Free Hart Closet

Free Hart Closet FREE HART is a mutual aid supply closet filled with quality art supplies for anyone who likes to create.

For donation inquiries, please send us an email: [email protected]

Dear FREE HART friends, the time has come for this project to move on. Our last day of operation at Semilla Cafe will be...
06/18/2026

Dear FREE HART friends, the time has come for this project to move on. Our last day of operation at Semilla Cafe will be September 25, 2026.

When I launched this offering in 2022, we were filling a gap in the art market. There wasn't anywhere to trade art supplies publicly in CT. Today, four years later, there is an ABUNDANCE of art supply swaps and second-hand shops in CT! It's so beautiful to witness.

I truly had one goal: make art more accessible to adults. Well, I feel pretty good about where CT and Greater Hartford have landed on that front--what are some of your favorite places that have popped up?

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for everything you've poured into this project. To everyone who volunteered to staff the space, to everyone who donated supplies for other people to use, to everyone who contributed financially to help us keep our doors open and offer workshops, to everyone who hosted a workshop, to everyone who told a friend about us, to all of you -- we couldn't have done this without you.

Yes, you can continue to donate and shop at FREE HART until our last day! Anything left when we close will be redonated to another one of the art supply swaps in the state.

I'm compiling a list of places around the state where you can continue to donate your new and gently used art supplies for other people to enjoy. I hope for it to be a "living" document, so people can continue to add things I may have missed. Stay tuned!

If you have questions drop them below and I'll do one big response.

☀️Suns out? Craft supplies out! 🎨… 🤷🏽‍♀️ Join on April 22 from 7pm-9pm to make your own linoleum block print and/or co...
04/14/2026

☀️Suns out? Craft supplies out! 🎨… 🤷🏽‍♀️

Join on April 22 from 7pm-9pm to make your own linoleum block print and/or collage the night away.

We are gearing up for issue 03 of HEY MAH! The quarterly zine from and want to hear from YOU.

This issue is focused on food and food systems. Got a recipe you wanna share? Have a poem about snacks you’ve been hiding from the world? Wanna write a rant about grocery inflation or the degradation of food quality in the US or the current administration’s war on the poor? DO IT!

Supplies are limited so SIGN UP of you wanna make a block print. (Link in bio)

Just wanna hag with us or craft with collage supplies? No need to signup.

Make a trivet, “mug rug” coasters or experimental fiber art piece by exploring the art of needle punching. No experience...
11/03/2025

Make a trivet, “mug rug” coasters or experimental fiber art piece by exploring the art of needle punching. 

No experience necessary. All supplies included.

*We will not be making the item in the IG post. That’s just an example!

Presented by Rebecca Zablocki

Rebecca Zablocki is a multidisciplinary artist living in CT. She makes mixed-media and fiber pieces about chronic illness and healing. 

📍- 1283 Main Street, Hartford
Parking is available in the lot next to Semilla (access from Ann Uc***lo St). Free after 6pm

We are excited to be partnering with to bring a little creative energy to their new ABV-free Happy Hours on Fridays fro...
10/13/2025

We are excited to be partnering with to bring a little creative energy to their new ABV-free Happy Hours on Fridays from 5-9pm.

Once a month we’ll be coming Out of the (free hart) Closet to provide low-key art activities while you sip. Art will start at 6p and end at 8pm.

Logistics:
🚗 Parking in the lot is free after 6pm.
🎨 Art activities are free of charge, donations welcome but not expected.
🐣 we love the churren, but this is for grown folks

We interrupt our social media break to ask for some support! We sent the first shipment of empty medicine bottles out to...
11/22/2024

We interrupt our social media break to ask for some support!

We sent the first shipment of empty medicine bottles out to California this week. A whopping 20 lbs of empty medicine bottles!!!!!!

But... shipping wasn't cheap. It cost $266 😅 and we're anticipating that we will need to send one more shipment. $500 was not in the budget for this offering when we dreamed it up.

Please consider contributing whatever amount feels good in your soul and your wallet to help us cover the shipping costs.

https://www.zeffy.com/fundraising/help-us-ship-medicine-bottles-to-cali-artist-kellie-gillespie

Hey ya'll. Today was rough, but not insurmountable. What I've reminded myself of today is that the work we need to do do...
11/07/2024

Hey ya'll. Today was rough, but not insurmountable. What I've reminded myself of today is that the work we need to do doesn't happen in "hot takes" or "snippets" on social media. It happens in real life. With the people we love and are fighting to protect. We will be off social media until next year. This will give us the time we need to ground, strategize, and prepare for the work ahead of us.

If you need to contact us, please use our email or phone number. These are easily accessible on our bio page and website.

DO NOT DM US. We won't see it.

Thanks for rocking with us. We love you. Take care of yourselves, but more importantly, take care of each other.

It’s official! FREE HART is partnering with Semilla Cafe + Studio to bring you coffee, community, and of course, high qu...
10/25/2024

It’s official! FREE HART is partnering with Semilla Cafe + Studio to bring you coffee, community, and of course, high quality art supplies! Our reopening celebration is Sunday, November 3. Stop by from 10am until 3pm to celebrate this soul-filling new partnership!

You've got questions, we've got answers!
10/25/2024

You've got questions, we've got answers!

10/23/2024

Save the date! We are reopening on Sunday, November 3 in our new space inside of Semilla Cafe + Studio located at 1283 Main Street.

We'll be celebrating the reopening from 10AM until 3PM.

Stop in and see the new space, learn more about what's changing, and grab a cup of delicious coffee!

Feel free to bring any donations you may have been holding onto since we've been closed. If you have a large donation, please email us to coordinate. [email protected]

More info and relaunch of our website coming soon.

If you have a stash of empty medicine bottles that you just don’t know what do with, we have the perfect solution! From ...
10/11/2024

If you have a stash of empty medicine bottles that you just don’t know what do with, we have the perfect solution! From 10/13 until 10/31 FREE HART hosting a collection drive to support California artist, Kellie Gillespie with her next installation.

You can drop off your bottle stash at one of two locations in Connecticut:

Hartford - Semilla Cafe + Studio: 1283 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103
Middletown - Reboot Eco: 131 River Road, Middletown, CT 06457

Why are we doing this? Because it’s an easy way to support an artist!
Why did we pick this artist? I follow Kellie on social media because her pill installations are not only beautiful, innovative, and mesmerizing — her desire to use her art to destigmatize mental illness and being medicated is aligned with FREE HART’s values

About the artist (from her website):

I am both a sculptural artist and a mental health activist. I am not one more than the other, but understand myself as one and the same. My personal narrative is not distinctly necessary for my work's formal comprehension or individual interpretation; however, to know my story in connection to the visual work I produce proposes a more profound relationship between conversations of mental health, trauma, and recovery.

About the installation (from her website):

There is no shame in taking medication, whether it's an antibiotic or antipsychotic. This installation coaxes viewers to recontextualize prescription medication, exemplifying unforeseen elegance through material metamorphosis.

Thank you Kellie Gillespie Art
https://www.kelliegillespie.com/

Address

1283 Main Street
Hartford, CT
06103

Opening Hours

11am - 4pm

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