New children's art exhibit aims to advance world peace

Children, not diplomats, can be a prime force for bringing about world peace, according to a new exhibit at the University Museum aimed at increasing cultural unity through the commonalities of children's art. "Children Helping Children," which opened yesterday afternoon and runs through January 4, displays children's paintings from around the world. The exhibit's organizers hope it will help overcome cultural and political differences by highlighting universal human characteristics. The exhibit was developed by Bridges Across the Atlantic, a humanitarian aid and cultural exchange organization founded by human rights activists Meladee Hughes and her husband Laurence Korwin in 1993. The Chicago-based group's goal is to "collect, hand-carry, deliver and distribute donations of medicine, medical supplies and equipment to children's hospitals in Eastern Europe and China," according to its mission statement. It also brings ill children from underdeveloped countries to the United States for specialized medical care. "Children Helping Children" was designed by Hughes in an effort to increase awareness of medical supply shortages and insufficient treatment in developing countries by displaying the art work of children between the ages of four and 17 from Asia, Eastern Europe and the United States. Hughes even invited one of the young artists involved with promoting cultural unity to the exhibit's opening yesterday. Bridges brought the artist, a 12-year-old Chinese girl named Ying-Ying Yang, to the United States three months ago to undergo complex spinal surgery. Although she barely speaks English, Yang proudly displayed her work to museum visitors through hand gestures and wide smiles. Hughes pointed out that the exhibit also represents an important step toward achieving world peace because humanitarian issues and artwork both transcend cultural differences. "Once you get everybody together, you see that people are not so different," she said. The opening of the exhibit came in conjunction with the Museum's annual "Peace Around the World" celebration. Marguerite Goff, the co-chairperson of the event and a member of the Women's Committee which sponsored it, said the celebration's goal is to "promote peace through an understanding of world cultures and an appreciation of them." The event, geared primarily toward children, stresses the "concept of beginning with the little things, through personal experiences, rather than through the big picture," Goff said. The celebration featured a Kwanzaa storyteller and singer, an international folk-dance workshop and a Native American puppet show. One activity, "What in the World," challenged children to guess the modern equivalent of ancient objects from different parts of the world, including sunglasses and a toothbrush. Goff admitted children could only be expected to learn a limited amount about cultural understanding in one day, but said she hoped "that kids will be so interested and excited that they'll want to learn more." That strategy apparently worked on Lauren Pilla and Gillian Piner, two sixth-grade students from the Tabernacle School in Tabernacle Township, N.J. The students said they thought everything was "really neat" and were eager to visit the museum again.