The Virginia Art Therapy Association sponsored a juried art exhibit of art created by art therapists. The theme for this show was Building Hope, centering on ideas important to us as art therapists: working with clients as they build hope in their lives individually, while also working on a broader scale in our communities in order to create and build opportunities for hope on a systemic level. Thinking about how this theme applied to them in their professional work or in their communities, we had twelve art therapists share their work in this show.
VATA hosted an opening for the show on Friday, December 2nd at IX Art Park. IX Art Park is different than a traditional gallery as it hosts many community events as well as private events. The artwork displayed in Building Hope is found in a non-traditional gallery space that is the entrance to many local community events. For example, the day after our opening, the space was part of a large Cville Craftacular show featuring dozens of vendors, drawing hundreds of people to the space. The weekend that we planned to take down the artwork, a theater show was be there and requested that the artwork stay in the space a couple days longer so that the entry space remained bright and full during their show.
The show was judged by Chicho Lorenzo (http://www.chicho.org/), an artist from Madrid, Spain, who lives in Charlottesville. He focused on fit to theme as the main criteria in picking the top three:
1st place: Dwell in Possibility by Karen Montgomery
Chicho stated that the technique used as well as the experience of seeing many possibilities in the landscape and door of the artwork reflected hope to him.
2nd: A Thicker Skin by Ashley Sweigart
3rd (tie): Letting Go by Sangeeta Prasad and Pensive by Gretchen Graves
If you have art in the show, please coordinate with VATA or your local contact person about pick-up of your artwork.