Join us at the Garrett Museum of Art, located at 100 S. Randolph Street in Garrett, on Friday, January 18, 2019, from 6PM – 8PM to celebrate the opening of our next show featuring photography, mixed media, and paintings by Fort WayneEmerging Artists: Grace Berg, Sarah Conrad, Sabine Croy, and Maddie Miller.  

The Opening Reception is free, open to the public, and all ages are welcome. The show will run from January 18, 2019 through February 3, 2019.

GRACE BERG – ARTIST STATEMENT

The one thing that I am most passionate about is helping people heal through art. I am currently studying to become an art therapist, in order to do just that. One consistent topic I have visited in my personal and professional life is grief. Everyone is grieving something. I have had the privilege to work with many people, who are circumstances of different layers and facets of grief. Recently, I have been put in a personal state of grief due to a sweet friends suicide.

This body of work is representative of not only my experience dealing with the emotions from this particular tragedy, but of others that were greatly affected as well. Suicide, loss, sadness, and grief are not topics that are openly talked about. In fact, they are often topics pushed aside, repressed, and not talked about because it makes people uncomfortable.

My work is here to present you, head on, with the extent of the emotions others are suffering. It is to bring awareness to topics, like suicide, that are often not talked about. It is to make you uncomfortable enough to want to do something about it. My work wants you make the extra phone call, the encouraging text, or any amount of reaching out to bring positivity to those around you, especially the ones you feel need it most.

I would love to sit and talk with any of you who have questions, comments, or concerns. I do wish that you kindly consider who is around you before you comment on the work presented to you today, simply because you never know who is listening, or what others are feeling, please be courteous of one another.

With Love,
Grace B.

GRACE BERG – BIOGRAPHY

The artist you see before you is Grace Berg and she is currently a Pre-Art Therapy major at the University of Saint Francis, pursuing a minor in Psychology, 3D Studio Art, and Photography. She is filled with excitement and cannot wait to advance her career in helping others after graduation in May, leaving the beautiful city of Fort Wayne (where she was born and raised) to achieve a Master’s Degree in Art Therapy. She has found passion and heart in helping others in the community; thankfully she is able to show the parts of the people she feels so passionately about in her work.

Her current work has taken an interesting turn to topics that often are not talked about, or comfortable to talk about. She has a love for exploring different stories in her images and showing what she sometimes lacks ability to say. A few major portfolios she has are focused on the ideas of cancer, abuse, and depression. They all dig deeply into the conceptual world of photography and she hopes the viewer is able to experience some of that concept.

Grace learned that art had the ability to save and tell stories in high school and she has quickly shared that ability with others. She focuses on her ability to help as well as her art helping others too. Sharing her work with you all today is an honor and she cannot thank you enough for being here.

SABINE CROY – BIOGRAPHY

Sabine Croy is currently a Sophomore at Carroll High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She has grown up surrounded by photography from a very young age, with a natural passion for it from her mother. During her youth, she was very intrigued by the aspects of analogue photography and awed by the simplicity of various techniques and processes such as Pinhole Photography, Photograms, and Photographic Transfers. As a freshman in high school, she was introduced to the process of developing her own film negatives. From there, Sabine became obsessed with all aspects of photography and continues to learn more techniques and processes.

Sabine has received many Regional Scholastic Art Awards as well as a Regional American Vision Award [this award is given to the five pieces which are considered Best of Show]. This past year, she received a National Silver Scholastics Award. In 2017, she received 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the ACPL High School Photography Exhibition. Currently, Sabine has begun to explore many other forms of art such as Drawing and Fashion. She plans to pursue a career implementing her artistic talents.

SARAH CONRAD – ARTIST STATEMENT

Invocation:

This series is a visual representation of self-psychoanalysis, made in an effort to become a stable and functioning human. My hope is to use this as a tool to connect with others on their journey through self-evaluation. This series will be ongoing as a collaborative multimedia project.

Alongside every piece is a short essay to better describe the onset feelings and symptoms that I experience on a regular basis.

Noise:

(In an attempt to describe ADHD) Not remembering what happened five minutes ago. Not remembering what I just said. Not remembering how much time has passed between now and the last time I brushed my teeth. It could have been several weeks. Often feeling that my head is floating in a cloud over a bustling city. Always something diverting attention. Losing grip on reality, not knowing when things end and where they begin. Always ringing in my ears. Often does complete silence seems so loud.

Strong but Gentle:

Vivid memories of my mom stroking the palm of my hand. Those feelings that I carry over to that of falling into the safe embrace of a lover. Firmly wrapping themselves around me as my worries seem to melt away oh, so safely.

Feast of Eternal Bliss:

The moments of stability almost seem everlasting but are fleeting. Those moments, I often see things for what they are. It all seems so soft. Pain is part of life and it is okay. Happiness is not a fact of existence and that is okay.

Fists Full of Rocks:

“Head on a swivel!” as they say. Be sure to look all ways. Can never be too sure when someone is watching. What someone can do to a person like you. Be sure to have a few rocks in hand, keep a couple more in your pocket just in case.

Dart down a few odd streets and narrow alleyways. Be aware of your surroundings, always.

Letting Go:

Tightly clenching my fists and slowly relaxing. Like screaming into nothing. Like the night I took a gulf club to my mom’s pumpkin patch to purge all of my feelings.

Home Sick:

Looking out of my window only to see a brick wall. Thinking of how I have been ripped away from people I called my family for the past five years. Bitterly being forced from my home, to finally live alone.

SARAH CONRAD – BIOGRAPHY

Born in Northeast Indiana, I attended a variety of parochial schools where I had lots of time to doodle during chapel and worship services. I went to summer workshops at the University of Saint Francis where I learned the bulk of my techniques.

Visual art was always an interest of mine. I began tracing images, then copying from memory. I would often draw a shape and draw patterns and objects surrounding it as if I were recording thought forms and echoes of my child mind. Recently looking back on that style, I have decided to continue that process in many of my pieces.

Currently I am twenty-four years old, living in downtown Fort Wayne, working two jobs and chipping away at several projects. Lately I have been exploring multimedia and self-psychoanalysis, thus displayed in this series.

MADDIE MILLER – BIOGRAPHY

Maddie Miller is an artist based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Print Media from the Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her practice spans print media, sculpture, and textiles. Her work explores the relationship of the self to domestic spaces, considering overlooked architectural elements and emotions held in space over time. Her work is process-oriented and aims to create art objects and installations that invite the viewer into a familiar space or feeling, carrying the weight of time and presence of a past.