Why the Gnome Project?

At the heart of this project is a belief: some of the more important things we do often happen when we're in sync with something larger than ourselves. When we do things that we cannot take direct credit for. When we move through our day, weaving in and out of interactions- some planned, some unexpected- we become smaller parts of a bigger orchestra. A song on the radio at just the right moment, a call from a friend you haven't spoken to in years, a fleeting connection with a stranger that lingers in your mind. Some call it coincidence, others call it synchronicity, serendipity, or even magic.

These gnomes are placed out in the world with that idea in mind. They are just small concrete figures, nothing more. But if you look beyond their basic physicality and consider the story of how they got there- the people who have handled them, moved them, or simply left them for others- you might see something else. A message. A reminder that you are part of something. That others, nameless and unseen, have contributed to the moment you find yourself in. And maybe, in your own way, you'll feel like adding to it.

A while back, I made a series of small figurines- a monkey holding a heart. I called them Love Monkeys. It was Christmas, and I handed out around 30 of them to friends, asking them to hang them around town as a simple act of giving.

One of those friends had a 12-year-old nephew whose mother had recently passed away. His father had died years earlier. She told me the boy didn't want to give the monkey away. He had already lost too much.

That stuck with me.

I put these gnomes out hoping they'll travel- that people will move them, keep them in public spaces, and let them be part of a shared story of connection. But I've come to realize that for some, their meaning will be different. And maybe that's part of it. Maybe some things are meant to be let go of and given away, while for someone else, the same thing might be meant to be held onto.

Either way, they are out there. And for those who find them, what happens next is up to them.