BIRD OF HOPE FOR PEACE HAS LANDED IN MILWAUKEE

From Idrija to Vienna and to New York – and now to Wisconsin

Behind the Bird are hundreds of hands.

Around 500 lacemakers from 11 countries responded to an open call and created nearly 1,000 handmade lace roses. The roses were gathered in Idrija and entrusted to me to transform into one collective artwork — a bird carrying a message of peace, compassion and hope. The project originated in collaboration with the Idrija Lace School and the Idrija Tourist Board. info project Milwakuee

To everyone who made one of these roses, I would especially like to say:

Your lace is travelling the world!

From many hands and many places to Idrija, from Idrija to New York, and now to Milwaukee.

Each individual rose remains part of a larger whole. Perhaps this is also what peace asks of us: not to lose our individuality, but to discover how our individual threads can become part of something larger than ourselves.

I am happy to share that my Bird of Hope for Peace has reached its new destination.

After spending nearly six months in New York, the Bird has continued its journey across the United States and has now landed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

From October 1–14, 2026, Bird of Hope for Peace is on view in the Rotunda of Milwaukee City Hall, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. info project Milwakuee

A special Welcome Celebration will take place on

October 8, 2026, at 2:00 PM

Milwaukee City Hall Rotunda

WELCOME CELEBRATION — OCTOBER 8

I am especially looking forward to the official presentation of Bird of Hope for Peace at Milwaukee City Hall on October 8 at 2:00 PM.

I am honored that the Guests of Honor will be:

The Hon. Suzana Češarek, Slovenian Consul General in Cleveland

Dr. Paul Trebian, President and CEO of the International Institute of Wisconsin

The presentation brings the Bird into a new civic context. A work created collectively by hundreds of people now enters the heart of a city — carrying with it their time, their hands, their memories and their shared gesture of hope.

ART IN THE SERVICE OF PEACE

Bird of Hope for Peace brings together the visual language of sculpture and the symbolic power of flight. Nearly one thousand individual lace roses become one body — fragile and strong at the same time.

For me, the Bird is not a monument to peace as something already achieved.

It is a carrier of hope — because peace is something we must continue to make, together.

Its journey therefore matters. Every new place gives the Bird another context, another community and another possibility for encounter.

WITH GRATITUDE

The Milwaukee presentation is organized by the Milwaukee Slovenian Arts Council in conjunction with the Municipality of Idrija, Slovenia.

The exhibition has been made possible through support from the International Institute of Wisconsin, the Ermenc Slovenian Arts Fund at the UWM Foundation, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia. The Milwaukee project is supported by the Milwaukee Slovenian Arts Council, the Ermenc Fund and the International Institute of Wisconsin. info project Milwakuee

A very special thank you goes to Dr. Rob Frank for his extraordinary engagement, care and persistence in making this presentation possible and in helping the Bird continue its journey.

And, once again, my deepest thanks to all the lacemakers whose hands created the hundreds of small roses from which the Bird was born.

From Idrija to New York.

From New York to Milwaukee.

From one pair of hands to another.

And who knows where the Bird will fly next?

Copyright © Eva Petrič, 2026, All rights reserved.