The House of Neighborly Service Life Center in east-central Loveland sprouted an indoor tree recently. But not one made from bark and branch, but instead of crocheted plastic bags and stucco, all meant to raise funds and inspire hope. Loveland artists Amelia Furman and Heather Fortin Rubald have recently constructed a life-size “tree” in the Life Center’s entryway, combining both painting and sculpture reaching from the floor to the ceiling.
The piece is not just for looks, though, as the hope is to add 10,000 leaves to its arching branches, each representing a $250 donation that would be used to pay off the Life Center building. “The tree represents the Life Center,” said Executive Director Cherri Houle. “It’s this overarching .
.. supportive piece in the community that shelters.
(It) is this covering piece that is about donors, about Life Center partners, about community partnerships working together to serve those in need.” Houle said the idea came to her in a dream of all places. She said around five years ago she had a dream where she was walking in the Life Center and she saw a tree on the wall, adding that in the dream she had a sense that people would need inspiration and resources in the near future.
She said that while she had the idea to turn this dream into a sign of hope, it also would be a good way to address the cost of the building that HNS inhabits along 11th Street and serve as a debt reduction campaign. She said when she had the dream five ye.