HAPPY CLOUDS
Happy Clouds was originally performed by Stuart outside Tate Modern in London in 2009. At the height of the UK recession, fed up with the doom and gloom of the media, and wanting to do something simple to uplift spirits, Stuart pumped thousands of eco friendly, artificial, smiley faced clouds into the sky. The work became a movement, and subsequently has been performed around the globe.
Happy Clouds have been seen in Australia, Ireland, Milan, and Russia.
LOVE ARTS FESTIVAL LEEDS
In 2017 Stuart took over a shipping container outside Leeds City Art gallery in the UK. he installed a custom painting wall and created some brand new paints.
Part of Love Arts mental health festival, humans for every walk of life helped complete the happy mural. The happening showed that community, creativity and connection can help foster wellbeing and happiness.
Check out the timelapse video to see the process!
JUMP
The City of Melbourne in Australia commissioned Stuart to produce a piece of participatory sculpture as part of their program in Federation Square.
Stuart conceived jump as a way to invite the public into a space where they could let go of inhibitions, move, play and come into the present moment through connecting with their bodies and one another.
The piece ran for a month in 2013
and is set to be repeated in Denver as part of the first full Happy City project.
HOSTILEDESIGN.ORG
Shocked by what he calls "Designs Against Humanity" Stuart launched HostileDesign.org in Jan 2018 after seeing anti homeless designs retrofitted to benches in his home town in England. Stuart posted a picture of a bench on his facebook, by the next morning it had almost a million views, so he decided that social media would be the perfect platform to tackle the issue.
Stuart staged an improptu happening 'Love Bench' in which memebers of his community decorated the hostile benches in Bournemouth to show love and solidarity for the homeless population in the town.
That night the council removed their hostile bars. Since then Mumbai have swapped anti-homeless spikes for flowers and Toronto have removed hostile design too!
The campaign is designed to raise awareness about Hostile Design and lead to discussions around compassionate and inclusive public space.
To get involved please visit hostileDesign.org
You can watch a BBC news piece about the project here:
MIND CREATIVE THERAPIES FUND
Stuart is an ambassador for Mind, the Uk Mental Health charity. As someone who struggles with a panic disorder and anxiety himself, he understands the power of art and creativity when it comes to mental wellness.
So in 2011 he curated Mindful, and exhibition in the Old Vic Tunnels, a 30,000 square foot labyrinth of disused railway tunnels underneath Waterloo station in London.
Stuart was joined by artists including Tracey Emin, The Chapman Brothers, Mat Collishaw, Sarah Lucas and others.
He hosted a Gala fundraising dinner with Stephen Fry and Lord Melvyn Brag, at the Imperial War Museum (the original site of Bedlam).
The project kick started the Creative Therapies fund which has now helped over xxx thourout England and Wales. The fund is going strong and continues to provide support for innovative creative programs throught England and Wales.
You can find out more about the fund on the Mind website here: https://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/local-minds/creative-therapies-fund/
SOMETHING AMAZING
On the morning of September 1st the sun came up in Southampton, Glasgow, London, Chelmsford, Nottingham and Oxford, to reveal giant balloon sculptures had been secretly installed over night.
The simultaneous nationwide surprise artwork was designed to raise awareness for female egg donation. To get the conversation started and inform women of ways they could change another woman's life.
The good news is, two years on at least 3 children have come into the world as a direct result of the intervention.
Check out the video below to learn how it came together, and if you are interested in finding out how you can donate and give another woman the ultimate gift visit sharesomethingamazing.com
HUG HUDDLE
On March 26th 2018, we took to London's iconic London Bridge for one reason, and one reason only to get as many hugs in as possible!
A few thousand hugs later and we were pretty convinced that we live in a friendly rather than hostile environment, strangers are friends we've not met yet, and that a good hug can make all the difference to how we feel.
Check out the video below of what was a truly special day:
MY HAPPY PLACE
Stuart was invited by the colleective / POD in conventry to create an immersive installation inside The Coventry Centre for Contemporary Art.
To coincide with world mental health day, the community came together for a procession through the city, creating placards and banners sharing what makes them happy.
Inside CCCA Stuart showed a rotating, kinetic unicorn, a light installation and a series of works on paper relating to things that made him happy.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HAPPINESS
Stuart was invited to the House of Lords in London by the UN to mark the first International Day of Happiness on March 20th 2013, where he was honoured with a Happiness Hero Medal.
All 179 of the UN's member states adopted a resolution that happiness should be a fundamental human goal, dedicating the 20th March each year as a day of happiness.
BOSCAC
The Boscombe Contemporary Art Center is the UK's smallest art gallery. It also happens to live on the most deprived high street in the whole of the South of England. It also happens to be inside one of only two of England's functioning police Boxes.
Stuart has installed an empowering sculpture 'You are love' on the top of the space and curates a changing program of happenings, exhibitions, talks and events for the local community.
For more info on Boscac see the website:
MY HAPPY COLOURING FLIP BOOK
In 2012 Stuart created 'My Happy Colouring Flip Book' to benefit the creative therapies fund at Mind.
The Amazon bestseller provided a simple way for anyone to get creative and tap into the mindful, stress reducing power of colouring.
