A recent exhibition at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild is part of a growing trend toward global collaborative projects that have their roots in traditional communal activities.

The traveling show, "Beaded Blessings," comprises more than 4,000 prayer packets that have been made through the Beaded Prayers Project, an ongoing worldwide collaborative artwork directed by Richmond artist Sonya Clark.

Clark has likened the community and hands-on aspects to the AIDS Memorial Quilt of The NAMES Project, which was established in 1987. "Beaded Blessings" also calls to mind the ongoing "Crochet Hyperbolic Coral Reef," a project of the California-based Institute for Figuring that receives contributions from national and international participants and was exhibited this year at The Andy Warhol Museum.

Each of these takes traditional localized practices and translates them to the scale of today's global community, retaining intimacy through the employment of craft media.

You didn't have to know anything about the rows of colorful little packets that lined the Guild's gallery walls to sense their ritualistic quality. Still, it was surprising to learn that each represented a prayer.

Clark began the project in 1999 while teaching at the University of Wisconsin and envisioned giving it a five-year run. She put out a call for individuals to send in packets made per project guidelines and the collection doubled overnight, says Brittany Colatrella, Guild communications coordinator.

After that response, Clark stopped soliciting packets, but the project continues to grow from prayers made in workshops she conducts or advises throughout the world. Those made during a workshop at the Guild are now part of the exhibition and will travel with it.

Clark encourages participants to make two prayer packets -- one to travel with the project and one to keep.

Each packet must contain a prayer (wish, hope, dream, blessing) written on a piece of paper, and must be sealed shut. At least one bead must be stitched to the outside. Clark acknowledges that there have been some improvisations that push the rules, and the variety of submissions includes packets made of tree bark and of blown glass.

Participants include men and women ranging in age from 6 to 90 from across the United States and as widespread as Ghana, India, Scotland, Canada and Australia.

Clark says packets have been made to celebrate a birth or to mourn a death, by individuals and by groups including artists and Girl Scouts.

The project name, Clark says, comes from the fact that the Old English word "biddan," which meant "to ask" or "to pray," is also the word from which "bead" derived.

Her inspiration was the tradition of African peoples to create packets with potent contents. Afro Brazilians called them patua, she says, while some African-Americans refer to them as "mojo." Clark also makes comparison to similar practices in other traditions, such as Iranian doaa nameh, Catholic scapulars and Jewish mezuzahs.

Sharing stories is a part of the project that appeals greatly to Clark, and it contributes to what she calls the "collective wisdom."

Clark, born in Washington, D.C., in 1967, earned degrees from Amherst College, the Art Institute of Chicago and Cranbrook Academy of Art, and has exhibited at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art among other venues. She is also Chair of the Craft/Material Studies Department at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Richmond, Va.

To learn more, go to beadedprayersproject.com.

Friday Cafe

The second installment of The Last Days Cafe will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. It continues on the last day of each month, excluding December.

The casual "salon" was formed to bring together artists of all disciplines and arts professionals to learn about resources and to network. Friday's meet and chat features Justin Laing, Arts and Culture program officer with the Heinz Endowments. Within the foundation, he also works with the African-American Males Task Force, Evaluation Working Group and Pathways to Educational Excellence.

Admission is free and refreshments will be served. For more information call 412-320-4610.

8-Hour Project

The "8-Hour Project," during which artists create their works directly on gallery walls over an eight-hour period, returns to the Allegheny College Art Galleries, Meadville, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.

Participating artists are Stephanie Ashenfelder/Amos Scully, Amanda Besl, Gianna Commito, Jenifer Cooney, Dragana Crnjak, Mark Franchino, Brian Holderman, John Kissick, Matthew Kolodziej, Jason Lahr, Joe Lupo and Dan Mills.

Showing concurrently will be portraits by Liz Roth, done on site Friday and Saturday. Call 1-814-332-3383 for a one-hour sitting. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Crnjak, Holderman and Franchino will give artists' talks followed by a reception.

Events are free and open to the public, 1-814-332-4365 or allegheny.edu.