Kansas City is hosting a three-month-long Parade of Hearts to showcase the heart sculptures of 123 local artists and raise money for Mid-America Regional Council, AltCap, University of Kansas Health System, KC Foundation and the regional artist community, according to theparadeofhearts.com.
The parade contains 154 unique sculptures designed by artists with ties to the city who tell their own story, located outside of business, parks, etc. ranging from Lenexa to outside of Mosby. The “parade” will feature the hearts popping up around the city, for people to view as they pass.
The main goal of the parade is to spread love and strengthen the community while sharing the city’s rich history, according to project manager Jerilynn Burris.
Following the parade, there will be an auction where bidders have a chance to buy hearts. Additionally, throughout there is availability to donate to the various charities.
The donations will go specifically towards advancing local artists’ careers and those impacted by COVID-19 through the University of Kansas Health System. The original pre-pandemic vision to create “hearts” sprouted from the cardiac unit of KU Health, according to Burris.
Local artist Kirsten Mims, submitted her application into a pool of roughly 700 other artists in September of last year. She discovered the parade through an Instagram ad and immediately knew it was something she was interested in.
She was ecstatic learning through an email that she and her five-foot-tall fiber glass heart designs had been accepted as one of many artists to participate via email on October 15, 2022.
Mims’ work is inspired by and dedicated to her fathers resilience throughout his experiences with strokes as he was always her biggest encourager in creating her artworks.
“When I was a kid, he’d give me his old canvases and let me kind of mess them up,” Mims said.
Another participant in the parade is former East parent Barb Mizik, whose heart will be located outside of the KU Cancer Center. This location — as well as the design — is special to her because recently her sister was diagnosed with breast and ovarian cancer and underwent treatment at that very center.
In addition to the heart being located in the lawn outside the cancer center, the color of Mizik’s heart is coincidentally teal — the color representing ovarian cancer support — which she didn’t know until after deciding on the color.
“They didn’t know my story, so it just kind of happened, and that was just a really wonderful thing,” Mizik said. “I hope it can be something that uplifts [the] spirits of people driving down Shawnee Mission Parkway or going to the cancer center to be treated.”
Countless hours were put into the design and execution of the hearts, according to Mims. Different artists picked up the base hearts on different days, depending on how long it was estimated to take to finalize the heart. However, they were all — for the most part — picked up from Dimensional Innovations, in early-mid December.
To paint the hearts, some artists worked in storage spaces while some worked from the comfort of their own homes. Mims, for example, had a friend, whose mom had a storage space where she was able to paint her heart with the help of her two-year-old daughter, Joy.
For her, this meant crafting a cardboard heart for her daughter to design alongside her. Joy painted with Mims throughout the process and was one of the people featured in the heart.
In the painting, climbing over the “K” in “KC” is toddler Joy. The meaning behind the heart represents what Mims loved about her childhood, and what she envisions for her daughter. From playing at parks, getting to know other children and creating friendships, she wants her child to do everything Mims loved doing in her childhood.
Mims heart, entitled “Mama Lied When She Said Outside Isn’t Going Anywhere” and featuring children playing in the clouds, reading and exploring, will be displayed on 548 Central Ave, just outside of Splitlog Coffee Shop.
As for Mizik, the heart symbolizes different places and people that make the city special. It’s blue, with a gold rim, and showcases stars representing the heroes in the city, a rainbow representing __ and a bright sun to bring an uplifting look to the piece.
“[The heroes are meant to be] from the well-known people, to the supermarket workers and of course the medical people that have helped during the pandemic,” Mizik said.
The artists were able to talk with each other during the duration of designing but didn’t get to meet in person according to Mims. They first met at the showcase of the hearts, hosted at the Hyvee Stadium, where all the artists were able to see all the different hearts and meet one another.
The parade will not necessarily be an annual thing, but is hoped to continue. The future for the parade is being evaluated to see what it could look like. This year, it has been an opportunity for the city to enhance the community, and for local artists to share their art with the people of Kansas City.
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I hope this become an annual event. It has been a wonderful event chasing these hearts around town with my daughter. Hope you at least keep the heart up a little longer.