The way sculptor Chris Cleary sees it, optimism is a sentiment that's been in short supply of late. So his newest work aims to spread more of it. The Jericho Center artist and three-time winner of the Seven Daysies readers' choice award for best sculptor has been busy on his latest roadside project: "HOPE." Its four letters stand seven feet tall, 25 feet wide in total and are "larger than life," he said. At his On the Rocks studio, Cleary, 48, supports himself as a full-time artist through various projects, including headstones, pet memorials and stone word gardens such as the one he created at Saint Michael's College in Colchester. But the artist of 24 years is best known for the huge wooden sculptures that he and his wife, Kim, set ablaze each year for solstices and other celebrations. Inspired by his experience at the Burning Man desert festival in 2009, Cleary builds, then torches, his wooden sculptures — including a leprechaun, a woolly mammoth and, at Burlington's annual Highlight New Year's Eve festival, the lake monster Champ — in events that are both performance art and community spectacle. "My portfolio is basically a pile of ashes and screws," he said. "But I've made a lot of people smile." This time, Cleary has other plans for his wooden creation. His "HOPE" sculpture, like his previous projects that read "LOVE," "JOY" and "BE KIND," is an effort to illuminate these otherwise dark times. He plans to move the sculpture to a different Vermont location every couple of weeks, erecting it at schools, libraries, museums and other high-traffic areas. Its first stop is at Taft Corners in Williston, then the Essex Experience. "I love what Chris does," said shopping center owner Peter Edelmann, who owns two other sculptures of Cleary's and plans to install one of his rock gardens at the Essex Resort & Spa, which he also owns. "Bringing hope to Essex is so apropos for today." "I haven't felt this way about a project in a long time," Cleary said about the oversize letters he builds using narrow strips of wood, known as lath, which turn gray as they age. Cleary had wanted to have the word on display by the time Vice President JD Vance visited the Mad River Valley for his family ski vacation last month, but he didn't get it finished in time. No matter. Cleary… ...read more read less