The Hearts Find a Home

photo: the American Visionary Arts Museum, photo credit: Business Week www.avam.org

Now that I had the idea, process and the students' interest, I had to find a way to get the ceramic hearts OUT there and into people's hands. I knew that being able to offer something tangible in exchange for one dollar, especially when I could tell people that they just funded one full day's wage with that dollar, would be of interest to many people. I thought about starting a website and trying to sell them online. I did sell 50 to a very kind woman in the UK for her children's birthday parties. For as nice as that exchange was, it made me realize that I didn't want to be a middle man with the money.



One of my favorite places in the whole wide world is the American Visionary Arts Museum AND The Sideshow--their amazing, huge, unique museum gift store. Ted Frankel, proprietor of The Sideshow, and an artist himself, had just returned from a buying trip to Jacmel, Haiti. Lucky me, he happened to have photos of his adventures with him, and I eagerly listened as he described his experiences there: leading an art workshop with children then purchasing their art from them, dancing in the streets at night in a local celebration and working with established, resourceful Haitian artists. I immediately purchased two art works created by the children from Jacmel.

It was his experience with the children that piqued my interest the most. He went on to tell me about his very dear friend Judy Hoffman who resides in Florida but started a special non-profit organization called Art Creation Foundation for Children. This foundation serves 60 children from Jacmel who had never before been to school and who were not getting even one meal on a daily basis. At the ACFFC, children not only receive a meal, schooling, love and encouragement, they also receive training from local Haitian visual artists in the traditional art forms of their region, mainly papier mache. The foundation is actually creating the next generation of traditional Haitian artists. When I heard it was a non-governmental project not affiliated with any particular religion, I wondered if I could somehow connect my students with the children in Jacmel.

I mentioned the hearts to Ted and offered to bring them in if he thought he could sell them. I wanted all profits to go to ACFFC if he and Judy were all right with that. He said, "Sure! Hearts for Haiti! It'll be great!"

Soon thereafter, I brought in about 50 hearts. Ted and I got to talking again. What a wonderful thing this could be: My students could make the hearts, learn about Jacmel and the overwhelming struggle Haitian children face on a daily basis, have the opportunity to say their work is being sold in a very respected museum gift shop and feel good about the fact that all the profits would help support Art Creation Foundation for Children. I knew there was a good chance that my school would support the project and even allow my students to log the time spent making hearts as Student Service Learning Hours. There was potential for there to be art exchanges among the students, and reciprocal cultural discoveries to be made!

The Hearts had found a Home!!