Young artists want peace in Bosnia—and Belmont

"I wish that everyone would have enough room to play."

Five-year-old Elena Siegel has high hopes for the world.

Whether or not she grows up to be a philosopher or an international diplomat, this bubbling, intelligent girl from San Carlos boasts of her ability to "talk till the morning begins."

Elena was among 200 children who participated in the first-ever Global Art Project at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center preschool in Belmont.

Each of the JCC's dozen preschool classes with children between the ages of 2 and 5 created 14-inch-square felt patches that were sewn together as a quilt.

No matter how each class portrayed their "vision" of global unity -- some utilized images of butterflies, frogs and doves -- all participants were encouraged to delve into the concept of a united planet.

The preschoolers were part of an international art project "that connects people around the world who choose to create and share a vision of global unity," according to Jamie Halbert, director of the program at the JCC and Elena's teacher.

The nonprofit, grassroots effort has involved 46 countries on six continents. It was started by Catherine Josten in Tucson, Ariz.

In Halbert's Mitzvah Mutts class, each child made cutouts of a dog and bone from multicolored spongy material. The canines were then decorated with googly eyes or "however [the children] saw fit." The children's individual messages of global unity were then written on each bone. As a frame for the dogs, the bones created a border for each quilt square.

In other classes, children and their families wrote wishes on special paper, which were laminated and placed in pockets attached to the felt.

The youngest class made a large flower out of coffee filters that the children had decorated with paint. The flower, composed of many scrunched papers, represented the joining of diverse peoples.

The teachers came up with ideas and encouraged parents to get involved as well," Halbert said. "It brought discussion to the home about what friendship and peace meant to them."

Another intent of the project was to bring the unity message to the community. The participants hung the finished product in the center court of the JCC for several weeks, which Halbert believes has "made the JCC community a little more aware."

In addition, the classes exchanged their finished projects with those of another participating school.

In many of the classes this led to discussions about how large the world is, yet how shared common values -- wishes of peace and friendship -- make the globe feel smaller.

The JCC, which had many people involved in projects, exchanged artwork with another group that also had a large number of children: the Lexington, Mass., Montessori School.

The Massachusetts children sent two panels of photography showing the children's visions of global unity. These visions, put together by those in the kindergarten through eighth grade, also included handprints and writings.

In preparation for the receipt of the art, Halbert put up a United States map in her classroom and showed her students how far away their art was going and from where their new art was coming.

This lesson in social studies and geography affected the children more deeply when some recognized that they had grandparents in the area and that they themselves have visited there.

Elena recounts that this "fun" project made her realize that the kids in Massachusetts were "like me and my friends in school."

Although Elena thinks that not all of her peers recognized the importance of the project, she wishes now that she would have told them, "This is a fun project. It is not boring. It is something about the whole world, even my Momma!"

Sharyn Solish-Siegel, Elena's mother, said the project "brought a lot of things together" for her daughter. She believes Elena learned that "this is the type of things people do, and it's beautiful."

Solish-Siegel recounts how each day, Elena would talk about the quilt, and when she went to pick her daughter up from school while the quilt hung in the courtyard, Elena would carefully explain the significance of the other classes' contributions.

With global unity a topic that is often discussed in their home, Solish-Siegel said it is "nice that [Elena] could participate in family conversation."

In addition to all the thinking about global unity that the preschool students and their families were encouraged to do, Elena did some additional thinking on her own.

"It made me think that I want to go to Massachusetts," she said.