“ I got all your messages and loved every one. “  is the title of a public art project created by Julia Kidd. Uplifting messages appeared as signs in 11 iconic locations around the island of Martha’s Vineyard.  The piece was in development for over a year and the process involved the enrollment of numerous land owners and town officials to gain permission to use both public and private land.  The result was a two week, all-island installation. 

Kidd says about the project, “This installation was inspired by messages I received via social networking.  I was going through a rough time and the words from long ago friends in distant places were so healing they transformed me.  Although they were personal to me, I thought, ‘Who wouldn’t appreciate a message like that?'

As a psychotherapist I work with people on personal issues that ultimately reveal a universal desire to grow into being our fullest expression of self.  We are all connected in our desire to love and be loved. The acknowledgment of our own unique magnificence allows for that desire to be fulfilled. 

I selected messages that would best convey these themes and placed them in locations accessible to everyone. I wanted people to come upon them unexpectedly. The messages are alive in the interaction between the beauty the universe affirms for us and people going about their daily lives.” 

Kidd holds a Masters degree from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and is a Psychotherapist (LICSW) living and working on Martha’s Vineyard.  This is her first public art piece. 

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