The LeftHand Artist Group wants to bring a little light to Longmont and is calling on the community to join in its effort to do so.
On Saturday, the group will hold a live public art installation — a human luminaria or “humanaria” — that aims to add some glow to Main Street. It is inviting people to make their own oversized luminarias and gather to line and light Main from 5 to 6 p.m.
The humanaria is the brainchild of Tony Kindelspire, secretary for LeftHand Artist Group, who said he was seeking a way not only to unite the community in the time of COVID but also to pay homage to people who died this year as well as those workers who are key to the fight against the virus.
“This is meant as a tribute, not just to those lost to COVID but any other illness or death in 2020 and in deference to those on the front lines,” he said.
Kindelspire, a poet, called the pandemic stories of doctors and nurses “horrific” and said courageous doesn’t even begin to describe health care workers who he dubs “load-bearing, sneaker-wearing warriors.”
Lamenting the loss of this year’s Longmont Parade of Lights, Kindelspire pitched the humanaria idea to the LeftHand Artist Group board during a recent Zoom meeting and the event was born.
Board President Salowa Skiredj-Salzer called the idea “beautiful,” and she is already envisioning lights lining the same route as the parade.
The idea particularly resonated with her and other board members because they just learned on Thanksgiving that the group had earned nonprofit status, Skiredj-Salzer said.
“This has really kind of given us juice,” she said, adding that as part of earning its 501(c)(3) credentials, “we’d like to find ways to address what’s happening in the community, but do it with some sensitivity. This isn’t about masks or not wearing masks, this is about commemorating the human beings fallen to this illness. … letting people know we’re still here as a solid town, Strongmont.”
Kindelspire said, “I look at luminarias, to me, it’s about ... peace and love and remembering those who have gone before. I think it could be a powerful message, and it gives people a chance to be a part of something safely.”
Participants will be asked to wear masks and maintain 6 to 10 feet of distance from others not in their households. That distance also is poignant to the times, Skiredj-Salzer said.
Attendees also are asked to think big when it comes to their luminarias.
Kindelspire suggests using paper grocery sacks and battery-operated touch-activated lights, what he calls “moon lights.” He said he has experimented with his own design and found a flashlight doesn’t produce enough light inside a bag. And he shared a photo of his own efforts, saying it was on the right track but needed more holes to let the light shine brighter.
A prototype of an oversized luminaria Tony Kindelspire has been tinkering with in advance of LeftHand Artist Group's Dec. 12 human luminaria event. (Photo courtesy of Tony Kindelspire) “We’ll see who turns out, maybe it will be just a few people, but just imagine if you had, all the way up and down Main from Third to Ninth (avenues), human beings holding large luminarias,” Kindelspire said of his hopes for Saturday.
RSVP is not required for the event, but those with questions can reach out to LeftHand Artist Group via its Facebook page.
The LeftHand Artist Group is all about exploring ways the arts can engage the community and loves to hold events to do just that, he said. But like arts groups across the city, county, state and nation, its opportunity to do so has been stilted by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a report on the impact of coronavirus on arts and culture, Americans for the Arts stated 96% of arts groups nationwide have had to cancel events, and the sector has seen a collective economic impact of $14.5 billion nationwide.
“Our thing is bringing the arts to everyone, participating all together,” Skiredj-Salzer said.
“We mix the arts together, and we make it accessible to all,” she said of LeftHand Artist Group and its events and its approach to blending music, visual arts, poetry, dance and more.
Its newly minted nonprofit status will allow it to expand that approach and offer supporters chances to make tax-deductible donations of money, materials and space, which has inspired visions of a physical location to meet or have events in the non-COVID future.
“It’s hard to be alone as an artist,” Skiredj-Salzer said.
Art can be cathartic, Kindelspire said. In addition to an expression of grief and mourning, he said Saturday’s event can also be a sign of solidarity in a difficult time.
“I see this personally, as we’re there to show gratitude, to say ‘we’re staying home, watching a lot of movies on Netflix, not going to parties … doing the right thing,” he said.
“ … If I show up and you show up and give me distance, and we’re masked up, (it’s the chance) to be part of something bigger than us. Because right now, we’re all part of something bigger than us. People will be talking about 2020 in 100 years, 500 years, and we’re living through it right now.”
