WS Development Announces Its Newest Outdoor Installation, Heart Warming, An Art Experience That Will Lift Spirits While Supporting Local Senior Citizens Isolated by the Pandemic

On View February 11 Through April 3, 2022
Across Six WS Neighborhood Destinations in New England: Boston Seaport, Legacy Place, Derby Street Shops, MarketStreet Lynnfield, The Street Chestnut Hill, and Garden City Center

Massachusetts-based developer, WS Development, announces one of its most exciting public art installations yet: Heart Warming. Comprised of larger-than-life hearts, Heart Warming nods to the 120th anniversary of Sweethearts Candies conversation hearts, which were originally made at the NECCO Factory in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, and were recently revived by Spangler Candy Company. With uplifting sayings reminiscent of those now found on the beloved candy, such as Be Kind and Proud of U, the hearts will range in scale from 4 to 10 feet and will be fabricated in a variety of pastel colors, just like their edible counterparts. On view just in time for Valentine’s Day, from February 11 until April 3, 2022, Heart Warming can be experienced in its most robust iteration at The Rocks at Harbor Way, Boston Seaport’s newest green space (111 Harbor Way) where eleven different hearts will live. It can also be found in singular variations across five additional WS outdoor, neighborhood destinations in New England: Legacy Place (Dedham, MA), MarketStreet Lynnfield (Lynnfield, MA), Derby Street Shops (Hingham, MA), The Street Chestnut Hill (Chestnut Hill, MA), and Garden City Center (Cranston, Rhode Island).
 
Ensuring that the installation can radiate warmth and feelings of connectedness beyond the physical, WS has partnered with local charity Letters Against Isolation. Founded in March 2020 by two Cambridge-based sisters during the pandemic, Letters Against Isolation works to combat loneliness among seniors by sending encouraging letters to those in assisted living and senior homes across the world. Remarkably, in under two years, over 325,000 letters have been written to 19,000 senior citizens in six countries through the organization. Now, at each heart Warminginstallation across WS properties, visitors will be prompted to fill out a postcard with a heart-warming message and drop it into a designated mailbox. Letters Against Isolation will distribute the letters to local seniors, as well as send blank postcards for seniors to also write their own heartwarming messages to others in the community. To spread additional positivity to the recipients of the letters, Sweethearts Candies will provide hundreds of boxes of candy printed with messages supporting the brand’s theme for 2022: words of encouragement.

“We are so excited about the arrival of heart Warming. True to name, Heart Warmingaims to create feelings of encouragement, connection, and positivity in the midst of another pandemic winter. We are so proud that this installation has the ability to impact both visitors at our property, and the elderly in our community, creating feel-good moments that have ripple effects well beyond our neighborhoods. Similar to our installation last winter, where flocks of hot pink flamingos decorated the properties and nodded to the invention of the lawn flamingo here in New England, Heart Warmingpays homage to the conversation hearts that originated right here in Boston, just blocks away from Seaport. We cannot wait to share it with New Englanders and more importantly, see how New Englanders share it with each other,” says Lindsay Binette, Senior Director, Brand Marketing, WS Development.

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