Adventures in COPING SKILLS

Three years ago I was the inaugural artist for a new and innovative gallery, SeedSpace.  Seed Space is a lab for site-specific installation, sculpture, and performance-based art in Nashville.  The work I exhibited was COPING SKILLS and A PAXIL A DAY.

The COPING SKILLS altar was created in 2007 for the TAKE CARE: Biomedical Ethics in the 21st Century traveling exhibition (2009-2013).  Art reviews about this work, reviews, and images of the show in its entirety can be viewed in the exhibition catalogue.  Basically, the altar was created to honor the medication which allows me to be a successful human, artist, wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, and friend.

 

The COPING SKILLS altarIn 2010, an additional benefit to my contacts at SeedSpace is when it began its own CSArt program. At the time, Nashville was only the 4th city to offer Community Supported Artist's shares.  I created 50 small-scale collector pieces of Coping Skills.  We eventually had an installation exhibit of all the CSArtist's work at Nashville International Airport, and they graciously purchased full crates for their permanent collection. One of the works included in the CSArt Crates

At the CSArt Party, where collectors personally interacted with the artists, I was approached by Lee Pepper, CMO at Foundations Recovery Network.  We had a lively conversation about therapy, pharmaceuticals, the stigma against those caring for their mental health issues, and much more.  He brought up an idea about exhibiting my work at a future FRN facility.  Fast forward 3 years and this seed sprouted into a solo exhibition/retrospective that took place April - May of 2013.  The works I exhibited at FRN's Nashville Facility included the following:  Coping Skills and its collector pieces, You Made Your Bed I & IIConstraint SeriesWhat I Really Mean To Say, Is . . . (created specifically for the exhibition), Eat Your Words (it had never been exhibited), and various works as examples of Art Therapy.

One of the best results, other than the amazing interaction with viewers at the opening, was the filming of a 20 minute Art Talk.  I don't have the professionally filmed version available yet , but here is a video shot by my 20 year old son during the talk.  It gives you an idea about my process and theories behind all of the work at the show and work that I am currently developing, such as the BRANDED series (see previous post for details)

So to all you discouraged artists out there, be patient!  The seeds you planted years ago just might grow into a great future opportunity. 

 

 

   

How I became BRANDED

How artist, Sher Fick, found the inspiration for her new series, BRANDED. The series delves into the history and the psychological/physical effects of the dropping of the atomic bombs by the Americans onto the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan.
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