Home  >  Prospectus

Prospectus

Prospectus: Seeing from the Heart

Collaborative art-making about compassion

THE AIM of Seeing from the Heart is to foster conversations, interactions, and connections among local residents – centered around a socially meaningful art project. Seeing from the Heart may help spark social relationships and familiarity between art-making participants, and may help educate community members about art in the context of collaboration and sharing.

TEAMS: Based on information that applicants provide during sign-up, the organizers will match participants into teams, with attention to scheduling, diversity and compatibility of interests, and notify them by October 1.

  • Adult teams will include about 4–5 artists and art-making enthusiasts, of all experience levels.
  • Family teams will include 2–3 families. Each family comprises 1–2 parents or guardians and 1 or more of their children. Parents/guardians attend and fully participate with their children. Seeing from the Heart discussions involve thinking about abstract or sensitive topics, and may be most successful for middle and high school-age students, rather than younger kids. We encourage parents/guardians to consider the success and enjoyment of all team members, when deciding which of their children to include in Seeing from the Heart.

In all teams, members will collaboratively develop a vision for the joint artwork to showcase each individual’s expression as well as highlight or express relationships between individual components within a team’s artwork. Teammates will share artistic ideas with one another, and will help assemble the finished piece. Discussions are intended to be positive, and critiques mutually supportive, gentle, and encouraging.

Each team will have opportunities for prompted discussion about theme topics, such as empathy, compassion, reciprocity, commonalities, and differences. The discussions may guide or influence the team’s artwork design.

Team members are expected to be active and diligent in participating. The activities should be fun and inspiring.

THEME: Each team creates a collaborative artwork, to address the theme of mutual compassion, empathy, respect, and friendship across boundaries or differences. To avoid triteness and kitsch, participants are encouraged not to include heart ❤ symbols or vision symbols in their artwork.

TEACHERS in local schools (grades 6–12 or university) and activity leaders in local senior homes or other organizations are invited to adapt or tailor Seeing from the Heart as a class/group project. Please contact the organizers to discuss curriculum opportunities and collaborations.

PERSONAL ITEM OR STORY: Participants will be encouraged to bring either a personally meaningful item from home or a personal story, to talk about with teammates at the kickoff meeting. This is optional, but it’ll be an opportunity for each participant to learn about their teammates. And if the team finds that the item or story can potentially be incorporated into the team’s artwork, that could render the art making process even more special and powerful.

KICKOFF MEETING: All participants should attend the Seeing from the Heart festival kickoff session on Saturday, October 5, 10:20am to 12:30pm at Montclair Art Museum. (Free parking is available onsite.) We’ll have an all-hands orientation, and then participants will break into their teams for a fun icebreaker activity, followed by initial discussion on art-making ideas. We’ll also show the found materials that we’ve gathered from the community, to stimulate excitement about art-making possibilities.

TEAM SESSIONS: Each team meets 3 times (or more if they choose) during October and November, for artwork design and discussion, execution planning, and final assembly/finishing of the joint artwork. We will provide a list of co sponsor venues and available times where team sessions may be held. (Adult participants may informally arrange their own venues if desired.) Between team session days, team members work on making, refining, and iterating their art piece components. Total estimated time for team sessions plus individual art-making is 8 hours, optionally more if the team wishes.

TEAM ROLES: Each team is a non-hierarchical group of peers with equal responsibility and equal respect. At the same time, every team member brings unique and different perspectives, experiences, skills, and interests. Members share or rotate team responsibilities and administrative tasks, such as:

  • Scheduler/reminder: Contact all team members to find and choose available times for team sessions. Send a reminder for each team session to all team members. The team scheduler should arrange an initial team session during the second week of October, and ensure that an ongoing series of team sessions is scheduled.
  • Liaison/notes-taker: Write down or journal interesting or meaningful discussion points and team decisions. Share notes with teammates. Communicate with Seeing from the Heart organizers to share progress, concerns, and ideas.
  • Facilitator: Help the team move sequentially through discussion topics, to keep discussions on track. Call on members during team session to ensure that everyone can speak and be heard.
  • Timekeeper: Notify the team of agenda item allocated time passage.

GUIDANCE PACKETS: We will distribute packets of information to Seeing from the Heart participants to help guide the teams’ collaborative art-making. The packets include:

  • suggested agenda for each team session
  • discussion prompts (with appropriate levels for adults and kids), to help participants talk together:
    • about participants’ values and goals, and what they want out of the art-making experience
    • about compassion and other topics of the Seeing from the Heart theme, in relation to personal experiences
    • about developing and refining art ideas
    • about making art that expresses theme concepts
  • guidelines for scheduling, organizing, and running the team sessions
  • guidelines on how to share positive and constructive feedback about art creations.
  • parent/guardian guide on how to run family team sessions at a level appropriate for the children’s ages
  • suggested steps for individual participants to make and iterate their artwork components between team sessions
  • roster of team members and contact information
  • team session venue locations and available times
  • organizer contacts

FORMAT SPECIFICATIONS: Each team may choose one of two formats/mediums for its artwork.

  • A ceiling-hung 3-D mobile. The mobile must hang from a single point at the top, and must not be attached at any other point. Maximum radius of the mobile below that point must not exceed 2 feet in any hanging configuration. In other words, the mobile must be free to swing 360º without ever hitting a wall 2 feet away from the center. Total height must not exceed 5 feet, from top point to bottom. Total weight must not exceed 30 pounds. The mobile, including all components, wires, and hooks, must be strong enough to withstand an additional 10 pound weight attached at any point, without breaking. The mobile must not have any sharp edges, points, or corners protruding outward. In addition to the mobile, teams may optionally submit a 1-minute video showing the mobile in its natural motion, to be viewed at Montclair Art Museum after the mobiles are relocated for display at another local venue.
  • A wall-hung 2-D patchwork/collage. The artwork should lie flat against the wall and must not extend beyond a 3×5-foot or 5×3-foot rectangle. The work must be mounted securely so that it can hang on a wall without sagging. No protrusion or thickness of the work may exceed 4 inches distance from the wall. Materials on the work must be fastened so they do not move in indoor ventilation breezes. The materials must be durable and strong enough to not break or tear during normal handling. The finished work must include hardware for hanging.

These formats give the team opportunities for jointly-envisioned overall artwork design, as well as individually-created art components by each team member. The individual art components should be arranged to speak, or relate, to one another within the team’s artwork, by their placement within the work, expressing the team’s joint vision.

The artistry of the finished work and all its components should be designed by the human team members, and not by other individuals nor by artificial intelligence.

MATERIALS: The teams may use found materials and will have access to a collection of found materials (donated by Montclair-area residents and businesses), as well as additional materials they find themselves. A small budget for supplies is also available.

SUBMISSION: Finished artworks are due December 1. Each artwork should be signed (on the back or otherwise unobtrusively) by all its creators. Submit the artwork with a list of all the creators’ names, correctly spelled, and an overall brief statement of the team’s artwork vision, to appear in the exhibition program. Each team member may also optionally submit an artist bio and/or an individual statement on the artwork.

EXHIBITION: Seeing from the Heart artworks will be exhibited together at Montclair Art Museum for a public opening celebration on Thursday December 12. All participants are invited, as well as friends and family. The opening is scheduled during MAM’s Free First Thursday Winter Art Market, ensuring significant public exposure for all of the Seeing from the Heart artworks.

From December 13 thru January 5, 2025, Seeing from the Heart 2-D patchwork/collage artworks remain on exhibit at MAM. The 3-D mobile artworks are exhibited at other public venues and galleries in Montclair.

PUBLICITY AND RECOGNITION: An exhibition program for Seeing from the Heart will be published and promoted. We’ll publicize and promote the exhibition widely, and will give genuine, public recognition and appreciation, naming all art-making participants. We’ll seek news coverage featuring our art creators.

DOCUMENTATION: For documentation and promotion purposes, all participants give Seeing from the Heart permission to photo- and video-record participants and their artworks, and to display the recordings to all audiences. Any participant wishing to withhold permission must notify Seeing from the Heart in writing in advance before the recording occurs.

DISPOSITION: Ownership of each artwork is retained by its creators. After exhibition, the team may separate their artwork into its components for disposition to individual team members, unless they agree otherwise. We encourage and will assist teams to continue exhibiting their artworks at other local sites.

ELIGIBILITY: Participation is limited. Participants in adult teams must be age 18 or older.

FREE AND VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION: Participation in Seeing from the Heart is free (no charge) and voluntary. Costs for materials, venues, and publicity are minimal, and are borne by the co-sponsoring organizations and individual donors, not participants. No participants or organizers are compensated by Seeing from the Heart. The organizers of Seeing from the Heart provide only suggested matches of individuals into teams, suggested activities, and some materials. No vetting of participants is performed; no contract with participants exists; and no responsibility or liability for the suggestions is assumed. Seeing from the Heart provides no insurance for theft, loss, or damage of artwork, in transit or on display. Seeing from the Heart will make every effort to handle artwork with care and respect. Your applying to or signing up for Seeing from the Heart constitutes acceptance of all terms of this prospectus.