Reclaim Your Wings

On behalf of Daily Word, artist and author Darrell Fusaro met with artist Colette Miller to learn about her Global Angel Wings Project—human-size wings on public display for people to photograph and share with friends. Wings appear in Kenya, Australia, England, Japan, Taiwan, France, Cuba, Mexico, and throughout the United States. She recently painted a pair at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. Although the wings are her provenance and work, their public installations are Colette’s gift to the world.

Los Angeles, California, is paradise. Tourists all agree.

Still, those who spend a considerable amount of time there begin to notice something else that stands out along with all the glitz and beauty. Vertical gray concrete walls, barriers, and buildings cover the landscape.

It was early 2012, and artist Colette Miller was going through an emotionally difficult period in her life. She began exploring spirituality, and her hope was growing along with the belief that a change for the better was on the way.

While driving by a gray concrete wall, she thought to herself, Wouldn’t it be great if there were angel wings on all these walls as reminders to us of who we really are?

A parable is credited to Ernest Holmes of an angel who came to visit the earth disguised as a human being. Everywhere he went he heard people complaining about life. In time he began to believe what he was hearing. His brilliance diminished. In spite of this hopelessness, something within him remembered that he was once an angel of God, living in a heaven of happiness, peace, and prosperity. He chose to believe it was the truth, and his angelic presence reawakened.

Colette’s art inspires viewers to awaken their hopes and dreams.

The first pair of wings appeared in downtown Los Angeles, the City of Angels. A group of friends acted as lookouts as she proceeded with her covert mission and painted her first set of publicly displayed life-size angel wings. A chain reaction of public enthusiasm soon followed.

As divine order would have it, a short time later she was attending a public art walk in downtown Los Angeles. She met a local developer who was enamored of the wings she had painted. He graciously offered his property space as canvases for her wings.

Later, during a trip to Kenya, she painted wings in impoverished areas to help inspire the street kids. The wings gained popularity, and she installed them where asked or commissioned, such as Australia’s key cities, and Juarez, Mexico, to help heal the damage from the drug cartels. Colette doesn’t discriminate. Her wings have found homes in the wealthiest of cities aswell as the places considered the most destitute. She installs them with no concern for race, ethnicity, or religion of the area. Wherever they appear the impact they have is the same: They make people happy.

To learn more about Colette Miller and the project, including a map of worldwide locations where her wings are found, visit GlobalAngelWingsProject.com.

This article appeared in Daily Word® magazine.