JACKSON, Wyo. — On Thursday, Oct. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m., a new exhibition coined “The Universal Power of Art” will open at Shari Brownfield Fine Art and run through the end of October.
The exhibition will showcase artworks created by people working with art therapist Leann Dzemske, and features nine artists exploring how creative expression can give people agency, connection and a path toward recovery.
One artist, Eileen Humphreys, met Dzemske through the survivorship program at St. John’s Health when she was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer in 2023. Her work is inspired by landscapes and nature. When asked about what she hopes to continue to do with her art, Humphreys mentioned she prioritizes staying present.
“I’ve learned in my life to not plan too terribly far ahead, because you never know what’s going to happen,” she told Buckrail. “… I started [painting] because it was intriguing and I find that I really enjoy it.”
Deirdre Morris, who recently completed a master’s degree in art therapy, told Buckrail that art therapy has offered both professional preparation and a personal experience of the practice’s potential. She went on to explain that art-making has always helped her feel connected to her “true self” and that the creative process often surfaces unexpected personal insights.
“It’s like a little treasure chest that gets revealed to you as you’re working,” Morris said.
For 20-year-old Juliana Gutierrez, art is where she feels most capable, according to her artist statement. Gutierrez has struggled with how she sees her body and herself, and creating gives her a way to express emotions and experiences she says would otherwise be impossible to put into words.
Her pieces often set the human body against sharply abstracted elements, which she uses to challenge ideas of beauty and to explore identity, vulnerability and perception. In her artist statement, Gutierrez shared that she wants her work to move people and to stir some discomfort beneath the surface. By painting bodies, she is learning to see her own differently.
“As I create, I am learning that the body can be art, that beauty can exist in unexpected places, and that perhaps I am not what I once believed myself to be,” Gutierrez wrote.
Most of the work on display will not be for sale. Some pieces will be available, and the gallery will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Mental Wellness Collaborative, which provides affordable office space for local mental health providers.
