4.5 foot Hearts
Use Your Wings
in Unbound, 2022, Chantal Dangler
My third heart, "Use Your Wings," was a large 4.5' heart that was very bumpy and irregular. I had trouble getting inspired by its sad form. I thought incorporating words onto the heart might inspire me. I found a saying by Rumi that seemed to resonate with my plans to bring some nature into a very institutional space and bring some hope of transformation as well. The saying also brought to mind accountability and being proactive about one's choices. So, the text by Rumi became the dominant visual on the heart and a small caterpillar and small butterfly were added. I had already painted the heart's wings shades of blue, so I made the butterfly a blue morpho. On the back, I painted a row of chrysalises with one already broken open to illustrate that change can set you free. I hope people who see it feel that transformation can lead to freedom.
I Love Mommy
in Unbound 2022, Jonas and River Guererro
Jonas (10) and River (7) were thrilled to get the opportunity to paint a large heart, and had wonderful intentions when creating their ideas for what they wanted to put on the face of the heart. Which was an actual face! Jonas and River chose bold colors like blue, red, turquoise, and gold.
While Jonas was happy to dive into his artistic side and have fun painting the heart, River came up with the intention to paint the face for families who want to have babies. “I thought about babies and about people who want to have babies who are scared, and even though they may cry because they are scared they can also be tears of joy.”
Untitled
in Unbound 2022, Ali Ferron
I painted this heart like a stain glass window. Fractured pieces with a black divider between colors. The visual effect was to try to bring a sense of lightness to the piece that I thought looked a little heavier than it actually was. With some success in combination with just a very visually pleasing effect.