Artist's patchwork project aims to warm quake victims' hearts

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A contemporary artist is stitching together volunteer-produced messages of love to brighten dreary evacuation shelters in areas hit by the March 11 earthquake.

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By ASAKO MIYASAKA / Staff Writer
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Artist's patchwork project aims to warm quake victims' hearts
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A contemporary artist is stitching together volunteer-produced messages of love to brighten dreary evacuation shelters in areas hit by the March 11 earthquake.

Katsuhiko Hibino, 52, is asking volunteers to send in patchwork squares they have appliqued and embroidered with colorful hearts, which will be pieced together by other volunteer stitchers into quilts that can be displayed at shelters.

Hibino came up with the idea, dubbed "Heart Mark Viewing," after wondering what he as an artist could do to encourage evacuees.

Now that quake survivors are past the initial emergency stage, they face an indefinite period of living in limbo in less-than-cosy conditions.

"I decided that I wanted to connect the hearts of people in disaster-struck regions with those of people in unaffected areas. By connecting those feelings and creating something from it, I hope we can create a relaxing space (for those in shelters)," Hibino said.

Soon after the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake, Hibino visited the disaster zone to distribute art supplies to cheer evacuees.

For the Heart Mark Viewing project, people are invited to create patches and mail them to: 3331 Arts Chiyoda gallery, 6-11-14 Sotokanda, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, 101-0021. Volunteers are also invited to join "quilting bee" workshops to sew together the quilts with evacuees.

Information on how to participate (in Japanese) is available on the project website at (http://heartmarkviewing.jp/).

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