Love Across the USA’s Peace Murals

On a recent Saturday, a friend and I drove for an hour to Westminster, CO. It was an unlikely destination. My friend was in town for Yarn Fest, and Westminster doesn’t even have a local yarn store. But it does have something extraordinary: an enormous crochet mural supporting peace in Ukraine.

Shown above: Our local Love Across the USA crochet mural in Westminster, CO, amusingly located on Hooker Street.

About the Mural Project

The mural is the latest project by Love Across the USA, a group that creates large-scale public art installations. Led by street artist and crocheter London Kaye, the collective has created giant crochet murals across the US celebrating Sojourner Truth, Nina Simone, Susan Anthony, and Kamala Harris.

Watch crocheters create and seam the Michigan mural:

The crochet program added a new twist earlier this year, creating three murals to support peace, even as the war in Ukraine continues to rage. The design was based on a sketch by 16-year-old Artem Varakuta, a Ukrainian refugee currently living in Poland. “When Russia invaded my country, I created this design hoping that peace will come to Ukraine as soon as possible,” said Varakuta.

Finished blocks ready for assembly:

It takes a lot of work to great these large-scale pieces and many crochet volunteers. Murals might have 50 or more 2′ x 2′ fabric squares, all worked in double crochet. Volunteers sign up and are assigned a numbered square and accompanying pattern. (The website even provides helpful videos and tutorials for newbies.) They ship finished blocks to a central location, where more volunteers sew them together in a 12’ x 14’ mural.

This brings us back to Saturday. My friend, Alicia, had crocheted one of the many squares needed. She was shocked and delighted to discover that her square would be in the Westminster, CO installation the same week she would be visiting Colorado! We set out and found the mural, appropriately enough, at the intersection of 72nd Avenue and Hooker Street.

You can find the other two murals in New York City and Petoskey, MI, with more sites planned throughout the year. Kaye points out that “this project is a way for us to come together, welcome beginner and advanced crocheters, and create beautiful art with purpose and meaning with every stitch we make.”

If you would like to volunteer for the next communal mural, you may sign up for notifications at the Love Across the USA website.