by Elizabeth V. Hallett
The Ashland Peace Wall represents the collective will and resistance of our Ashland Community who, dismayed by the 2007 Iraq War, maintained the perspective that war is not as valuable as Peace; that something more precious is worth standing up for.
Peter Finkel published a two-part photo essay that archives the development of the Ashland Peace Wall in fine detail. The articles published on Finkel’s website Walk Ashland offer stories about how the wall evolved from its origins as a “Peace Fence,” which first appeared on Mother’s Day in 2007 into what became the collaborative Peace Wall, a collage installation of painted tiles located in front of Ashland’s Public Library, and finally the installation of lights to illuminate the public art, in a 2019 night-time lighting ceremony.
Check out Peter Finkel’s Photo Essays Here
The Peace Fence
It was a contagious happening we watched unfold on Mother’s Day in 2007, across the fence on the lower side of the A Street Railroad Park, where sheets began to mysteriously, silently, appear covered with paint and prayers – invocations for peace to prevail – one enormous bedsheet at a time.
Visionary artist Jean Bakewell started it off, after walking home from Noble’s Coffee one day, thinking about her family and discouraged by the Iraq War. She herself had lived though WWII bombings as a child in the U.K.. Jean and I were both active outside Concord Naval Weapons Station during the Central American Wars, and on into the Gulf War, demonstrating against the trainloads of weapons being shipped off the base to Port Chicago for transport to El Salvador, Honduras or the Middle East.
Years later, during the Iraq War, Jean’s idea to create a Peace Fence in Ashland resonated with many, and received enthusiastic contributions from local artists, including several from the Lithia Artisans’ Market community.
It seemed to come together as if there was a collective understanding that Mother’s Day was a perfect time to carry messages of hope and resistance to war forward. The origins of Mother’s Day include working for peace, illustrated through the original 1855 proclamation for a Women’s Day for Peace by Julia Ward Howe.
The Peace Wall
As Peter Finkle describes in his photo essays there were over 200 sheets on the fence in all. Throughout 2007 and 2008 ever-increasing displays of art hung on the fence, until vandals damaged the paintings and finally ripped all of the pieces from the fence in June of 2008 according to the Ashland Daily Tidings. Luckily, high-quality photos of the art had been taken by photographer Kate Geary, so the images were saved.
Thus formed much of the imagery on the painted tiles that form a ribbon-like display of art and messages now known as the Peace Wall, installed outside the Ashland Library in 2009. Many a soup supper was held, to raise money for the Peace Wall Project through the generosity of restaurant owners Tom and Lisa Beam at Pasta Piatti (now Pie and Vine). The funding and the resulting wall have ensured that the whole “tile collage” is now part of Ashland’s history: a perpetual community statement and invocation for peace. It is as if Ashland citizens have left their spiritual DNA imprinted upon the tiles with fervent, artistic and unified prayers for peace.
Peace House is pleased to have been the fiscal sponsor for both the initial building of the wall and for the “Shine a Light on Peace” event years later, that became the illumination of the wall at night. This community project represents a weaving of relationships and roots that were often inspired by those who resonated with the project.
The Peace House “Courage for Peace Award” honored the core Peace Fence organizers at the Peace House 25th Anniversary, on August 4, 2007 at a Peace Celebration Concert and silent auction at Ashland’s Universalist Unitarian Fellowship. Music included songs by the Peace Choir Ensemble with Dave Marston and many other performers.
The Peace Fence Honorees were: Jean Bakewell, Nancy Bardos, Kay Cutter, Kate Geary, Nancy Parker, Jan Rice, and Debbi Smith. Sue Springer, the mosaic artist who was pivotal to the current Peace Wall design, was also honored.
