Hood River Shelter Services to Unveil Public Art Project Titled "What Home Means to Me" Nov 6th
A teaser image of the project from Hood River Shelter Services.
By Cole Goodwin
After years of delay due to the covid pandemic, the Tile Project, a community art fundraiser for The Hood River Warming Shelter, is finally ready for unveiling. The 3 panel project is the result of 108 souls ranging in age from 6 months to much older and everyone in between, painting a tile with the theme “What Home Means to Me”.
Some of the tiles were painted by house-having members of the community while others were painted by those experiencing houselessness. Community members who donated money to “buy a tile” to paint helped to cover the cost of those who could not afford to buy a tile.
So what does home mean to Hood River locals?
“People did a lot of mountains and rivers and trees and gardens, people painted their bedrooms or hearts with their family names inside, houses, the bridge, and people painted a lot of pets, people love their animals. So it was a real mix. One little kid said home is where my mom is with a big heart,” said Sarah Bellinson, Project Coordinator.
“It’s just interesting what people think about when they think about home, Home is a mix of things,” said Bellinson.
Bellinson said that they were excited to be unveiling the project to the community, just in time for the reopening of the shelter for winter.
“It was a really fun project. I loved it. This was a really fun thing. Each of these tiles is just a piece of art that came from somebody's heart and soul.”
The community is invited to come witness the unveiling, enjoy each little piece of art and learn more about the Hood River Shelter located on Oak Street. The unveiling will take place on Sunday November 6, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. at the base of the driveway at the Hood River County Court, 309 E. State Street.
“We’d like to say a special thank you to Leoni Montenegro for creating the panels on which the tiles are mounted,” said Bellinson.
Montenegro, a licensed contractor and a furniture maker who built and installed the art installation at the Hood River Courthouse.
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