Children's Healing Art Project

With the Million Bead Project, CHAP has designed an art project that transforms nervous energy into creative energy through the healing power of art. The process of beading - a simple repetitive act like saying the Rosary, counting Tibetan prayer beads or counting knots on a Jewish prayer shawl - engages our physical body in a way that allows our minds to rest and to find peace. This process can even increase serotonin (lowered serotonin levels are associated with depression and anxiety). When hands are occupied and engaged, minds relax.

In the hospitals, children and their families are invited to string strands of beads. With each strand they add to the Million Bead Project, they are invited to write their thoughts and prayers in a journal. Each strand becomes part of a collaborative sculpture. Private prayers become public art. This one-of-a-kind beaded glass sculpture will be sold to support CHAP's mission to bring the healing power of art to children in crisis. Million Bead Project participants include children and families in hospital playrooms and waiting rooms; parents, grandparents and siblings in waiting rooms outside of surgery wards; hospital staff in grief counseling session; young patients in isolation; and mothers living with their children on oncology floors during treatments.

To spread awareness of our mission, we take the Million Bead Project to community events like the Mississippi Street Fair, Art Thursdays at City Hall, Kiteboarding 4 Cancer, the Art in the Pearl Festival and Buckman Arts Elementary School Annual Art Show & Sell. At these events, the public is invited to string strands for Million Bead Project.

The community spirit and sense of joy found in Matisse's masterpiece "The Dance" is the inspiration for CHAP's Million Bead Project. When complete, five dancing figures will stand twelve feet tall, covered with 1,000,000 amber glass beads. The thoughts and prayer collected from all participants will be presented with the final piece. This work of art will then be sold to fund CHAP's art programs. The Million Bead Project is a way to bring the healing power of art back to the public, creating a place where children are seen for their artistic talents rather than for their diseases, diagnoses or disabilities.

Private and public beaded commissions are available including chandeliers, beaded window panels and Calder-esqe mobiles.