Help make it start. Or stop. Or something.
- Mixed media on canvas
- 24 x 36 in
- $275
- Lisa Newberry
My experience with mental illness has felt like living life as an old lawnmower. Sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't. Some days all the parts work together to create beautiful vistas, other days the wheel falls off on the way out of the garage. In "Help make it stop. Or start. Or something." I explore living in this state of unknowing each day. As the work currently stands, the wheels do turn one another. The elements of alcohol, a crazy concocted labyrinth, and a clock whose numbers pile up at the 11th hour are some of the wheels with which many people try drive their life forward. The collage of Biblical passages, self help resources and therapeutic titles create the warp and weave which either support or disregulate these efforts. The golden prescription bottle, with numerous warnings, glistens attractively as a potential cure-all for the swiring motions of existence. During the course of the show, if people turn the crank to make these wheels move, I anticipate some days they will rotate smoothly, and some days they may stick. One day they may even cease to turn. This uncertainty about what results a turn of the crank will bring exemplifies one of the exhausting and unpredictable elements of living with mental illness.In my second work, "Have you tried breathing exercises?" I examine the effect this well intentioned comment can have on those who have anxiety. When one breathes in deeply, what might come back out from one's inner sanctum? The comment may wind up bringing peace, anxiety or a myriad of other elements to the person receiving the advice.These pieces attempt to combine the beauty and creative force mental illness can bring, as well as the swirling struggles that feel unending. The viewer is left with this paradox and perhaps a little more understanding about that which is so difficult to describe.
Bio:
Creativity has always been the driving force in my life. In my first career as a pastor, understanding God as the ultimate Creator calling us to redesign our hearts and community for love guided my efforts for 20 years. Now, as an art therapist, I am able to invite others into the therapeutic world of mark-making, images and colors as a way to share their struggles, own their story, and design the next steps in their healing and wholeness. Likewise, with each piece I create, I hope to find healing, wholeness and love for myself, and then find ways to offer those impressions to those who see my work.
- Collections: Fragility and Fortitude