"Stitching for Peace and Justice: One Stitch at a Time; One Person at a Time"
an exhibit and talk with fabric artist Sima Elizabeth Shefrin

Thursday June 3 - Wednesday June 23, 2010
Beit Zatoun House
612 Markham Street, Toronto

Opening Night Reception:

Thursday June 3, 2010
7:00-9:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:45 p.m.)

"Stitching for Peace and Justice: One Stitch at a Time; One Person at a Time" brings together a range of projects and workshops centred around Palestine and Israel, facilitated by fabric artist Sima Elizabeth Shefrin.

The most recent project was a series of three workshops held in spring 2007, in which children and women created fabric self-portraits, along with messages they wished to send to their North American counterparts. The first workshop was held in a grade 4 class in the Hand in Hand School in Jerusalem, one of the very few mixed Jewish/Arab schools in Israel. The children answered questions about their favourite foods and holidays and their wishes for the future, and the result was a single large quilt. The second workshop, in which young people created self portraits and wrote messages they wished to pass on to young people of Canada, was held at the Palestine Centre for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation. The third workshop was organized by Tent of Nations, a Palestinian project which brings together youth of various cultures to build bridges of understanding, reconciliation and peace.

For more than thirty years, Sima Elizabeth Shefrin has made quilts about real people and their struggles and celebrations. She aims to create art work that is honest, hopeful and beautiful, and has worked for 18 years teaching and participating in peer counseling and listening projects. In 1999, Sima was the artist-coordinator of the Middle East Peace Quilt, an international community art project made by about 300 people from all over the world. They were asked to create a quilt square in response to the question, "What is your vision of peace in the Middle East?".

Refreshments (non-alcoholic) and olive oil + za'atar dipping will be served at the Opening Night Reception.

For more information, or to RSVP for the Opening Night Reception, please call 416-789-5502.

Co-sponsored by: United Jewish People's Order, Beit Zatoun, Trinity St. Paul's United Church