FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - (May 4, 2002)

The vision took root in the form of a rose. Dozens of red roses, actually, blooming on the streets of war-torn Sarajevo, as artists protested the loss of human life by spreading red paint into mortar round indentations that pitted the sidewalks of their wasted town.

J. Verschoyle, a Native Texas and artist who was a military officer's wife, knows first-hand the impact war can have on family and community, never forgot those vivid roses. A long-time military volunteer and educational advocate for special-needs children, she knew deep down that art offered a way to heal the wounds of war and bring the world together in a vision of peace.

And so, in 1997, in her quaint art studio in the sleepy little Texas Gulf Coast town of Rockport, she conceived her own vision that seeks to make art a vehicle for international understanding. Project Palette is a non-profit (501c3 status pending) organization that aims to foster global peace through creative expression, by opening up avenues for artists to show their peace-oriented work and to create conduits for international dialogue.

Project Palette shall offer exhibitions, lectures, workshops, classes and creative think tanks, all with the same goal of fostering communication between diverse groups at both the local and global level.  The ultimate goal, of course, is to bring to fruition a vision of peace, tolerance and non-violent conflict resolution throughout the world.

Already, Project Palette has delivered donated art supplies to working artists and patients at a pediatric care hospital in Sarajevo shortly after the war in Bosnia ended. Verschoyle has also taken her concept into juvenile prisons in San Antonio, Texas, where she has worked on several long-term projects with gang members, successfully showing them how to use art to tap into and express their feelings of anger and rage in positive ways.

Now Project Palette announces its latest mission - "Color the World in Peace", a series of curated traveling exhibitions that will showcase the work of artists of all nationalities, religions and races. The theme of these shows is world peace, however each individual artist might choose to express it. J. Verschoyle, who now lives in San Antonio, Texas and whose own vibrant paintings are noted for their bold colors and daring brush strokes, recently announced a call-for-artists. Each work of art must depict an image of world peace and be no larger than 36 inches by 60 inches in size and may not weigh more than 60 pounds. Please include an artist bio and statement on why you believe in world peace.

J. Verschoyle is also seeking exhibition space for these shows, as well as major corporate sponsorship and grant funding. In addition, the organization seeks volunteers to help make the important vision of Color the World in Peace a lasting reality.

For more information on Project Palette, please contact Julie Verschoyle at cre8art@projectpalette.org or call (210) 827-2479.