Art & Healing was a groundbreaking multi-year initiative to creatively explore and examine the concept of health in the 21s century. Through visual arts, performance, literature, media arts and digital arts, artists and community members came together to discuss, debate and dream our community toward a future where art, creative expression, and conversation were recognized as an integral part of our individual and collective health and wellbeing.
Art & Healing provided an outlet for artists and community members to tell their own personal stories about health and healing. These stories fed the larger conversation around transformation and provided an opportunity for a more creative dialogue around the challenges, the triumphs and the possibilities for change. We believe that healing is not the same for everyone but access to a healthy environment is vital. Educating others and ourselves on how to attain this is essential to moving forward as a culture and as a community.
MIND FIELDS
Explore the many dimensions of the invisible and make psychological realities tangible. Art & Healing: Mind Fields was a unique opportunity to see the mind from the inside out. This groundbreaking exhibit from Intermedia Arts took a frank and creative look at neurological and mental health—inviting local artists and health care practitioners to address the ways in which artistic expression can be used as a tool for healing. Using oils, photographs, Sumi ink, audio recordings and more, Mind Fields created an integrative landscape in which artists raised compelling questions about the life of the mind.
Mind Fields profiled the history behind art in mental health institutions; through the voices, sounds and stories of men and women struggling to overcome the stigma associated with their illness, and discover the ways in which the health of humans is inextricably linked to the energies of the earth.
Artists:
Spectrum ArtWorks
Christi Furnas
Kate Hoff
Rachel Orman
Rachna Pettygrove
Bridget Riversmith
Dean J. Seal
Dietrich Sieling
Bonita Van Moorlehem
Missy Whiteman
BODY BURDEN
This piece of Art & Healing featured gallery exhibitions, performances, brown bag dialogues and youth workshops that take a frank and creative look at the connections between our bodies, our environment and our modern way of life.
The Sandy Agusín Gallery offered our visitors an intimate look at the effect of environmental toxins on the most vulnerable and most frequently exposed members of our population, and at the growing incidence of chronic disease around the globe. While our Main Gallery, offered a diverse collection of paintings, sculpture, photography, multimedia and interactive installations investigating the concept of body burden from creative, philosophical, sociological and even mythical perspectives.
Artists:
Ananya Dance Theater
B-girl MonaLisa
Ann Butwell
Peter Essick
Pearl Madryga
Amy Mattila
Rachel Orman
Laura Pereira
Jane Powers
Lyz Preus
Roberto Rivera
Rebecca Shewmake
Allison Vallant
Various Artists: Torso Castings
Mirelle Vautier
Art & Healing was made possible, in part, by COMPAS United Arts. Additional support for the youth spoken word workshops, Art Treats Lunches and other community education efforts provided by Headwaters Foundation for Justice.
Program partners: Healthy Legacy and Headwaters Foundation for Justice. Art Treats Supporters include: Arc Greater Twin Cities; Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota (EJAM); Learning Disability Association of Minnesota; Women's Cancer Action; and Women's Environmental Institute.