29 Pieces

29 Pieces uses art to awaken, uplift and give voice to the creative human spirit to grow genuine, positive social change. It's not easy. But it is working.

The seeds of 29 Pieces were planted with a bullet, the bullet that murdered a man in front of Karen Blessen's house. A Pulitzer prize winning journalist and illustrator, Karen reacted to the tragedy using the tools of her profession. The result was a piece that she wrote and illustrated for the Dallas Morning News, exploring the act of violence and tracing the path of its impact on the victim's fa

mily, the killer's family, the law enforcement community and the community at large. Karen soon realized that telling the story wasn't the end of her responsibility; it was the beginning. She had to act to help keep the narrative from repeating itself over and over. Once again, she turned to a tool she knew—art—with hopes of using its power as a catalyst for peace. Engaging, involving and inspiring our community's youth to learn, share and live the lessons of peace became the unifying goal of the organization known as 29 Pieces. Since its inception in 2005, 29 Pieces has grown in number and impact. Our workshops and classroom curricula have helped tens of thousands of students and adults develop their creativity and their love of peace. Our Dallas Love project used art to turn the city-of-hate perception upside down during the Kennedy assassination's 50th anniversary year. Our Piece 24 project united a coalition of business leaders, community leaders and local schools to help students create a 17-foot sculpture—a monument to peace that will have a permanent place within the community. What all 29 Pieces efforts have in common is the use of art as the power source for beating swords into plowshares and planting new seeds of peace. It takes a lot of volunteers and supporters to make it work. We see the new green sprouts. And while nothing we do will right the wrong of the murder that started this process, we can change what happens next.

08/30/2026

IMPORTANT: The submission process for the Planet Earth Love Project has changed. Artwork needs to be square.
To submit art for our competition, photograph artwork, save as 300 dpi jpg file, and label like this:
Country_LastName_FirstName
Go to this Link to submit art:
https://forms.gle/9cJgi811vVhvj5Eo8
Contact [email protected] or [email protected] with questions.

08/10/2026

Waste360's WasteExpo based in Strathfield South, Australia is the latest organization to help us spread the news about the 29 Pieces Global Planet Earth Love Project Art Movement and Competition. Big thank you to Gage Edwards and the team at Waste360 for advocating for 29 Pieces and for their mission to get all of us to recycle and tread lightly on this beautiful earth of ours! Waste360's WasteExpo is working on any way possible to help people understand the necessity of recycling, and they understand the unique way that art communicates beyond language.

In this Q&A, Karen Blessen discusses how art can help transform environmental anxiety into optimism.

07/29/2026

Sarah Crowther is The Arty Teacher, based in the United Kingdom and Wales, and we owe Sarah a BIG Texas sized THANK YOU! The Arty Teacher is helping 29 Pieces spread the word about our Global Planet Earth Love Project Art Movement and Competition to art teachers throughout the UK. Check out the many inspiring offering from The Arty Teacher at: https://theartyteacher.com/. And to download all of the free lesson materials for the Planet Earth Love Project, go to: https://29pieces.org/the-planet-earth-love-project/

07/27/2026

Collective Learning, LLC, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, is a K-12 education platform offering practical insights, strategies, and resources for educators and school professionals. Thank you Collective Learning and Veronica Allende, Ed.D. for featuring 29 Pieces Global Planet Earth Love Project Art Movement and Competition in your newsletter. We appreciate your help in sharing our project with your readership!

07/17/2026

Thank you to TEACH Mag and Associate Editor Kelsey McCallum of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for our first coverage of the Planet Earth Love Project outside of the United States! Check out the beautiful coverage they did of the project, and please help us spread the word all over the globe! https://teachmag.com/global-planet-earth-love-project-competition/

07/13/2026

Thank you to Jennifer Bowden and Katrina Girgis at the World Affairs Council for inviting 29 Pieces to present the Planet Earth Love Project to 75 North Texas educators at the WAC's Global Classroom four day event. 29 Pieces Karen Blessen, Sarah Salazar and Mauricio Navarro represented 29 Pieces.

07/07/2026

Download all Planet Earth Love Project materials at: https://29pieces.org/the-planet-earth-love-project/

02/14/2026

All of us at 29 Pieces wish you a day, a year, a lifetime of giving and receiving rivers of LOVE. Happy Valentine's Day 2026! (Design and words by Peter Wood. Art by artists across the country for the 29 Pieces American LOVE Project.)

12/31/2025

As we enter 2026, we in 29 Pieces would like to thank everyone who has helped make our work possible for the past 20 years! We are connected in this beautiful endeavor and we thank the donors, the educators, the board members, the staff, the bookkeepers and accountants, the exhibit locations, the press, the professional artists, the designers, the thousands of young student artists, the volunteers, and anyone who I might be forgetting! In the graphic below, you'll see images of some of the major projects we've done since 2005. We did this work together and it has been one of the great joys of my life. I hope you feel this sense of pride and joy as well. I personally thank you, and we, the Board of Directors of 29 Pieces, thanks you. We wish you a New Year robust with health, peace, and the joy and healing of creativity. With love and gratitude, Karen Blessen, Founder and Executive Artistic Director, 29 Pieces

12/10/2025

Thich Nhat Hanh was a Buddhist Monk and spiritual leader known for his works on mindfulness and peace. In the Planet Earth Love Project lesson, we learn about inspirational people who give us hope for a kinder world.

“True love is like the sun, shining with its own light, and offering that light to everyone. ” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Be part of the Planet Earth Love Project! Learn how to create your own artwork by visiting https://29pieces.org/the-planet-earth-love-project/

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Dallas, TX

Telephone

+12147701219

Website

http://www.29pieces.org/

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