Two years ago it seemed like the worst of times when artist Indira Johnson set out during the holidays in search of greeting cards to send to friends.
“There was so much hatred in the world with women being raped in Bosnia and the Hindu-Muslim riots in India,” recalls Johnson, a native of India who lives in Evanston. “It was such a depressing time and I couldn’t find a card that expressed what I felt.”
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She remembers finding a lot of cards that said “Peace,” but they weren’t quite right. “The word `peace’ has become trivialized,” she says, “and by itself doesn’t have enough power.”
In the end, Johnson gave up her search and created cards of her own. One has a quote from the rock star Sting that reads, “We share the same biology regardless of ideology” and another from the Chinese poet T’ao Chien, who wrote, “Though I am different from you we were born involved in one another.”
Johnson explains, “We always use two quotes from two different cultures to let people know that all of us want the same things.”
Proceeds from the cards now finance the Shanti Foundation for Peace, which Johnson formed in 1993 to support educational and peacemaking efforts of small, grass-roots organizations. The latest project, in collaboration with the Chicago Children’s Museum, is called “Getting Along: Peace Bus.” The CTA has donated a bus; teenagers and professional artists will paint it with words and pictures created by 4th and 5th graders from Chicago and the suburbs.
The children got together with writers and artists to brainstorm ideas. “I was really surprised that respect was one of the overriding ideas expressed by the children because it is a grownup concept,” Johnson says. To translate the words into drawings, the children learned about the symbols that have traditionally been used to depict the abstract concept of peace, be it a bird or a tree or a circle or a sun. One child wrote, “To have peace, make a friend.” Another drew a picture of two hands holding the word “Unity” with the silhouette of Chicago’s skyline inside the letters. “Some of the ideas were very simple, but in the long run it’s the small actions that make a difference,” says Johnson.
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“Getting Along: Peace Bus” activities, featuring games and a performance by The Songs of Praise Choir, begin at noon and the bus will be unveiled at 2 p.m. Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at Chicago Children’s Museum, 465 E. Illinois St., free with museum admission, $3.50 adults, $2.50 children and seniors. 312-527-1000.