For Julie and Hal Hanson, the new “Growing Kindness” sculpture at the Overland Park Arboretum isn’t just about honoring their son Jeff, but about honoring the values he stood for.
The $1.1 million sculpture, officially dedicated last week, is comprised of five stainless steel poppies that vary in height from 12 to 20 feet tall. It is modeled after Jeff’s distinctive paintings that mostly depicted flowers.
His favorite flower to paint was a bright red poppy, and they featured prominently in his work, Hal remembers.
Still, it was important to the Hansons that the sculpture be about more than Jeff’s flowers and art but about what it all represented — kindness, generosity and giving back to your community.
“Jeffrey had this core belief from early on when he started painting, which was every act of kindness helps create kinder communities, more compassionate nations, and a better world for all, even one painting at a time,” Hal said, recounting the statement his son lived his life by.
Honoring Jeff Hanson’s legacy of kindness
Jeff Hanson, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 27, was born with neurofibromatosis, a rare genetic condition that causes tumors to grow in the nervous system.
A type of tumor known as a glioma on his optic nerve caused him to lose much of his sight. As a 12-year-old going through chemotherapy and radiation, he started what would turn into a prolific career as a philanthropic painter with watercolor notecards.
The $15,000 he raised through their sale at what he called “Jeff’s Bistro” — a pop-up sale done at the end of the family’s driveway — went to the Children’s Tumor Foundation.
He went on to develop a signature painting style defined by bold colors and thick acrylics applied to a canvas, giving it a textured look. The style was something Jeff described as “a sight for sore eyes,” his parents recall.
By his 20th birthday, he had raised $1 million for charity by selling and auctioning off his paintings, a feat that drew him national attention. At the time of his death at age 27, that number had ballooned to $7 million.
Though he didn’t get to see it, by what would have been his 30th birthday, Jeff Hanson Art had raised a total of $10 million.
That is what Julie wants her son to be remembered for: The number of lives “he touched and inspired in his short 27 years on earth.”
Bringing a “Growing Kindness” to life
Though the “Growing Kindness” sculpture at the Arboretum was officially unveiled Friday with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony and private celebration, it’s been in the works for about five years.
All of this started shortly after Jeff’s death, when representatives from the city approached the Hansons about displaying some of his art in public buildings. However, at the time, there were no completed paintings for sale.
Julie and Hal were already finishing some of their son’s unfinished commissions after getting permission from the buyers.
In the absence of any work to gift the city, the Hansons looked instead toward bringing another one of their son’s dreams alive. He had wanted to start exploring public art sculpture, but never got the chance to do so, Julie said.
So, his loved ones set to work, planning a sculpture that brought his paintings to life in a new way and embodied his life mission of spreading kindness through art.
“The poppies were just a given,” Julie said with a smile, “so those got drawn up and translated.”
“Monument to kindness” officially dedicated at the Arboretum
With the help of local metal fabrication firm Zahner and dozens of private donations, the “Growing Kindness” sculpture became real.
“As his parents, we did not want to fundraise for a sculpture that was like a legacy to our kid, that just seemed weird and selfish,” Hal said. “We wanted it to represent what he stood for, not him.”
That’s why the sculpture, which now rises near the entrance of the Arboretum, overlooking the pond by the LongHouse Visitor Center, doesn’t bear Jeff Hanson’s name at all but instead is called “Growing Kindness.”
“It will represent what he believed in, not him the person,” Hal said. “We hope for generations to come, people look at it and think, ‘Be kind.’”
During the dedication ceremony, Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog called the sculpture a “monument to kindness.”
In addition to the large sculpture, the walls of the visitor center also now display a poppy painting done in Jeff Hanson’s distinctive style, gifted to the city of Overland Park in his memory.
The painting hangs near a window that looks out over the poppy sculpture, allowing visitors to compare the source material to the work it inspired, Hal said.
Julie Hanson, who on Friday was dressed in a formal gown Jeff painted with poppies, described it as “joyous and exciting” to see it all officially come together.
The feeling persisted even as a thunderstorm brought the festivities indoors — something Hal Hanson is pretty sure Jeff, who loved a practical joke, would have found simply hilarious.
Looking back: Overland Park couple’s mission to honor late son’s artistic legacy takes shape
