From the Advisory Board — 2021

The Advisory Board for the Nakashima Foundation for Peace, with Mira, Jon Yarnall, John Lutz and Zoriana Siokalo, has been able to gather via Zoom for discussions about our intentions for the future. We deeply miss Kevin Nakashima’s presence as he passed away in November, bequeathing many of his possessions to the Foundation for which we will be eternally grateful.

Due to the chaotic and challenging time we are living in, we wish to have the NFP be of service to the three sites that house Nakashima’s work: the consecrated Altar for Peace at The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City, the Sacred Peace Table in The Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow and the Sacred Peace Table in the Hall of Peace, Unity Pavillion, Auroville, South India.

In February 2020, there was a Global Connections IV which connected the three sites, initiated out of Auroville.  The three previous Global Connections have been very powerful (see news updates: https://nakashimafoundation.org/project/news/).

Other planned events had to be cancelled during 2020 due to the pandemic of Covid19, excepting the international premier by Design Miami of the brilliant documentary, George Nakashima Woodworker, filmed by John Nakashima. It is also on our agenda. 

We are rescheduling the Peace Prize Award to be given to Scott and Hella McVay, humanitarian and one of the first witnesses to George’s Dream of Altars to Peace, in May.  We hope to install a beautiful exhibition on Golconde, the building Nakashima designed and built in India in the 1930s, as well as the “Homage to Three Friends” about Nakashima, Buckminster Fuller and Bertoia.

On the Summer Solstice of June 20th, we will organize a global event to connect the sites via technology: a celebration of the longest day of the year and the light it heralds. These would be organized by people on the ground, overseen by the Advisory Board.  We wish this to give comfort and nurturing to all during these very trying times. By November, there will be a memorial event to celebrate Kevin’s life. 

Nakashima had a great love of the tree, its soul and essence. The tree will be a unifying symbol for our upcoming work and also reflect our appreciation for global ecological and peaceful understanding.  

We recognize that there are many topics that can be addressed while always remembering George’s initial love of peace, beauty and nature, which was manifested in his way of designing furniture and architecture.

The Advisory Board also acknowledges that beyond these three sites, we have a commitment to the larger community of Earth. We intend to be of service in ways which will benefit all sentient beings and the planet herself in keeping with Nakashima’s aspiration: “a surrender to the Divine Consciousness to end in a most beautiful aura of love” – George Nakashima

Submitted by Miriam Belov, Irene Goldman, Katherine Kish, Julian Lines, Barbara Simmons