Emotions in Art
By: Heidi Theresa Manfred
This exhibition creates emotional waves you experience for yourself.
Exhibitions about mental health and wellness can be divided into three waves. The first wave includes those that focus primarily on the horrors of abuse, neglect, and maltreatment of mental illness, and the "worseness" of those who experience it. Think of a straight-jacket in a display case.
The second wave expands learning beyond mental illness to include mental health. After centuries of stigma, these exhibitions help develop a vocabulary about feelings, health, treatments, resources, etc. Think of a wheel-of-fortune with names of emotions in place of $.
Emotions in Art surfs into a cresting third wave of exhibitions. These exhibitions help us learn about our own, and life's, most common feelings. Think of a feeling like a hummingbird captured mid-flutter, while for a split second it can be examined and learned from.
Emotions in Art offers painted still images of individual feelings, and an invitation to take a feeling out for a ride - or examine it like a hummingbird fluttering at a flower before going for more.
Beyond the internal, emotional reverb, Emotions in Art, might help you see a bigger picture where mental health happens one person, one feeling, one split-second at a time - and where we usually have a choice relative to what and how we feel.
Display location:
Southern Allegheny Museum of Art (SAMA), PA
Display period:
2024-2025
Exhibit contact information:
Heidi Thersesa Manfred, artist, faculty - Penn State University, Altoona (PA)
Worried