 from the American Creativity Association on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm your host, Phyllis Bleece. Today on the show, we'll be discussing the topic of unity through creativity, not through force. With creator, innovator, artist, and educator, Ms. Lori Marshall, you can send questions by email to questionsatthinktechhawaii.com. Welcome, Lori. Let me start with you and tell us something about this title. What does it mean unity through creativity, not through force? Unity through creativity is a goal. It is a practice. It is something that works in the world where all of us come together as respected peers and share ideas to make a world that works for all. Unity through creativity is a nonprofit that I founded in 2001 and it's been going for 20 years. And with witnessing every day the bombardment of Ukraine, the contrast between the world I know is possible, where everyone is respected and everyone's gifts are asked to be shared and celebrated. It's so different than the unwanted physical destruction that is going on in Ukraine and in so many places in the world. It is a peace building through art, practice, and it is inspired by nature. It sounds like getting to nature is something we're getting very far away from with the idea of pushing the button on nuclear warfare. Yes. I'm wondering, you know, our tagline today is about the healing, the trauma of war in Ukraine. I know you've done it in Sarajevo. You're doing it with your project in Afghanistan and Cyprus and Uganda today is including Ukraine. Tell us what your project is to heal the trauma of war. And how is it creative? I'd like to share the first slide if you would be so kind to do that. The singing tree project is a collaborative mural project that envisions success. And it envisions the healing of heartbreak. And this painting that you're seeing is the same painting that is behind my back. And it was created right as COVID hit and it's called the singing tree of embracing our unknown. And we were a group of women who are being trained to be facilitators of the singing tree project were all facing the trauma of COVID. We were in India, England, of Somalian heritage in the United States. And we each came up with looking at what is breaking our heartbreak. And then twisting that around into what we can do about our heartbreak. And one of the things we can always do about our heartbreak is to express it. And to turn trauma into beauty and purpose into pain. So we turn the pain of COVID into the image that you see behind me. If you go to the next slide, I'm going to show you how we heal trauma. And without me on it, because it has very important words. These words are by Sherry Mitchell, who is from the Pennott Scott tribe. And she is a lawyer and a visionary educator. And this is the basis of how we heal trauma. And as she wrote, if we hope to create a new reality, a new reality, a new reality being presented and focus on the reality that we wish to create. And this is so important because we can't heal unless we envision the possibility of healing. And we at Unity to creativity use art and storytelling and dance and music to create the village that allows people to express their trauma. So let's go to the next image. And again, pop it up. So what you're looking at here is the Ukrainian singing tree of strength and freedom. This is the study for it. And in the center is a tree with a nightingale, which is Ukraine's national bird. It's a viburnum tree. And we put the tree rooted into the heart of the world, because I think we're experiencing this heartbreak of how crazy war is. The leaves have come from young people around the country from Ohio. And people are sending leaves in from England, from all over the United States, from Uganda. And we are taking this moment to collectively express our love for Ukraine. And that's what we're trying to do. And that's what we're trying to do. That's what we're trying to do. That's what we're trying to train. And trauma cannot be healed without love. And again, unity through creativity, not through force, means that we lead with love. And that's so hard. It is so hard. Lori, let me ask you a question. You said, how large is this project going to be? How many people are participating around the world right now in sending in these leaves? And how, how many people could work on this singing tree project in Ukraine right now? Can people in the United States and around the world, can they, are they sending in drawings of the leaves? Yes. And then you're, you're recreating them and you're fitting them into the mural on their behalf. So these just came from England today. Oh, yes. From an elementary school in England that we have a relationship with that just completed the singing tree. Of inclusion and protection. So I don't know how long, how big it's going to be. We're starting off with an eight foot by four foot sheet. Students at University of Texas in El Paso are taking my design and putting it on this board of eight foot by four foot and we'll get in as many leaves as we get in. Everybody's welcome if we need to make another, another mural that'll be great. And I'd like to share the origin of the singing tree project because I think you'll understand how organic it is. In 1999, I made a mural with elementary school in Leesburg, Virginia. And all the kids in the school made helped to paint the mural and a eight year old girl named Meredith Miller said, I wish the whole world could see our mural and then the whole world would be happy. And then she said, what if the whole world made a painting together and that vision of a child changed my life. And it brought me to the place of wanting to invite the whole world to create together instead of to destroy each other. We have Meredith on the screen. And there's Meredith and she's all grown up now. And right after Meredith gave me that remarkable earth and soul shattering vision, somebody gave me the book, the singing tree. And Michael, if you could go to the next slide. The singing tree is a book by Kate Serity, which feels even more relevant now with the terrible destruction in Europe. Her daddy was a soldier, a Hungarian soldier, and fought Russian soldiers. And one night his battalion crawled on their bellies all night long to escape the enemy. And everything had been destroyed by war, just like in Aleppo and in the Ukraine now. And they, when the dawn came, one tree had survived. And in that tree were birds who aren't normally together. And they were singing a song that had never been heard before. And we can choose to destroy our planet, which is like the singing tree of the galaxy. And we can choose to destroy each other, or we can choose to create beauty that's never been seen before. And that's how the singing tree project began. And there's 105 murals made by 52 people from 52 countries. And over 21,000 people have contributed. And I'd love to share a video of two years of singing trees. They are intergenerational projects, but they are often student led. Because in order for there to be peace building, we have to train young people and listen to them. Raging and the colors, you know, they feel good. It just working with the colors would make your sadness, you know, just in your interiority. Yes. What are some of the reactions of the people in the room working on it? Do you have a whole range? Do they cry? Well, I mean, if you didn't take in this project to that building in Ukraine last week, that was bombed where they were living down in the basement. I mean, wouldn't this be something that they could have been doing together? It's very humbling because in the, in the face of bombs being dropped. Art seems like a humble response. And yet when you make a mark and make, you're making a decision. And when you make a decision and take action, it releases all kinds of positive hormones in our brain and in our body. And the fact that in war, you feel so helpless. It then making doing art together, doing music together, telling the story. It empowers people to, to say what their inner experience is and be witnessed. And the, we can be witnesses to what's going on. And yes, I've had people cry. Yes. I mostly have people have joy at what's possible. And I remember a kid in high school who was speaking, he was a red net kid was looked at a leaf that a kid who was called a hippie kid made. And the red net kid said, I didn't know that he had that in him. And to see the inner beauty that we all come with. Is so very important. Yeah. Great question. Now you've already had the Sarajevo singing tree project and Sarajevo went through horrendous internal strife. Yes. And so you have a little perspective on this. What are the comments you're getting now? What kind of changes this form of creativity make in the lives of the people engaging in it? That's a beautiful question. When I made the Sarajevo singing tree with young people whose parents have been killing each other in the nineties. We, we did this in 2014. To celebrate a hundred years anniversary of World War one. And there was a peace conference there. The students didn't want to put any continents on the earth. So the structure of the singing tree is a tree on the earth and space and everyone envisions solutions to community challenges. As I said before, when the kids from Sarajevo made the earth, they put musical notes around it. They put no continents, no borders. They, they saw themselves as being tied through their creativity, not through I'm a Bosnian, I'm a Serbian, I'm a Croatian. So it allows people long term to understand that everyone is a creative being and to have more respect for their own creativity as well as for that of others. And I think you have some more examples to show us that you've worked with. I really want to give the viewers an opportunity to see all the different methodologies and ways and participations that they can be part of. And I think you have a process for training people in this project and in this process, right? So maybe sharing a little bit about that and where they can find the tools for doing that as you take us a little bit more around the world. Sure. Would you be so kind of show the next slide, please. So this is the image of the singing tree being the, the galaxy of the, the earth being the singing tree of the galaxy. And this image was envisioned by a seven year old, the blood dragon singing tree to prevent extinction. And the young people that are coming in now have incredible insight about the precariousness of our time. And we are training people to, to become singing tree facilitators so that this image all around the world can be seen as a symbol of, we can work together. We can regenerate. We can create peace. And there is abundance. And we listen to the children and we value the wellbeing of children. So that's why I love having intergenerational design teams. And the, you can go to unity, unity through creativity.org, and you will see the certification information there. And could you go to the next slide, please. And while he's doing that, we have a question from the audience. He's asked if he says, if you speak, you speak of getting perspective when a creative idea pops up. Do creative ideas come in the form of images? Do you literally see your creative idea? Absolutely. And I welcome everybody to draw their ideas. So these, many of these singing trees are designed with input from 35 or 50 people who draw their image of how they see. The solution to the issue of water or the heartbreak of autism or the heartbreak of addiction. And I ask everyone to draw and guess what? Everyone has unique, beautiful images to draw. I've had one person in all the 25,000 people I've worked with, not make a successful unique image. And that was a person at NASA who walked out of the training. Everyone else has a unique image. We've been drawing for 60,000 years or more. And we've been told that only a few people can draw. But if you can draw the alphabet and make a straight line or a curved line, there's nothing you can't draw. So yes, seeing the image is available to everyone without vision that people perish. It's there in us. And if you're doing a joint project, you could ask you or someone else say, this is what's in my mind. Could you just sketch that out for me? And you co-create your future, your image. And you write, we welcome writing as well. And we are very inspired by Harriet Tubman who saw every one of the people that she took on the Underground Railroad as already free. And I see a world where everyone is contributing their gifts and is acknowledged and lives in peace. And that's, that's what the whole world's invited to create. And I think we're going to be able to do that. And would you be so kind to share the next slide? So this is the water willow singing tree. That was made by teenagers. And I love how the young people understand the connection between the human life and the life of nature. With the umbilical cord running around the master tree. And the leaves are water drops. And you know, we are broadcasting out of the Hawaiian islands. And any deeply embedded water imagery certainly is something that, that Hawaiians can relate to. I mean, it's a fact of life. And it, it's, it's lovely to see this. It would be nice to start a singing tree project around the indigenous connections and cultures and interweavings of all the indigenous cultures. Just not the Hawaiians and the native Hawaiians. And, but every one of the cultures that came to the islands and they're now one very large group of multicultural. Yes. People. So maybe you could talk to us a little bit about the indigenous people's work that you've done. Yes. I had the privilege of working with res refuge, which is in Fort Defiance, Arizona with a DNA youth. And they worked three years on a singing tree. To honor native tradition and they made the earth a Navajo basket. And it's on the unity through creativity website. There's a gallery there and you can just type in, um, a DNA singing tree and it'll pop up. And if you go to the next site, the next slide, you'll see the name of the tree. And you'll see the name of the tree. And there, this is a singing tree that we made to honor. All federally registered native tribes in the United States. And it was designed by Mary and Hansen, who is a Kiowa. Artist. And every leaf has written on it. The name of one of the federally registered tribes. And. It's rooted in nature. It's rooted in the mutualism and cooperation of nature. The stories of survival of the city. Fittest, which is what is going on in Ukraine is a, a small part of the story of life on the planet. The competition lives within incredible collaboration. And the trees. And the trees. And the trees. Give us two of seeds and nuts and oxygen and clean the water and sink the CO2. If you go to the next slide, you'll see how. Before we leave, before we leave, I did want to point out. I know that there's a Hawaiian leaf in there. I don't know which one it was the monkey pod tree. Or the high biscuits tree. Or what, which. Which everyone that they use. So they used the same tree in the morning. But it's more used to be on one of those leaves because it believes are actually similar. Yes. Right. They're all the willow leaves. Yes. And this is the logo for the singing tree that's going on. And Uganda. That we've just begun. singing tree logo. So you can see the tree itself is the leaf of Ukraine because the people in Uganda that we're serving are in a refugee settlement camp and so we're honoring that all of the refugees on the planet are united. And if you go to the next slide, I know we have just a few minutes left. These are some of the books that I've made to support nurturing creativity and young people. The Flood of Kindness is a story by my godson who was eight years old and wrote a story about Hurricane Katrina. It's for children about being creative in the face of natural disasters. Reading the Oz now is for educators and parents and the singing trees is the story of the first five singing trees that were made. So I thank you so much for being here and having me share this vision that unity through creativity is possible and practical and beautiful. Well thank you. We didn't get to the yin book that your sister wrote and I can tell let the audience know we'll stay tuned and we'll have you back. Maybe we could start a singing tree project through Think Tech Hawaii and American Creativity Association. It's just been such a delight and let me sign off now with leaving it right there and letting our audience know that you have been watching the creative life on Think Tech Hawaii. Today we have been discussing the topic of unity through creativity, not through force with creator, innovator, artist and educator Ms. Lori Marshall who leaves us with a creative singing tree artwork approach to healing division and even the most worn torn areas of our globe. Mahalo for participating Lori and Mahalo to our viewers for tuning in. I'm Phyllis Bleece. We will be back in two weeks for another edition of the creative life. Aloha.