Polly's Stars: Making Commmunity

IT’S MORE THAN STARS. EVERY YEAR, POLLY MAKES JOY, HOPE AND COMMUNITY FOR HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN.

Polly Carr is a maker. Although, Polly prefers to be called by any of the other titles by which others know her: great-grandmother, incredible baker or perhaps most common in her local community of Geary, New Brunswick -- Aunt Polly. It is difficult to encapsulate the annual holiday magic that Polly bestows on the more than 200 recipients of her hand-painted stars in a short magazine article. However, this heartwarming story of community making deserves all of the attention it receives.

At Brilliant Labs and across maker culture it is common to hear someone say “We are all makers!” This is something with which we vehemently agree. What helps affirm this statement is seeing the incredible artifacts that makers make. The Holiday Season is great for many reasons, but the one that we really love is seeing all of the holiday makers showcase their holiday creations. Like many makers, Polly Carr is humble, but around the holidays her embodiment of the maker spirit is shared with a growing audience across Canada.

The 84-years young great-grandmother from Geary, New Brunswick began the tradition of Polly’s Stars 29 years ago. Always wanting to challenge herself with another project, in 1991 she asked her husband Medley to make her a single star so that she could give it to the child of a close friend for Christmas. What began as a simple undertaking of a single start cut from a scrap of pine board has turned into an annual woodworking triumph as Polly’s stars are distributed to over 200 recipients all across Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Alberta and the Northwest Territories. When asked about what motivated her to begin this project so many stars ago, Polly said “I just wanted to share a little joy of the season and make someone smile -- even if I’m not there to see them smile when they receive their star.” The joy that Polly describes has been powerful throughout the almost 3 decades that she has hand-painted the individual stars. However, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely add some significance to her 2020 star. This year, Polly chose black as the colour for Santa’s suit. She admits that it wasn’t her first choice of colour, in the past the colours have ranged from classic red, to lime green, and even a sparkling silver for the year 2000. However given that it was the only colour on the shelves at the local craft store and so many of her recipients have asked for that colour over the years, 2020 seemed like the year that black just made sense.

We think that this is just great as it complements one of our favourite dimensions of this project: community. Polly’s Stars is a powerful example of the significant power making has on community empowerment. Simply by sharing one’s passion and interests invites others to consider how they feel about materials and their world. Making does not need any particular tools or technology. In fact, many maker projects lead to wonderfully intangible artifacts that can sometimes last longer than the tangible. For instance, over the years, Polly’s Stars were received by hundreds of individuals. We have no way of knowing how receiving that gift inspired feelings of joy, love, connectedness or empathy.

Particularly during the holiday season, these feelings can become as tangible as the hand-painted star itself. I’m often reminded by the words of Peppler and Bender (2013) when they said “maker activities organically invite cross-generational and cross-cultural participation [...].”This year, Brilliant Labs thought they would help spread the word of Polly’s Stars a little further by inviting classrooms across New Brunswick to help Polly. There was something incredibly special about dropping off a box of more than 150 stars to Polly, knowing that the process of making has grown to inspire students from 5 different communities. Each with their own techniques, dozens of students from École-Notre Dame, Ridgeview Middle School, Oromocto High School, Devon Middle School, Nashwaaksis Middle School and Nackawic High School are now part of the Polly’s Stars story. Each student began with the same template. This may sound uncharacteristic of making since individuality is something that maker culture embraces. However, consistency is a trademark of Polly’s Stars as the template each student used was based on the 2015 series.

The 2015 star design is extra special to Polly as it was the last year her late husband Medley was able to cut her stars himself. This is yet another intangible emotional element that is shared across stars and throughout the community the stars have created. Even though the box of stars dropped off to Polly all appear to look the same, each has been shaped by students touched by the story of Polly’s Stars. The edges of each star have grooves left by the student maker as they worked to refine their skills on the saw. Like any maker project, it is impossible to separate the intangible from the tangible. We have no way of knowing which of our small ideas will grow to connect generations of communities across our community, throughout our province, our country and our world. Thank you Polly for reminding us to keep making. Polly would like to sincerely thank all of the young makers who helped make her 160 2020 stars!