Your mementos will be used in a mosaic to represent the losses, hardships, and experiences created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’d like to introduce you to Project Art Heals Utah.
We are a collaborative mosaic art project using empty COVID-19 vaccine vials, clean healthcare waste from University of Utah patient care areas, and physical and virtual mementos donated by those that have suffered loss due to COVID-19.
The main objective of the project is to create a means to collectively acknowledge and mourn the losses we have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to honor our shared resiliency.
Utah is the epicenter for the project, but it is all-inclusive for anyone feeling compelled to contribute.
Donate a physical or virtual memento
Physical memento: Contribute a physical memento in honor of your loss, to be included in the art piece. Items should be plastic, leather, metal, glass, ceramic, stone, wood. Nothing should be of real value, and flat items work best that are 1-2” in length.
Deadline for in-person contributions: April 30, 2022
Deadline for mail-in contributions: April 30, 2022
Drop off locations:
U of U Hospital
50 Medical Dr N
Salt Lake City, UT 84132
801-581-2121 | 24/7 | Map
Located at the bottom of the escalators in the main lobby of the U of U Hospital.
Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library
University of Utah
10 N 1900 E
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Contact | Hours | Map
Located on the main level, west entrance at the front desk.
U of U Health Sugarhouse Clinic
Coming soon.
Virtual memento: Contribute a virtual memento in honor of your loss, to be included on the Project Art Heals Utah website. These can include a word, a story, a name, a poem, a photo, a drawing, an emoji, a video, a podcast, a tag, a hashtag or anything else that you feel honors your loss.
Deadline for virtual contributions: April 30, 2022
Share your story
Story: Associate your physical memento by sharing your story and/or name, to be included on the Project Art Heals Utah website.
Deadline for story contributions: April 30, 2022
Volunteer
A volunteer memento of your time is another way to participate. We are anticipating needs in these three areas: physical memento box collection, social media coordination, and events management.
For more information on volunteering: https://artheals.utah.edu/volunteer-form/
Project Team
“On Tuesday December 22, 2020, I received my first COVID-19 vaccination. As a health care worker on the front lines of the pandemic, it was a very positive and hopeful experience. That day, I asked for a vial so that I could use it to make a tree ornament or perhaps drill a hole in it and attach it to my work lanyard. I wanted something to symbolize our path to healing. I wanted to honor our patients, honor our staff, honor our community, and honor science.
I never made that vial trinket because I put my sights on something bigger: something to pay a grander, collective tribute to what we have been through and continue to go through, to those we have lost to COVID, to the healthcare workers that continue to show up every day to fight this pandemic, and to the resiliency within each of us.” read more
–Emily Hagn, MD, Project Lead, Department of Anesthesiology and Division of Pain Management, University of Utah
Heidi Calega, Project Creative Lead, University of Utah BA ’96, is an extraordinary artist and will lead the creative efforts of this project and create sustainable art out of COVID vaccine vials, healthcare waste, and mementos from our community. Heidi currently resides in Denver and specializes in creating art out of items that would otherwise end up in the landfill.
Mosaic Art Work: Mementos & Vaccine Vials
The art piece design is themed in “hope” and comprised of people silhouettes (subject to change based on memento materials received). The foreground, or positive space, will be composed of the collected objects contributed by the community and arranged by the artist. The background, or negative space, will be composed of empty COVID-19 vaccine vials arranged by the artist. The art piece will be encased in a 2″ thick slow-curing resin.
Remembrance, Resiliency, Rejoice; a messenger in a vial.
Promote
