ART HEALS Part 1 - Depicting the Struggle

Virus

TESSA SENS STEVENS

Acrylics 24x36

$500

I was searching for a visual metaphor to help me understand the pain the world was beginning

to feel due to the onset of the pandemic. In the image, the hands are “masking” the face, which

reflected all the masks people were beginning to wear. Terror, for me, has always been defined

as the unspeakable, and in this image, the main figure is silencing or stifling themself. When I

finished the painting, I felt more connected to the world and the suffering around me, at a time

when we were just being encouraged to socially isolate.

Greif

TESSA SENA STEVENS

Acrylics 24x36

$500

This piece allowed me to experience how suffering and sadness can be beautiful. Because the

hands are the figure’s own, I believe this image is about soothing oneself, which we all need to

learn how to do, and which art does for me.

Self Portrait as a Butterfly

TESSA SENA STEVENS

Acrylics 36x24

$500

I made this piece about three years ago when I was still processing a very major loss. This

piece is very much about my relationship with art. I didn’t begin painting until I was really at rock

bottom, and the pain needed a place to go. I’ve always admired butterflies because they have

the ability to completely transform themselves. I chose complementary colors because I wanted

there to be a sense of wholeness in my life again.

Blue Winter

CYNTHIA BRODY

Mixed Media 

30x40

$2800
As a psychotherapist it is hard to know what is therapy and what is art for me.  They both involve healing, and art is the one way I know I am able to explore deeper, more emotional elements while also having a wonderful time. The use of unrelated images in each piece is certainly about transformation as they come together to become something else entirely.   During this past year I found it absolutely necessary to work in my studio. I truly believe it kept me sane and allowed me to be present with others who needed me as they went through their own struggles. I think that the worst things got around the world the more I felt compelled to create beauty, as if to balance it and make life survivable.  I'm not sure what I would have done without it.

Edge

GAY GILLIES

Oil on Canvas

24x36

$1000

In these three works, Gay explores the process of healing. The images pause on the edge between chaos and calm. Silence and noise. An envelope of time can exist in mental and physical realms. Recently, for Gay, taking a bath and painting have provided refuge and created glimpses and clearer perspectives of brighter horizons that lay ahead. 

Aida

CYNTHIA BRODY

Mixed Media 

36x24

$2000
As a psychotherapist it is hard to know what is therapy and what is art for me.  They both involve healing, and art is the one way I know I am able to explore deeper, more emotional elements while also having a wonderful time. The use of unrelated images in each piece is certainly about transformation as they come together to become something else entirely.   During this past year I found it absolutely necessary to work in my studio. I truly believe it kept me sane and allowed me to be present with others who needed me as they went through their own struggles. I think that the worst things got around the world the more I felt compelled to create beauty, as if to balance it and make life survivable.  I'm not sure what I would have done without it.