Welcome to the Have a Heart Project

The Have a Heart Project is a celebration of life, love, loss and recovery and everything in between.

Just ambling …

Life is full of important and memorable moments, sometimes joyful like finding a true friend, finishing school, starting a new career, falling in love, getting married and the birth of a baby or personal success.  These things we celebrate with joy and gratitude.

But sometimes these moments are painful and challenging on many levels, losing a job, the death of a loved one, betrayal, separation, violence, medical issues, disaster, local and world events.  These things often throw us into a tail spin and we can sometimes lose our way.

Sometimes these moments will change our world in ways we never expected, and sometimes they will change us to our core, but all of these moments make up the DNA of our individual and collective stories.

Have a Heart  …

This Project is at the same time, a personal and communal exploration of those stories; those memorable moments in our lives.

We are not asking you to share the story of your life in all its glory … rather,  we are asking you use your making skills to create one or more textile HEARTS as a meditation on your personal journey through your own life changing moments.  And we are inviting you to take pleasure the process of making, and infuse your beautiful creations with your memories, thoughts and sentiments as you make.  Pour it in … stitching in all its guises can be very therapeutic.

This Project is based on my 2011 project “The HEART Tree Project” in which a small number of contributors knitted, crocheted, felted, sewed and embellished a small series of stunning HEARTS to “craft bomb” a tree at Hartwell Junction (Melbourne) as a celebration of love.

The scope of the Have a Heart Project is much broader …

It is a celebration of life, love, loss, and recovery (and everything in between), and we are seeking contributions from the wider community to create a work of significance with thousands of HEARTS and thousands of stories.

Some of the themes to be explored include love, family, connection, gratitude, joy, community, pain, grief, recovery, forgiveness and healing, although contributors may interpret the HEART theme in any way they wish.

This heartfelt Project gives crafters of all persuasions an opportunity to contribute to a significant community craft/art project which will resonate with a very wide audience.

 What should your HEART(s) look like …

Any textile and any technique can be used in the creation of your HEART(S).

Knit, crochet, stitch, weave … there is much scope for creativity.

Red should be the predominant colour.

Each HEART can be as simple or as detailed as you wish.

Be creative, be bold, be adventurous … enjoy the creation process.

Adding dimension to your heart with surface embellishment is encouraged but not necessary.

Feel free to incorporate a dedication, a photograph or a keepsake inside your completed HEART, or, alternatively add to the surface as embellishment.

Your HEART(S) should be no more than the size of your hand outstretched as a guide to maximum size.  There is no minimum size.

A secure loop or hook of some description to allow for hanging should be incorporated into your design at the junction of the top of the HEART.

Please finish your creations beautifully, no matter how simple your offering. Please check your stitchery and sew in your ends.  We will arrange the materials for installation.

Paper hearts will generally not be suitable.  Two dimensional hearts will need to be self supporting and hang without flopping over but our preference is for three dimensional (i.e. stuffed hearts).

We are looking for quality here … as well as quantity.  Take your time.  Slow stitching is good for the soul.

There is no barrier to involvement and no limit to the amount of HEARTS that can be submitted by any one contributor.

At some stage I will make a call for your hearts to be sent in.  But not now.  Just make, tantalise us on facebook with photographs, and hold until the dust settles and we know where we are with everything in our rather complex lives.  In all probability it will be 2021 before we can collect.

Important stuff about being a nice human …

Because we will be self isolating over the next however long, an important part of the Project will be to share your creations online … sharing images, sharing patterns, just sharing.  In this way we stay connected, possibly learn some new skills and can celebrate each others’ work.

Be inspired by each other … but remember it’s not a competition …  This is meant primarily to be a creative and somewhat playful experience … encouraging us to savour the great stuff in our lives and let go of those things that no longer serve us.  Negativity will not be tolerated in any way.  Share the love. Share your skills. Share your stories if you wish.  Take photos and upload to facebook so that we can all enjoy your work.  You may choose to turn off comments if you don’t want discussion or feedback on your post.  Negative posts will be deleted and perpetrators blocked without discussion.

If you are using someone else’s pattern … you need to acknowledge that.

 How will we fund it …

Participants are asked to create and send their hearts to us at their own cost.  We acknowledge that this is not a small thing, and we understand that it may be onerous for some. However, as with many community projects, we are unfunded.  At some stage in the future, we will look to securing funding for creating the final installation if needed.  In the meantime, the foundation work will be funded by the participants.

Where can we see it …

TBA

This will depend on a number of things including participation rates … but why not shoot for the stars.  This has the potential to be an important, large scale work of community art, and I am currently looking for options although with the world in a state of flux at present, I am happy to be patient.

On the other hand, I am confident of success.

Submission Date …

At this point the end date is open.  I hope that we are in a position to create our final beautiful piece around this time next year. So hold onto your hearts and the answers will come at a later time.

In the meantime, follow progress on the facebook group and the blog.

Oh my giddy aunt as my mother used to say … this is going to be beautiful.