Art Installation Featured at the 2026 Holiday Folk Fair International 

Submitted by Robert Frank, Milwaukee Slovenian Arts Council

Milwaukee, Wisconsin- Bird of Hope for Peace, an international award winning artwork  by Slovenian multimedia artist Eva Petrič  will be a featured installation at the 2026 Holiday Folk Fair International festival presented by the International Institute of Wisconsin. The festival runs from Friday, November 20th through Sunday, November 22nd at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin. 

Bird of Hope for Peace (2025) is woven from one thousand lace roses, handcrafted by lacemakers from eleven countries in a shared spirit of hope. The lace roses were created by lacemakers responding to an open call initiated by Eva Petrič in collaboration with the Idrija Lace School and the Idrija Tourist Board during the 2024 Idrija Lace Festival. Using the roses woven from recycled, handmade lace, Petrič transformed  them into a collective artwork that reminds us that hope is what carries peace forward. 

After displays in Slovenia, Austria, and New York City, this inspiring piece continues its journey to Milwaukee, carrying with it the memories, aspirations, and hopes for peace that are woven into its beautiful thousand lace roses.  

Eva Petrič is a Slovenian independent artist living and working in New York City, Vienna, and Ljubljana. Her photography, video, performance, and multimedia installation works have been shown in over 130 solo and 150 group exhibitions worldwide and have earned numerous international awards, including Utazu Art Award in Japan, Best Performance Art Award and Best of Ten Years Award at the United Solo Festival in New York. 

Holiday Folk Fair International, America’s premier multicultural festival and a program of the International Institute of Wisconsin, celebrates the cultural heritage of the people living in southeastern Wisconsin.