As the classic “Damn Yankees” show tune goes, you gotta have heart.
To belatedly celebrate its 20th anniversary (due to the pandemic), the community organization known as Art with a Heart will donate a giant mosaic heart sculpture to the city of Baltimore.
“The Heart of Baltimore” is an eight-by-six-foot sculpture consisting of glass, mirrors, tiles and ceramics, weighing more than 1,000 pounds. It will be installed for permanent display Sept. 1 downtown on Pratt Street, between Charles and Hanover streets.
“We wanted to do something to give back to the community that we serve and love,” said Randi Pupkin, founder and CEO of Art with a Heart.
Based in Hampden, Art with a Heart is a nonprofit with the mission of enhancing people’s lives through the medium of visual arts. A Pikesville resident and former litigator, Pupkin said she founded the organization in March of 2000 “out of the trunk of my car and the shed in my backyard, going into the community at full throttle in four sites — two group homes for emotionally troubled adolescent boys, an Alzheimer’s facility and the House of Ruth. … Over the course of time, the roots that I planted grew a tree, and the tree grew branches.”
The organization now offers more than 12,000 art classes annually; community service and public art initiatives with more than 4,000 volunteers, including the installation of over 300 public art projects in Baltimore and Israel; the HeartWorks workforce development program with 80% job placement; and the Art of Leadership program for 10th and 11th grade students to dialogue and have experiential opportunities.
For information, visit artwithaheart.net/.
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