Month of peace events wraps up Friday with water ceremony at art gallery in Phoenix

By Kayla Heffner for Ashland.news

People young and old came from far and wide to gather at Southern Oregon University’s Thalden Pavilion on a sunny Sunday, Sept. 21, to celebrate peace and spread the message of peace to others.

SOU President Richard Bailey gave opening remarks on International Peace Day at the SOU Sustainability Center on Walker Avenue. Why it was important to commemorate peace? “Love is the real answer,” Bailey said.

The gathering also marked the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC).

First separately and then together, Irene Kai and her partner, David Wick, have been ambassadors of peace for decades.Wick helped start International Peace Day in 1981 at the United Nations, while Kai brought the International Peace Flame to Ashland. The couple helped co-found ACPC.

Sunday’s celebration was the penultimate event in a month-long series of events organized by people from the art community in Phoenix, Talent, and Ashland in hopes of inspiring others while also making the world a better place.

The “Visionary Art From the Heart”exhibition, which launched at the Langford Art Gallery in Phoenix on Aug. 22, runs through Sept. 26. Artists created pieces they submitted about what peace means to them and included impact statements along with their artwork.

Continuing with the theme of art and culture, music was one of the main highlights at Sunday’s at the Peace Day ceremony. In between speakers, the Rogue Valley Peace Choir sang songs centering around peace, love, and humanity.

Kai shared about her lifelong mission being dedicated to being a beacon of hope and love, along with sharing a moving story about the song “Imagine” by John Lennon. Lennon wrote the heartfelt melody cherished by many generations sharing love, peace and justice to the world.

Kai talked about the world peace flame and how seven sacred flames from five continents still burn today. After a chance encounter, Kai brought one of these flames to Ashland, which was installed on the SOU campus. 

“I now ignite the sacred flame in my heart to inspire all beings with empathy, justice, and respect,” Kai said. “I am an integral part of my community to promote hope and peace by appearing with my moral compass so that we can ensure a safe and sustainable world for the next seven generations and beyond. I am the flame, a beacon to guide my family, to lead our community, and their folks, spreading the message of peace.”

Music can convey important messages and have been the voice for creating global conversations about war, politics, or other important topics timely to the public. It can help distill serious or controversial messages down into a more digestable form allowing people to open up and have a dialogue about these things in their own living rooms at home.

Kai herself is an immigrant, she talked about the fears of coming to America and not knowing English. Kai moved to New York when she was 15 and she had to learn a whole new way of living.

“In 1972 someone gave me a benefit concert ticket at Madison Square Garden. I had no idea what that was about. John and Yoko came on stage and he sang ‘Imagine’ and it changed my life,” Kai said. “It inspired me so deeply and as an artist I know how to bring my imagination into play. So I live with that intention, to imagine a better world together.”

After Kai talked about her experience, the Peace Choir sang “Imagine.”

The choral director for the peace choir, Rob Griswell-Lowry said, “I feel privileged to sing for the causes of peace, social justice, and environmental stewardship.”

This is the 24th season for the Rogue Valley Peace Choir. The current choral director has been a member for the last 12 years. The choir was asked to sing ‘Imagine’ originally at the lighting of the World Peace Flame in 2018 when Kai brought the flame to Ashland.

The Peace Choir meets to sing every week at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays in the First United Methodist Church, 175 N. Main St., Ashland. It’s a non-audition choir. Anyone can join.

“We’re here for the community during these turbulent times,” Rob Griswell-Lowry said.

Griswell-Lowry’s wife, Kim, is also a part of the peace choir and has been singing with them since 2011

“For me and, I think, a lot of us, the Peace Choir is more than a place to sing,” Kim said. “It’s a place to be in community around the issues we care about, such as peace and social justice and environmental stewardship. To be with a large group of people every week, it’s like plugging into an electrical socket after a week from all of your energy being pulled out of you by all the negativity and harm in the world.

“We plug into this group and sing together and it’s like the vibration and energy changes in you. We think as a group we shift the energy in our community and the world.”

Kim, a mother of five who identifies as an empath and nurturer, grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, during a lot of civil unrest when the city was wrought with racism. She felt in her heart that engaging in hate never felt right. She said she has always been drawn toward people who are doing positive things in the world instead of causing destruction.

Kim is on the Peace Choir’s 10-member board of directors. She said one of the big events the Peace Choir has coming up is joining peace choirs from Portland and Eugene for a concert coming on Feb. 15 at the SOU recital Hall. Peace choir members love performing at local schools throughout the year in the Rogue Valley, spreading the message of peace to younger generations.

The message of hope and harmony brought people from Phoenix, Talent, and Ashland together on Sunday. One woman who attended was so moved she drove 2,000 miles from Minnesota over three days to be at the event. 

“When I heard there was going to be a celebration, I said, ‘I have to come,’ I wouldn’t have missed it. I love David and Irene,” Tezikiah Gabriel said.

Gabriel is executive director for Pathways to Peace, a nonprofit organization that Wick has been a part of since it started 41 years ago. Pathways to Peace is also credited with helping lead the efforts starting International Peace Day in 1981.

The Peace Choir closed Sunday’s event, dedicated to building a culture of peace through meaningful speech, art, music, empathy, and connection, with “Imagine Peace on Earth.”

The “Visionary Art From the Heart” exhibition continues through Friday, Sept. 26. The closing water ceremony is open to the public and will be held that day starting at 6 p.m. at Langford Art Gallery in Phoenix. The ceremony will be led by cultural leaders, artists and musicians offering a reflective end to the month of peace events, weaving together water, art and community as a prayer for harmony for all.

Sponsors for this month-long series of art and culture events include the Phoenix Oregon Chamber of Commerce, the Langford Art Gallery, Oregon Arts Commission, and the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission.

Journalist Kayla Heffner lives in Ashland. Email her at [email protected].

Related articles:

International Peace Day celebration in Ashland on Sunday also marks 10th Anniversary of the Ashland Culture Of Peace Commission (Sept. 19, 2025)

Art from the heart: Ashland Culture of Peace Commission brings artists together to envision peace, social change (Sept. 10, 2025)