Testimonials

I have been a mentor to independent artist Monica Moore, encouraging her pursuit to create a memorial to the COVID pandemic experience.

Her project documents and memorializes the coronavirus pandemic as it fades from view and the historical memory. Monica is creating an arts-based memorial to remember and honor lives lost. She does this so that the greatest pandemic of our generation is never forgotten.

It has been an honor for me to see her initial concepts exhibited at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum which included a hands-on art project for participants. This involved the opportunity for patrons to craft their own artistic hearts to help make the project expand. Hundreds participated. The entire partnership has been a hallmark experience for us in our seventy-five-year history as we now enter AAM accreditation and serve the arts and artists in our region.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of absorbing your The Hearts Project/Covid-19 Memorial—opening reception at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum.

The considerable thought, efforts, desire, and artistry that “fueled” the project to honor those who passed from Covid-19 (and their loved ones) is truly a work of love, and to be commended! I hope that the exhibit will travel the country to build unity and love—a common thread to join our lives together! It is an amazing Memorial, Monica.

During the COVID shutdowns, we had much to grieve. Some of us lost friends and family to COVID, and some of us were sick multiple times. Even introverts became weary of the isolation – no more time out with friends, no more going out to shop or see a movie for fun. But we are resilient, and we worked at having some fun, staying hopeful, and staying in touch. Much of this was possible through screens and technology. We attended virtual classes, Facetimed our friends and family, used social media, texted, watched YouTube, movies, and shows at home, and played video games and Wii Sports alone or with family. We also worked on projects at home and spent time with pets, family, and staff. Behind our screens and masks, we were still our unique selves. We were still inventive, creative, and connected. We were still living!

Each of our paper hearts is hand-painted with a different design, representing us as unique, creative individuals. The blue acetate represents the screens through which we experienced the world and socialized during our time of isolation. The heartbeat illustrates how we kept living and growing as individuals and as a community during this difficult shared experience.

This COVID memorial is beautiful. My brother died of COVID at 35. He was a nurse. We are in Chicago, but I have been searching for COVID memorial art, and a friend passed along this project and exhibition. Thank you for this incredible tribute.

I use the white heart because his fellow nurses referenced the white hats, a symbol for nursing heroes, apparently. They read a poem with a candlelight vigil in our backyard for my mother, me, and his widow. Very moving.

I wasn’t prepared or interested in thinking about COVID again. But my friend Monica Moore invited me to the closing of The Heart Project: A Third Dimension.

Once there, I wasn’t expecting to be moved to tears, but I was. The frontline workers’ piece tugged at me. Remembering how disposable healthcare staff became triggered memories I wanted to forget. Thinking about the craze of unwillingness to take a vaccine that could prevent death, or severe illness, sent me back to feeling frustrated with societal ignorance (as if that frustration isn’t an everyday experience now, AS IF).

Although I wasn’t a frontline worker, I worked in mental health at the hospital and tended to our essential businesses in the community. But I heard from my coworkers who worked on the frontline. I heard about their lack of supplies and support. I heard about the demands on them, yet many did not receive adequate reimbursement. Many got sick or died or lost their loved ones, while still required to work and watch helplessly as their patients died. My role, in reality, was a second-line worker. In mental health, we received the second wave. The fallout from COVID trauma. We listened to our traumatized patients. Helped them process the experience and work toward rebuilding their lives. But again, art reaches a place that words cannot. And I think that’s why Monica’s project hit me so hard.

Thank you for this important work. One of my best friends lost his mother to COVID, and we almost lost my stepmother, all during that first awful year. I’m grateful for medical professionals who treat the sick, for researchers who sought ways for us to fight and eventually protect against COVID, and for people like you whose empathy and creativity give us space to both grieve and hope.

Thanks for sending the materials about your Hearts Project. This helps me understand what you are doing and why. It is a moving tribute to those who lost their lives during the pandemic, those who loved them, and those who tried to help us. It is even more moving that you were able to enlist a community to engage with your vision and lend a hand, helping all through the grief. It’s wonderful that you are developing more opportunities to carry on and share.

Thank you very much for sending the pamphlet and article about “The Hearts Project.” I had no idea, living in Montana, that so many people in Arkansas died during the pandemic. What a beautiful way to honor them. Imagining myself into this creative process, I sense how you created meaning out of the suffering, slowly and carefully cutting the initial hearts as a way of remembering an individual who might be lost in the staggering statistics. I also appreciate the different themes in each panel, helping us remember all the frontline workers who bore the brunt of this trauma in its early stages. I felt a wave of pleasure in seeing Joel’s patient and precise work as he constructed the panels—structural integrity a challenge in frames so large, but also light. As we move into the next national trauma brought on by the incoming administration, it would be so easy for us to forget this period in our history. You have helped your communities find a way to remember. For me, remembering means re-membering: putting back together a fractured world. You have done this beautifully. Thank you for sharing your creative efforts with us.

Thank you for allowing RAM to kick off The Hearts Project! Our visitors have truly enjoyed and respected the beauty and purpose of your efforts. Bravo!!

When I first learned of Monica’s desire to cut more than 13,000 very small hearts, I thought it was an impossible task. I always believed it could become a monumental project. And it has. Everyone must see this important, most meaningful work.

Monica Moore’s presentation of The Hearts Project – A COVID-19 Memorial was powerful and deeply moving. As the director and creator, her passion was clear, and the room was silent with attention—you could hear a pin drop. Well-organized and heartfelt, she shared impactful photos of the project, leaving a lasting impression on all who attended.

On September 9, 2025, Monica delivered an interesting and passionate program to our P.E.O. Chapter about The Hearts Project! In her inspiring presentation she reminded us of the difficult challenges we all faced because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but most especially those who suffered great loss during this time. What a creative and heartfelt tribute to all who experienced the impact of the trauma of those years as well as those who continue to deal with the aftermath.

I loved getting to help my aunt with the open house for the Hearts Project—a memorial made to honor the many lives lost to COVID-19 here in Arkansas. While volunteering, I played a part in creating community art for the next exhibition and met so many people who were truly affected; it opened my eyes in such a big way. I’m beyond proud of my aunt for her commitment to this important work, and I can’t wait to see how many more lives are touched by this meaningful project.

The Covid-19 pandemic touched all of us in profound ways. Many of us lost family or friends, and all of us endured the isolation necessary to protect ourselves and our communities. When Monica Moore invited me to contribute to the Hearts Project, aimed at honoring the lives lost to Covid in Arkansas, I knew it was something I wanted to be part of. The simple, physical act of cutting the hearts made me feel connected to those so tragically affected by this disease. It also transformed the overwhelming statistics of Covid deaths—numbers I felt somewhat desensitized to after hearing them so often at the height of the pandemic—into the stories of real individuals. This project not only memorializes those who were lost, but the labor behind this project also, for me, sparked the connection that the pandemic stripped from all of us.

I’ve been doing pro bono work for The Hearts Project for some time. Monica Moore, the artist behind this incredible work, has a gift for taking everyday things and turning them into something meaningful and beautiful. What she’s doing isn’t just creating art—she’s helping people heal and remember. Her project gives voice to the healthcare workers, the people on the front lines, and all the families who had to say goodbye alone during the pandemic. These are stories that shouldn’t be forgotten. I help out in many different ways—editing, writing, social media, whatever needs doing. It’s just my way of giving back and helping to make sure these important stories reach as many people as possible. I’ve known Monica for thirty years, and she’s one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met—she pours her heart into everything she does. While Monica is talented in so many areas, The Hearts Project collaboration has touched more lives than anything else she’s done so far. That’s why I’m proud to support her work and help spread its message. I can’t wait to see how The Heart’s Project will continue to evolve in the coming years

I started cutting hearts for the Covid Hearts Project in September of 2022. I live in Saint Louis, MO and many people in the area didn’t believe Covid was real, even with our death rate being high. I offered to cut hearts because I liked the idea of contributing to a project that enabled people to truly understand the toll this virus was taking. Monica and her team have created amazing ways for the hearts to be displayed. Viewing 900 hearts displayed this way is more impactful than reading the number 900. My hope is this project will help people understand how much has been lost due to Covid-19, and to be a memorial to those who lost their lives.