A Heart for Community: Westwood View art teacher creates art with the help of her students for the KC Parade of Hearts

With her eyes glued to her paintbrush, Westwood View art teacher Paige Crosswhite focused on filling in the last stroke of a gigantic microphone on her heart-shape mural. After hours of work her painting was finally done.

A vintage business sign stretched across the left side of the 5-foot by 5-foot heart. 

A silver trumpet player blasted his horn on the right.

And of course the classic white “KC” lettering stretched across the middle. 

This heart mural, created for the Kansas City Parade of Hearts, was placed at the Kauffman Stadium to be seen by thousands of Royals fans from April to August 2023.

Oh, and the rim of the heart was painted by Crosswhite’s kindergarten through sixth grade students.

“The [KC Parade of Hearts] is about uniting the community,” Crosswhite said. “And I thought why not include the community that I know so well: Westwood View.”

The KC Parade of Hearts is an annual exhibition of local artists, who paint scenes on large hearts to be placed around Kansas City. The organization “celebrates diversity, unites communities and supports nonprofits” according to their website. Once a year the organization opens up applications to the public to have their creation showcased.

Crosswhite took a mural she’d completed in 2020 for the 100-year anniversary of 18th and Vine and recreated it as a unique heart-shaped panorama for the 2023 Parade of Hearts. The heart, titled “Sing Out,” conveys the theme of the emotional excitement around jazz and the historical district. 

“It was a great experience as an artist and as a teacher to be able to include my elementary school students in a big super public project,” Crosswhite said. “It’s just fun for me to do big projects like this.”

Crosswhite applied to the Parade of Hearts 2024 showcase along with 468 other applicants in early November and included a rough draft of the floral heart and a statement detailing her vision for the project. Hearts such as Crosswhite’s will be auctioned off to bidders later in the year.

“The 2024 application was a lot more competitive,” Crosswhite said. “Some of my friends that had done it previously in the past did not get in. When the results came out I walked inside [Westwood View] and opened up my phone in the office and basically screamed. There was a meeting going on and they looked at me, but I just walked by.”

Crosswhite will continue to incorporate her students in the artistic process with the 2024 Parade of Hearts. She’ll pick up her heart for the parade on Dec. 2 and begin to paint with her students. Inspired by Chinese Ming vases and Dutch pottery, Crosswhite hopes to create a collage of flowers with a knit pattern in the background. 

“I’m doing kind of a floral symbolic thing this year and I’m pretty excited about how it’s gonna turn out,” Crosswhite said. “I’m a big gardener as well so I thought to add some local flora on the piece.”

In addition to the 2024 Parade of Hearts that will be shown in April, Crosswhite hopes to apply to paint soccer ball sculptures with her students for the World Cup in 2026.

“Including the community is the most meaningful part of creating artwork like this, and creating something that’s bigger than yourself,” Crosswhite said.