Give peace a chance is the message behind a special art exhibition opening today at the Bermuda Society of Arts gallery.

Paint for Peace will include more than 250 art “peaces” created by students and staff from the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation.

Children were shown Pablo Picasso’s Dove of Peace during art classes at KAF and asked to come up with their own work.

“We asked them to come up with an image that was peaceful for them,” said KAF founder Fiona Rodriguez-Roberts. “Some of their work is quite touching. People really need to come and see it for themselves.”

At the exhibition there will also be music and a place where you can put the name of a person you would like to make peace with into a box. The box will later be buried at KAF and a tree will be planted over it.

The exhibition is running in conjunction with the Third Annual Peace Weekend that includes a Peace Day concert and other events.

The ultimate aim of Paint for Peace is to raise money for KAF’s Creative Minds bursary programme. Each work of art in the exhibition will be sold for $50. There will also be a silent auction where work by local artists such as Graham Foster will be up for grabs.

“Our primary mission is to empower children through art,” said Ms Rodriguez-Roberts. “Everything we raise goes back into the bursary programme which provides scholarships for children who could not otherwise afford to take an art class.”

KAF’s summer camp art show is running alongside the Paint for Peace exhibit.

The Paint for Peace opening is today at 5pm with the silent auction at 6pm. The show runs until October 7.

People coming to the opening are asked to enter City Hall through the Earl Cameron Theatre.

For more information visit www.kaf.bm. For more information about Peace Day Weekend see www.doublefantasybermuda.com/concert.html.