Art With a Heart Creates Sculpture with 2,500 Handmade Tile and Glass Hearts for the City of Baltimore

Photo Credit: Ali Mirsky

A special public art project representing hope, resilience, community, creativity and grit was created by more than 1,000 volunteers for the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Learn about the project done through Art With a Heart, a local non-profit in the story told by Ali Mirsky, Director of Community Service and Public Art.

“Back in 2020, as a gift to commemorate our 20th Anniversary, Art With a Heart decided to create an 8 foot heart mosaic sculpture that would be donated to the city of Baltimore. This started right before COVID shut the world down. However, using creative methods of virtual service and distribution of materials, we managed to engage more than 1,000 volunteers in the creation of this community mosaic. 

It had over 2,500 handmade ceramic hearts created and adhered to the base using 254 Platinum thinset. Volunteers, students and interns of all ages came to work on the mosaic in our office throughout the year. We used LATICRETE 254 platinum thinset for the coating of the heart and hearts and glass. We then grouted using SPECTRALOCK® 1 premixed grout in Midnight Black for the grout. 

Photo Credit: Ali Mirsky

The Hearth of Baltimore sculpture will be installed in front of the UMD Hospital in downtown Baltimore later this year. This project is a symbol of hope, resilience, community, creativity and grit. 

We love LATICRETE® products!”