At the KindredCOLORS Exhibits we always have a book in which viewers are asked to write their impressions, opinions, thoughts, and feelings about the display, its intention, and its impact. Here are excerpts from that KindredCOMMENTS Book:

What a fabulous interactive way to make such a powerful point! - The Blatzes

Thank you for such an eye-opening unique exhibit. It awakens my senses! - Lynn Mixner

This is a very beautiful and informative display...very creative and well done. It’s quite interesting to learn that nature can put the very same color as your skin in many different places. - Colin Steele

Thank you for your gentle anti-racist work. - Linda King

Many thanks for bringing us all together and delivering such a powerful truth of our one-ness! Amen. - Peter

This was so great!! I’m in high school and I know my classmates would love it! - Julieanne Doherty

This needs to be brought around the city, especially to the schools. Amen to you. - Nancy Doherty

Thank you for the beauty! The collections are impressive and the purpose is inspiring. I found my summer pink inside the granite rock and conch shells, and my winter pale inside the grains of wood. My elementary school kids (grades K-6) would love the touch and meaning of this exhibit. - Jen

This is super cool - and really fun for me and my friends. - Daricella

This exhibit was AWESOME. - Sarah

This exhibit is really really COOL. - Brandon

This exhibit is AMAZING. - John

This exhibit is the BEST. - Mike

This exhibit is creepy. - Dwight

I like when I matched my skin on the third try. - Nicholas

I like the exhibit so much because I had four different kinds of things that matched my skin. - Jacob

I am beautiful colors. - Frankie

What a wonderful way to show us all as belonging to one grandiose nature! - Janie Shoenich, Guidance Counselor

As Seneca says, "All art is but an imitation of nature." You have illuminated the source of creativity. I see now that the color spectrum is an important ingredient for inspiration in art. - Pohhock

Thanks for the wonderful exhibit and even better explanation! - Beth McIntosh

I LOVE IT!! It is SO perfect to see my skin tone in relation to some of my favorite foods...and connecting us all with the elements plus the Woods and Rocks and Seas. BRILLIANT ! - Alison Chase

I was surprised that my skin matched the color of a wood — because wood and people are so different. What a profound lesson. Thank you. - Meghan

Very lovely to see your exhibit on this important United Nations Day — with hope for its continued enjoyment and instruction on a tour. - Steve Jerome

From now on we will always remember to notice the shades of natural things and compare them. This is an exhibit that we will replay in many new ways in our life experiences. Thank you. - Ms. Rorian’s 3rd Grade.

The above photos courtesy of Rosemary Fortin

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Here are two of the longer responses to the “KindredCOLORS” CD and the "Everyone is Beautiful" binder:

This statement is by Hilda Wanja Karanu, a member of the Agikuyu tribe of eastern Africa, and a resident of Nairobi, Kenya. At the age of 21 her hobbies include reading, traveling, making new friends, and listening to cool music. She hopes to go to nursing school in the USA and then return to Kenya to use her skills.

" I loved ‘Everyone is Beautiful’ so much that I read the book over and over. It is not only interesting but very educational, especially about the skin. I didn’t know much about it "

" I kindly shared the CDs with my friends, and they liked them. When I showed them the butterflies you sent, they almost stole them from me. We concluded that real beauty is priceless – like the stars in the midnight sky, the crystal look of a river early in the morning, or birds singing in their nests. We made a list of all the beautiful things we saw and how we take them for granted, which is really sad."

“ Because of ‘Everyone is Beautiful’ I am now looking at life in a new direction, and learning to appreciate it all – like about skin colours and how they are earth toned and the reasons behind that, which is interesting. When I asked most of my friends why skins are different in colour, none could explain. So I drew it for them, explaining and giving examples. I felt so proud "

“ I must say, you have done a wonderful job promoting self-awareness and appreciation of other people as well as of the environment. I learned that only after you get acquainted with others can you know if they are beautiful or not, depending on if they are kind or selfish and so on."

“ At the end of it all, we humans are the same, whether we are from Africa or Asia or America or Europe. We are the same, and to understand that is important so that we can stop discrimination among ourselves."

“Congratulations. Thank you so much, and God Bless You !! ”

From Rev. Richard Chrisman, former Senior Minister at Central Congregational Church in Jamaica Plain MA, and now a consultant in worship and the arts at Middle Collegiate Church in Manhattan NY, and Adjunct Faculty at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield MA.

“ Cynthia Price-Glynn has developed a thorough, comprehensive and delightful curriculum to teach us that UNDER our skin, which is so beautifully and richly variegated, we are all intimately related, each therefore deserving of respect and universal rights. And, no matter how different our skin surface may appear from individual to individual, region to region, ethnicity to ethnicity, the uniform biological functions of skin make us one IN the skin too. Best of all, the beauty OF skin itself – so supple, so sensual, so touchable – is the first introduction of our individual beauty to any observer. It is the first evidence of the beauty WITHIN, the gorgeous banner announcing the approach of another of God’s precious creations."

" This experience helps us appreciate a process that began as a simple but dramatic exhibit called ‘Kindred Colors’ in the 1990’s. It now culminates as a full-blown re-education about the ‘depth of skin’ and the ‘deep meanings of skin.’ The original exhibit came as a gentle first alert: ‘Take note, people, of the infinite subtlety of nature’s surfaces. Look at the variations in tone and texture and color by which nature presents itself to you. Celebrate its sensations!’ And now we are given a further kind of knowledge able to motivate us about the proper care of our skin, our first line of defense against dangers to our health."

" Why this truly energetic and energizing educational effort? Lest any one forget, as can happen every day everywhere, to remind us that humans owe each other full honor and respect. Skin difference is actually the signal, not of alienation from each other, but of our God-given commonality. Formerly many sins were prompted just at the sight of skin difference. It is a tragedy, still on-going, that need not be. May ‘Everyone is Beautiful’ teach people to sing a new anthem to the beautiful variety of human beings.”

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™This EisB logo is a shortened version of our declaration that Everyone is Beautiful