Love, Your Neighbor - 2026 Installation

Janelle and Jay Patterson with Neighbors, Friends, & Family Acrylic on Wood Dear Neighbor, Many of you have seen artwork pop up in my yard over the years but this time the piece will look a little different. In the past, I’ve featured my own creations and skills but this year, I want to showcase something we make together. In the busy digital age we’re living in, it can be increasingly difficult to find time to connect with those who are living life right beside us. Schedules, routines, and the ever-present dinging of a phone notification can keep us locked into pushing forward on our own path and make it easy for us to forget to look around at those on the journey with us. “Love Your Neighbor” is an idea we’ve all heard and often as a command like adding another thing to your to-do list. In that sense, it can be easy to brush off as another good thing you’d like to do but don’t have time for on most days. When we do reach out in kindness or compassion to others however, we remember that relationships are reciprocal. Love you give comes back to you, sometimes within the same conversation and sometimes years later, just when you need it. When you extend kindness to someone around you, that kindness can also now begin to circulate in the world through that person’s interactions with those they come across on their journey. For Show-Me Neighborhood Art Month this year, I’m inviting my neighbors, friends, and family to help me fill the heart in my yard with hand prints as a visual representation of a few moments in life when we came together in the spirit of community. I hope you enjoy this project whether you are able to participate in person, drive by, or view it online. We’re all in this life together and being in community is one of the greatest gifts we get along the way. Love, Your Neighbor On display June 1-30 for Show Me Neighborhood Art Month. About the Artist Janelle Patterson is the owner of Janelle Patterson Art located in Springfield, Missouri. She's been working as a professional artist for 13 years and absolutely loves her work. After completing her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Art Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Janelle moved to southwest Missouri and taught high school and elementary art before pursuing art full time. Janelle specializes in painting bold, colorful subjects on both canvas and functional glassware and loves new opportunities to create.