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ORIGAMI PEACE CRANES!
Origami peace cranes have become my obsession
of several years. I began making lots of them when I met with friend Debbie Twombly in Astoria where she was showing
folks in her community how to make them.
After the tsunami in Japan occured,
I learned that if you could make 50 cranes and send them in boxes to an address in Seattle, they would send $50 to Japan;
also Oshkosh By Gosh would send clothing to children in Japan if you sent the peace cranes to them. So I bought a class
set of Pearl Buck's THE BIG WAVE to a class I was teaching at Lane Middle School for an extended period for my friend,
Leslie Burgoine, where her class and I read and discussed it and then decided it would be great to produce
at least 50 of the cranes to send so that the people in Japan would know about our concern for them. I taught my class
how to make the cranes. Some of my students were ESL newcomers from Vietnam and China; it turned out their shyness disappeared
when confronted with the need to learn how to make the cranes - for they were experts and loved showing kids how to do it! A
neighborning classroom heard about our project and joined us for some classes. Then kids started talking to friends
about what they were doing and asked if they could come to our class during lunch time. So my lunch hours were filled
with kids from all over the building in my classroom, learning how to make cranes from other kids (especially the newly arrived
ESL students who didn't speak English very well but really KNEW about and loved teaching others how to make those peace
cranes)! Our highlight was when the principal of the school, Karl Logan, came in wanting to know what the heck
was going on, was told by the students that he had to sit down and learn how to make the peace cranes if he wanted to
know, and ended up coming in several lunch periods in the weeks that followed to help with making cranes. We ended up
sending almost 450 peace cranes to Washington and more than 100 to Oshkosh By Gosh.
I have continued to make the peace
cranes and love surprising anyone who helps me wrestle my wheelchair out of or into my car with a peace crane that includes
the words "peace" and "thanks" beneath its wings. And, for presents for friends during the holidays, I found bowls
with the peace word engraved inside, and I filled them with peace cranes, giving them as gifts and explaining that recipients
could share their peace cranes (rather than chocolate) with others who visited them. I have been completely amazed at
the reaction to this gift; some have even learned how to make the peace cranes themselves so that their supply could be renewed
when needed.
BEGINNER: WATERCOLOR PAINTING
| Dandy Pelican by Anne Morin FOR SALE $80 |
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| At Fernandina Beach, Florida - Unframed |
| Looking For Rocky by Anne Morin FOR SALE $100 |
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| Otter - Matted and Framed |
| Javier by Anne Morin - Framed, $200 - SOLD |
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| At Lan Su Chinese Garden Concert 2016 |
| Magnolia Leaves by Anne Morin - Framed - $80 |
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| Slim and Lilly by Anne Morin, Matted/Framed - $100 |
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| At the Literal Garden, Scappoose, Oregon |
| Mt. Hood in the Mist by Anne Morin - SOLD |
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| Fish Poetry by Anne Morin - FOR SALE $250 |
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| At Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon |
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