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Monroe’s Caitlin Loehr created the two entwined hearts shot through with Cupid’s arrow and the special Valentine message, “From Stepney With Love.”
Last Thursday’s snowstorm felled the message, but the hearts and a series of 350 smaller hand-cut hearts strung from one end of the green to the other are still standing strong.
“I wanted to make art that would spread joy to everyone who sees it,” said Loehr, a visual merchandising designer.
This is the first in a series of public art installations entitled “Art for the Green” for 2017, originated by the Save Our Stepney Task Force.
Lee Hossler, a member, said the group is seeking artists’ ideas for future installations, which begin in March and run in three-month installments.
“They’re semi-permanent,” Hossler said. “They stay up long enough for people to enjoy them.”
The installations will end for the year in November, just in time for the town to add holiday decorations around the green’s gazebo.
Loehr enlisted community volunteers to hand cut the bright red hearts in the current artwork. Last year, she created an installation the took advantage of the unusual qualities of fluorescent yarn, Hossler said.
“When the lights (from the gazebo) hit it, the yarn looked like it was vibrating,” he said.
Loehr is a graduate of Vermont’s Bennington College, where she earned a degree in theater design. She also studied visual arts at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Georgia.
She worked as a visual merchandising designer for Macy’s department stores and now creates visual merchandising displays for West Elm in Westport.
The Save Our Stepney Task Force is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, more specifically to preserve and enhance the character of the village of Stepney, incorporated within the Town of Monroe.
Would you like to display your art on the green? Ask for an public art entry packet at dlhossler@sbcglobal.net.
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