Art Center Sarasota exhibit puts focus on mental health in local Hispanic community
In one of the four exhibits opening March 23, Art Center Sarasota is taking a look through the “Rearview Mirror” to explore issues related to mental health care in the area’s Hispanic community.
The showcase features photographs by visual journalist Karen Arango focused on people living with mental health issues and/or a lack of mental healthcare due to their economic situations.
“Karen has a long history of working with the community and we wanted to do an impact show around this time of year,” said Christina Baril, the center’s exhibition director.
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The center received a grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to help Arango develop the show.
“It came about in a really organic way,” Baril said. “We’ve been working with her for the past few months, selecting photos. She’s been interviewing all the people she photographed and there will be QR codes that people can access to learn more of what the subjects have gone through and their struggles in gaining access to mental health care.”
It is one of four shows opening with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. March 23, and continuing through April 29 at 707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
In “Adjusting Focus,” Jeanne Guertin-Potoff, a part-time resident of the Sarasota area and a longtime member of the Art Center, works with tissue paper and acrylics in a series of collages. Rebecca Zweibel, who lives in St. Petersburg, has created a series of ceramic vessels and sculptures with abstract surfaces for her gallery exhibit “Illumination.”
The three individual artists will be joined by a “Large-Scale” juried show adjudicated by Mary Davis Wallace, senior planner for public art for the city of Sarasota.
The large size of the submissions means the show can feature fewer pieces than a typical juried show, with 40 works on display compared to the usual 80.
“There’s a great variety of styles, landscape, abstract, some sort of animalistic types of works and really interesting pieces,” Baril said. Working on a larger scale “has been a real challenge for some of our artists who apply regularly. They’re taking it on with grace and succeed in many cases.”
For more information: 941-365-2032; artsarasota.org
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Art Center photos focus on mental health in local Hispanic community
