About
Artist Charlie Hewitt launched The Hopeful Project in 2019 with a single, lighted aluminum sculpture on the roof of the Speedwell Projects gallery in Portland, Maine, aiming to brighten the winter darkness and challenging times with a message of hope.
Today, ten HOPEFUL signs are installed across Maine from Augusta to Rumford, each inspired by a unique story. Hopeful continues to grow and over the past five years has been spreading hope in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania and even Ukraine!
Watch this short video about Hopeful artist Charlie Hewitt and the birth of the Hopeful Project - interview with News Center Maine’s Rob Caldwell.
charlie hewitt & the hopeful project
It was a dark December night when Jocelyn Lee, the artist and director of Speedwell projects in Portland Maine, asked me if I would consider putting a sculpture on the roof of the Speedwell building. I said yes and the first thought that came to me was that this piece needed to be about light. Maine is a dark place in the winter and I felt compelled to illuminate that corner of our world. Just then I didn’t know how or with what. Click here to read about the birth of Hopeful . . .
About Hopeful Maine
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Hopeful Maine is a licensed merchandiser of Charlie Hewitt’s Hopeful sign design, creating Hopeful t-shirts, hats, stickers and other products, all with the intention of providing a tangible beacon of hope in our communities.
There are 10 Hopeful signs in Maine, all with their own unique story, offering a sign of encouragement and connection in their communities.
The reason I started Hopeful Maine was to further that message throughout my community, the state of Maine, and hopefully beyond.
Because without hope, where are we? It’s not just a t-shirt.
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To spread Hope in my community and to spark a light of Hope in others.
The word Hopeful helps and inspires. I’ve already seen examples of Hopeful helping, inspiring and connecting. Charlie has many stories of how having created the sign or even wearing a pin connected him with folks who shared their stories of finding hope or being inspired by just seeing the word Hopeful.
Deputy Police Chief Michelle Smalls in Bath, Maine was so inspired by the effect that the word Hopeful had on troubled folks who saw the bumperstickers in her police station that she went out and raised money for a Hopeful sign in her community. United Way has been a big proponent of Hopeful for several years seeing the positive effect that Hopeful has on a person’s mindset, as have the Portland Recovery Centers.
Charlie’s Hopeful signs are works of art as much as a message of hope and encouragement.
I am hopeful that people will see a Hopeful shirt, hat, bumper sticker and feel that spark of hope in their lives. I’m hopeful that by wearing and sharing Hopeful merchandise, it will invite a conversation - about where we find hope, what we are hopeful for and why hope is vitally important.
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It means different things to different people but what inspired me most to start this company was Charlie's artist’s statement about the word Hopeful which is:
“Hopeful is not a passive word – it’s a challenge and a responsibility. It’s a silent prayer, it’s a leap of faith you take that it’s going to be better. To be hopeful requires action, it requires commitment, it requires opening your eyes, it requires being part of something. It requires being passionately in love with your country, passionately in love with your family, and passionately in love with everyone in your community. That passion and that love I want back. I want a resurgence in my soul for that kind of life.”
— Charlie Hewitt
The thing I love about being a self-proclaimed Hopeful ambassador is that I get to connect with people who have an appreciation of or are curious about Hopeful. Simple as that. We wake up every day and have a choice: we can be Hopeful or NOPE-ful, what are you going to choose? And what you choose, determines where your path will lead. Choose wisely, grasshopper.