Art helps Chattanooga’s homeless population at the Hart Gallery

Chattanooga, TN (WDEF) – A special piece of art on Rossville Avenue kicked off a movement to help Chattanooga’s homeless population.

When Chattanooga Hart Gallery Executive Director Ellen Heavilon saw the Mark Making obelisk on Rossville Avenue that features tiles made by Chattanooga’s homeless community, she decided to start a movement.

Brooke Montague works as the Hart Gallery’s art director. She said, Heavilon “was so moved by the art, that she began to buy art materials and take them down to the Community Kitchen, and saw such talent in that population that’s often overlooked and was inspired to create a home for art of the homeless.”

That’s how the Hart Gallery was formed.

Thanks to the gallery’s community garden, homeless artists get a lunch complete with goodies from the garden on the Gallery’s Open Studio days. But even when nothing’s growing, the garden still features bricks with the names of the homeless community members we’ve lost.

James Edger is the artist working on those “Hartworks.” He said, “I’ve been doing Hartworks, that’s this type of brickwork, nearly a couple of years just off and on, and doing art for them for about four years.”

And that art helps Edger keep a roof over his head.

Montague added, “Our artists, once they’ve shown an investment in the gallery, then we go through the paperwork process with them to be able to sell their work, they keep 60% of the sale of their art. They pay forward 10% to a charity of their choice, and then 30% goes back into programs at Hart Gallery.”

Learn more about the Hart Gallery here.