Caroline Belanger
Light at Heart, 2021
Mixed media on canvas, with Plexiglas box
48 x 48 x 3 3/4 in.
(122.0 x 122.0 x 9.6 cm)
The Lamplighter School, Dallas, Texas

This delightful project was the follow-up to The Lamplighter Effect (2020), the collaborative art piece completed with paintings by the entire student body at The Lamplighter School—a large elementary school (pre-kindergarten through 4th grade) located in Dallas, Texas—and donated to its annual auction fundraiser in 2020. That year, the theme of the event was “One World, One Lamplighter” and the iconic symbol used to promote it was a butterfly. Since the students and faculty were enamored of the work, I was asked to contribute to event again in 2021. 

This time, the theme of the event was “We Heart Lamplighter,” with the classic symbol used freely. This gave me the opportunity to do something different, and I quickly found inspiration in the school’s unofficial mascot... the chicken! As part of its curriculum, the school maintains a small barn with chickens that are hatched and raised by the students, even selling the eggs and investing the profits. From the youngest students to the "seniors” in 4th-grade, the chickens have been a beloved part of the Lamplighter community for more than 5 decades.  

To create this piece, I used the more than 400 watercolor paintings completed by the student body to create a heart out of hundreds of chicken feathers. Some of the feathers appear to float across its extremities, almost dancing in slow motion, while others cluster in the colorful center, huddled in the safe, warm, and layered embrace of the nest-like heart. From the youngest students only starting their educational journey to the oldest who are moving on into the outside world, they share the commonality of learning the value of being Light at Heart.