soles to the endeavor.

2009-12-21T10:45:00.002-05:00

Family participation in
Peaceful Soleutions.

2009-12-11T22:56:00.001-05:00

Ellen, from nine-lives-studio.com,
painted what she loves...
Nothing more peaceful!

CISV

2009-12-11T15:31:00.002-05:00

Children's International Summer Village (CISV) is on board the Peaceful Soleutions bandwagon. Read about it in their newsletter, page 9.

2009-12-09T10:48:00.003-05:00

Peaceful Soleutions: Collaborative Montage

Foot for Thought is collecting images of decorated feet, as viewed from the soles, to be used in a 2010 Global Art Project for Peace montage. Anyone, anywhere is invited to decorate their own soles and those of others. Paint, markers, pen and ink, henna, sharpies, or other means may be used.

Once the artwork is completed, photograph the feet and send a jpg file, no larger than 6"x4" 300 dpi, to footforthought@gmail.com Write GAP feet in the subject line. Include your name, address, and email address in the body of the letter. There is no fee to participate.

Send all information and inquiries to footforthought@gmail.com Subject GAP feet.

Everyone submitting a footprint and an email address will be sent a digital file of the completed montage sometime in mid-2010. At that time, you will also be notified as to the exchange partner. In the past, our art has gone to Iraq, Senegal, Germany, Australia, Canada, Russia, Ireland, India, Mexico, and the US.

For more examples of previous montages, click Face of Peace , One Piece One Peace , or
suzannegray.com/collaborations.html

2009-12-09T10:40:00.003-05:00

Former 1960s college roommates spent their
reunion in a productive fashion.
Peace and love... no strangers to that
generation.

2009-11-29T14:08:00.001-05:00

Thanks Marcus, for your
contribution to Peaceful Soleutions.
Amazing feet/feat.

2009-11-23T15:05:00.008-05:00

The director of the Mona Lisa Community Mosaic project

in Niles, Ohio painted her feet for the cause.

Learn more about Susan Jacobs and
the Mona Lisa project at the CAPF website .

2009-11-22T14:46:00.005-05:00

ARK Club
Holy Family School
Poland, Ohio

Twenty third-graders from the ARK Club
descended on the Boardman YMCA to draw on their
feet for the Peaceful Soleutions Global Art Project.
Read about it in the Town Crier.

ARK stands for Acts of Random Kindness. Each week
the girls, under the direction of Tina Kali and other adult
leaders, perform good deeds in the community.

2009-11-16T19:22:00.001-05:00

Peaceful Soleutions: Collaborative Montage

Foot for Thought is collecting 1000 images of decorated feet, as viewed from the soles, to be used in a 2010 Global Art Project for Peace montage. Artists, both amateur and professional, are invited to decorate their own soles and those of others. Paint, markers, pen and ink, henna, sharpies, or other means may be used. You may incorporate your name into the image.

Once the artwork is completed, photograph the feet, surrounded by a black cloth, so only the soles are visible. Please be creative in both the marking and posing of the feet. Send a vertical jpg file (yourname.jpg), no larger than 6"x4" 300 dpi, to footforthought@gmail.com Write GAP feet in the subject line. Include your name, address, and email address in the body of the letter. You may also write a paragraph about yourself and/or your vision of world peace.

There is no fee to participate. You may submit up to three images per participant.

Send all information and inquiries electronically to footforthought@gmail.com
Subject GAP feet.
The deadline for receipt of images is December 31, 2009.

While there is neither a guarantee of inclusion, nor compensation for those images used, we will try to use all images in the final montage. Everyone submitting a footprint and an email address will be sent a digital file of the completed montage sometime in mid-2010. At that time, you will also be notified as to the exchange partner. In the past, our art has gone to Iraq, Senegal, Germany, Australia, Canada, Russia, Ireland, India, Mexico, and the US.

For more information about the Global Art Project, click on global-art.org/

For more examples of previous montages, click on suzannegray.com/collaborations.html

2009-11-16T18:19:00.002-05:00

A Women's Retreat in North Springfield, PA
provided these whimsical drawings and paintings for
Peaceful Soleutions. A special thank you
to Lorraine, who lent her creative services to
those who were shy about creating their own
works of art.

Some very clever soles.

Beaumont Peace & Justice Class

2009-11-13T11:30:00.004-05:00

Under the direction of Sr. Erin Zubal,
young women in the Peace & Justice class at the
Beaumont School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio,
painted their soles for peace. Each student
also wrote a paragraph about peace and
the inspiration for her art.

2009-11-05T09:20:00.001-05:00

Just in from the
University for Peace Costa Rica

Thanks Eleni for organizing this.

2009-11-03T09:12:00.000-05:00

2009-11-02T13:24:00.000-05:00

2009-10-27T23:07:00.004-04:00

Horse drawn feetures.

A very clever soul painted these soles.
Thanks Maggie... you've set the bar very high!

2009-10-17T12:24:00.001-04:00

Peaceful Soleutions has garnered some nice press recently. We now have 100 foot prints for the montage. New prints come in daily.

Peaceful Soleutions: Collaborative Montage

2009-09-25T19:42:00.000-04:00

Peaceful Soleutions: Collaborative Montage
Foot for Thought is collecting 1000 images of decorated feet, as viewed from the soles, to be used in a 2010 Global Art Project for Peace montage. Artists, both amateur and professional, are invited to decorate their own soles and those of others. Paint, markers, pen and ink, henna, sharpies, or other means may be used. You may incorporate your name into the image.

Once the artwork is completed, photograph the feet, surrounded by a black cloth, so only the soles are visible. Please be creative in both the marking and posing of the feet. Send a vertical jpg file (yourname.jpg), no larger than 6"x4" 300 dpi, to footforthought@gmail.com Write GAP feet in the subject line. Include your name, address, and email address in the body of the letter. You may also write a paragraph about yourself and/or your vision of world peace.

There is no fee to participate. You may submit up to three images per participant.

Send all information and inquiries electronically to footforthought@gmail.com
Subject GAP feet.
The deadline for receipt of images is December 31, 2009.

We will try to use all images in the final montage. There is neither a guarantee of inclusion, nor compensation for those images used. Everyone submitting a footprint and an email address will be sent a digital file of the completed montage sometime in mid-2010. At that time, you will also be notified as to the exchange partner. In the past, our art has gone to Iraq, Senegal, Germany, Australia, Canada, Russia, Ireland, India, Mexico, and the US.

For more information about the Global Art Project, click on global-art.org/

For more examples of previous montages, click on suzannegray.com/collaborations.html

Peaceful Soleutions

2009-09-25T15:54:00.000-04:00

http://www.collegeart.org/opportunities/listing/3833/

Global Art Project for Peace

2009-09-25T09:40:00.000-04:00

We are gearing up for the 2010 Global Art Project for Peace. Every two years, GAP coordinates a world wide art exchange. Individuals and groups register to make a piece of peace-inspired art. Registrants are paired with another person or group somewhere in the world, then in April thousands of pieces of are mailed at the same time to metaphorically circle the earth.

One Piece One Peace
The Face of Peace
We Are All the Same Where Our Soles Touch the Earth

Foot Print Art

2009-09-23T10:20:00.000-04:00

This genre of digital art began in 2002 after a very simple photograph of a baby's feet. Since then, the concept has continued to explore the meaning of an under appreciated feature of our being...our soles.

Visit suzannegray.com for more information about this genre.