by johnnoltner
How can we help? It’s a question people have asked for years about A Peace of My Mind and I never had a good answer. Until now.
Categories: Project Updates • Tags: donate, help, hope, listening, nonprofit, storytelling
by johnnoltner
It’s been two weeks since we left our home in Bloomington. We had a few days of planned down time with family in Wisconsin and then a few more days of unplanned down time when a small college engagement in Pennsylvania cancelled due to last-minute COVID restrictions on campus. During the last two weeks, we’ve learned to slow down a little. We no longer have any rooms to paint. No punch lists of repairs to do before selling the house. […]
Categories: Blog, Project Updates • Tags: a peace of my mind, community, community art, parkersburg, storytelling, weaving community, west virginia
by johnnoltner
They say 40 days is what it takes for transformation. 20 days to shed an old habit and 20 days to establish a new one. A few months ago, I couldn’t see a path forward for A Peace of My Mind. The public programming that supported it had vanished with the pandemic. Everything we had built the project around had shifted and at times I wondered if this lovely voice we had cultivated over the past decade was going to […]
Categories: Blog, Project Updates • Tags: 40 days, crowdfunding, cry out, Indiegogo, storytelling, thank you
by johnnoltner
The creative process isn’t always tidy. My office certainly isn’t. Nor is my handwriting. I’ll often vision about project ideas and future plans on a scrap of paper. I’ll tape rough notes to my office wall and see how they hold up over time. Some of them never happen. Others could not be stopped if you tried. As I struggled through packing up 20 years of photo memories in my office, I came across this note, imagining what my third […]
Categories: Blog, Project Updates • Tags: creative process, crowd funding, cry out, fundraising, listen first, memories, photography, plans, social issues, visioning, weaving community
by johnnoltner
My wife just quit her job. Last Friday was her final day working with kindergarten students, a job she started once our own kids were both in school. My schedule as a freelance photographer has always been unpredictable and it worked well for us, knowing she was on the same schedule as our kids. Now both our children are grown and off to college. A Peace of My Mind has grown, too, and the exhibit and speaking schedule has me […]
Categories: Blog, Project Updates • Tags: adventure, art, connect, faith, leap of faith, peace, photography, trust
by johnnoltner
I’m excited to announce a new website for A Peace of My Mind. It’s amazing what long days at the kitchen table with a laptop and a pot of coffee can do. Oh…and a crowd of WordPress Happiness Engineers on the other end of a chat line. Most of the bugs seem to be worked out, so it’s ready for viewing. (That being said, I’m sure something has slipped through the cracks…I will gladly crowdsource corrections, so let me know […]
Categories: Blog, Project Updates, Uncategorized • Tags: a peace of my mind, APoMM, art, dialog, peace, photography, social justice, stories, website
by johnnoltner
Sometimes people touch us for just a brief time, but make a lasting impact on our lives. Some of my best friends live far away. We might not talk often, but I carry them with me through my days, and it does my heart good to simply know they are in the world. I stay in touch with several of the people I have interviewed for A Peace of My Mind, but others come into my life for a few […]
Categories: Blog, Guests, Life, Project Updates • Tags: a peace of my mind, Bergen Belson, concentration camp, dialog, diversity, exhibits, Fred Baron, Holocaust, Jewish, listening, peace, social justice, stories
by johnnoltner
Last week was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and on Monday I spoke to 250 educators from the Lakeville School District about A Peace of My Mind and using storytelling to build understanding and community. The exhibit was installed at the Lakeville high school media centers and many teachers brought their classes to engage in different ways. An art teacher had her class sketch the portraits that they were drawn to, paying attention to light, composition, and texture. She asked them this parting question…”If […]
Categories: Project Updates • Tags: a peace of my mind, art, dialog, diversity, exhibit, Lakeville, peace, social justice
by johnnoltner
I’m good at looking forward…not always so good at looking back, so I’ll offer up this year-end review for myself as much as others. Exhibits: We installed 20 exhibits in 9 different states this year. The closest was 4 blocks from my home at Normandale Community College. The farthest was at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. The exhibits ranged in length from one day to six weeks and most involved some sort of speaking or workshop engagement. Stories: I […]
Categories: Project Updates • Tags: a peace of my mind, Colorado, exhibits, peace, snow, social justice, stories
by johnnoltner
The last story has been recorded. The final portrait has been made. A Peace of My Mind: American Stories has been heard. Now it must be told. In a perfect world, I would have edited these stories along the way. But this is not a perfect world. There are 90 interviews waiting to be edited (the binder you see in the photo is about 1/3 of the transcripts) and as I sized up the task in front of me, a few […]
Categories: Blog, Project Updates, Uncategorized • Tags: a peace of my mind, American Stories, art, dialog, diversity, exhibits, listening, peace, social justice, travel
