Co-sponsored by The Newark Museum and the Women’s Association of NJPAC’s Newark Cultural Legacy Committee, the Beaded Prayers Workshop will be held at the Museum on Monday, July 28, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Beaded Blessings, currently on display at The Newark Museum, is part of The Beaded Prayers Project, a community art initiative begun by artist Sonya Clark in 1999 and inspired by amulets made in African cultures and throughout the world.

Clark will conduct the hands-on workshop. Participants will create two ”beaded prayers,” one for themselves and the other to be mounted on a panel and added to the exhibition. The exhibition currently displays some 4,000 beaded prayers assembled in a collective display that resembles a patchwork quilt. The packets represent the creativity and participation of more than 4000 individuals ranging in age from six to 90 from over 36 countries.

Newark Museum Director Mary Sue Price said “those attending the workshop will represent a sort of ‘spiritual summit’ of the Greater Newark region. Personal amulets are inherent in many different cultures and it’s exciting as well as fitting that the Museum, for three hours that afternoon at least, is the center of positive thought.”

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Barbara Bell Coleman, Legacy Committee chair. ”Having the opportunity to commingle our prayers, blessings and wishes with thousands of others across the globe is a truly unique experience.”

“From the exquisitely-crafted to the crudely-stitched, each beaded packet mounted on Beaded Blessings is a unique manifestation of individual aspiration and power,” said Clark. “Those that resemble one another on the outside no doubt have different messages sealed inside. The diversity of packets is a celebration of the unique contributions each individual has to offer.”

The Beaded Prayers Project complements The Newark Museum’s major exhibition, on view through August 24, Embodying the Sacred in Yoruba Art, featuring more than 70 African art works of spiritual significance from the 19th and 20th century, and Glass Beads of Ghana, on view through November 2009. -- www.newarkmuseum.org