Wishes for the New Year
Join CPAE in making Wish Objects for the New Year
For many years, my family has had a creative tradition to start off the New Year by making wish objects.
Way back in the 1990s, Ruth Blackwell Rogers painted a 220-foot scroll painting (now known as a “crankie”) as her interpretation of the Hopi Creation Story, “Four Worlds So Far.” (Ruth presented this scroll for College Park Arts Exchange in 2006!) Because of her interest in Hopi mythology, Ruth and her family traveled to the Hopi nation and learned about some of their traditions and beliefs. One important idea that captured Ruth’s artist imagination was the making of “pahos” or prayer sticks, a Hopi tradition of making prayers that would help the world in the new year. (Learn more here: https://www.timeout.com/san-
As our family incorporated this tradition into our own annual festivities, we strayed far and wide from the Hopi original. However, the central idea remains the same: making a wish, prayer, or intention for things you hope for or wish to honor in the New Year. Ideally, these wishes are for the whole world or the natural order, and they are often ecological, but you could also make an object for social justice, peace, unity, an end to hunger, bridges, etc. You could also focus on pollinators, the monarch butterfly, your favorite endangered animal, or something you just love, like kale, macaroni, or coffee! In the interest of a wish, you might wish, “I wish for the coffee to be sustainably grown and fairly traded” as you make your Object.
Below are some photos of Wish Objects past and present. We invite you to join in with whatever materials you have on hand, to take time on New Year’s Day from 1:30 – 3 pm on Zoom, to make a Wish Object for the New Year. You will probably need scissors and glue. Yarn, string, or recycled wrapping ribbon, is helpful. You could gather found objects from the natural world (on a recent walk I gathered pine boughs, cones, lichens, pretty dried weeds, and small pebbles). You could incorporate kinds of paper (old magazines, tissue paper, wrapping paper, brown paper bags, cereal boxes). You could use craft materials like felt, pipe cleaners, yarn, beads (you may want tacky glue and needle and thread if you use felt.)
Please RSVP to info@cpae.org to let us know you would like to join, along with any questions, and we will send you the zoom link. See http://cpae.org/arts/event/new-years-wishes-craft-project/ for more information and ideas.
Happy New Year! If you have New Year’s Resolutions to increase the amount of art in your life — music, dance, painting, drama, literature — please let us know how College Park Arts Exchange can help you foster the arts in your life in 2021!
