Help Build “PEACE,” A Traveling Wooden Sculpture Celebrating Vermont’s Spirit

We are Chris Cleary and Shawn Dumont, two Vermont artists collaborating on a new public art project titled PEACE, a large wooden traveling sculpture designed to move throughout our state as a living symbol of connection, hope, and kindness.

Chris Cleary is a Jericho Center sculptor and four-time Seven Daysies award winner for Best Sculptor. For more than 24 years, he has been bringing optimism to people through his larger-than-life wooden sculptures. While many of his works, like his beloved Champ pieces, have been ephemeral, others including LOVE, JOY, BE KIND, and his most recent piece HOPE stand as powerful beacons of resilience and light. His HOPE project (@spreadhopevt), funded through GoFundMe, continues to travel across Vermont, inspiring unity and joy wherever it lands.

Shawn Dumont, artist and founder of the Shelter Peace Project, has spent years exploring Vermont’s back roads with his two young children documenting handmade peace signs and the stories behind them. What began as a family adventure grew into Peace Signs of Vermont, a multifaceted art project encompassing gallery exhibitions, a published book, and a series of public peace sign mural paintings. Together, these works celebrate the quiet gestures of kindness that shape Vermont’s cultural landscape and invite communities to rediscover the enduring power of the peace sign.

Now we are joining forces to create PEACE, a wooden sculpture that will travel from town to town, field to field, connecting Vermonters through art, family, and shared values. Like HOPE, PEACE will be a living installation, a reminder that compassion, creativity, and community still define who we are.

We are raising funds to

• Build the wooden PEACE sculpture using locally sourced, sustainable materials

• Safely transport it across Vermont for public display

• Document its journey and the stories it inspires

• Host community gatherings that invite people to connect and celebrate

Your support will help us craft a work that belongs to everyone, a humble yet powerful expression of Vermont’s resilience, kindness, and collective heart.

Join us in bringing PEACE to life.

Chris Cleary and Shawn Dumont