Spring Art Show: The Art of Recovery

I work with wood . I started out with a small shop and made little trinkets for my wife and her family. I recently discovered the peace in working with my scroll saw and have. Made many projects. The soothing sound if the saw and the feel of the wood relax me and take away my anxiety. Which helps me to stay away from “Pot” my drug of choice. Contact me via email and I will send photos of some of my projects

My art has only Blossomed since I got clean. Painting has been important to my recovery. Some of my step work I’ve turned into songs. Much is from journaling. I usually paint abstracts. But also portraits and landscapes.

Art has given me a voice when I had no voice. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and as an alcoholic, given the opportunity to work and exhibit locally has helped my self esteem and depression. I feel my place in the world that I only get through painting. Instagram: @Kristin-Bucci-1

I love to play with the paint and capture the joy and beauty I see in nature. My painting practice is also a way for me to stay centered in the moment. While I’m painting, light, shapes, and color are all I hold in my mind; the rest can wait until later. That keeps me joyful, too.

I was a glass artist and jeweler before I came to the rooms of AA. I thought drinking helped me be creative; however, after sobriety I did some of my most creative and challenging work. This work lead to a gallery show in conjunction with another glass artist/jeweler at the Glass Art Society Conference in 2006 and publication of my work in 3 of the 4 glass books it’s been published in. A sober mind allowed me to create in ways I hadn’t been able to create before. It allowed me to develop better metal working skills, as well. Since sobriety, when I’m troubled, I find that creating something helps me clear my mind.

Working with beads and mosaics allows me to enter into a quiet part of me where I can re-connect with my Higher Power and myself! This has been crucial for my sanity and recovery over time, and I am grateful to my grandmothers for teaching me to use my hands to create.

I mostly work with paper, but have been known to paint with watercolor and acrylic.

Whatever I am creating, it keeps me in the moment. I need to focus, to pick out paper, colors, images to lay out a design. I need to clear my mind to see the design.

I create for my pleasure and my peace of mind. And I hope others find delight in what I have created.

About a year into my recovery I began to experience an incredible feeling of mental clarity and felt I needed to stretch my creative muscles. I dabbled with watercolor, then clay, then moved on to beads and resin in the search for what spoke to me. When COVID came around and craft stores became less accessible, I decided to re-vamp my furniture and found my true passion for wood-work and interior design. Most of my wall art and furniture now is salvaged barn wood and fencing scooped up from the side of the road. Art continues to provide a healthy outlet in difficult times and plays a huge role in keeping me on the right path.

Visit:
CaliShineBoutique.com

I started drawing while in jail it greatly helped make the time go by faster. I have bad habits that I can avoid if I stay busy.

As a professional, I am a digital designer and motion graphics artist. But for my personal artwork I like to project moving images onto unconventional objects. Called video projection mapping, I use specialized software and techniques to “wrap” video around various objects, from small items such as wedding cakes, up to very large buildings. Creating art has proven to be a valuable outlet and personal sanctuary to keep myself centered.

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YouTube Channel

My art is a reflection of my recovery over the past 6 years. I am currently working on my MFA in Painting which is truly one of the many gifts of sobriety. Having the opportunity to creatively express my emotional, mental, social, spiritual and physical state during this time has been such an honor and truly humbling for it was those specific aspects in life that I was completely broken for such a long time upon entering recovery. Thank you for a second chance at life.

My colored pencil and pens pictures that I have done the past few years has been helpful in keeping me on track with my continued sobriety, especially these past few years. Extremely helpful for bouts of anxiety and isolation due to Covid, and losing my job.

I make fiber art (mostly quilted wall-hangings), paper collages and illustrations. I create art to deal with the ups and down of bipolar disorder. To me, art is therapy.

My preferred way of contact is my website: www.abbyjhp.com

My art falls under the abstract, graffiti, freestyle, old/new school categories.

Reading comic books as a kid inspired me to start drawing I always had an eye for art ..I never was restricted to a favorite medium…but was and still am influenced by the graffiti culture of the 80s and 90s..today in my recovery ..my Kraft continues to grow stronger …in gives me a sense of purpose and appraisal., I love the gift my creator has blessed me with ,and I am grateful to be able to share it with the 🌎

My art which I will have on display falls under the abstract genre, and it’s geared towards spiritual aspects of numerology and symbolism behind the color. Also just some personal pieces which are related to my musical creations, which is my primary art form.

My music and my visual art, amongst the photo and a/v work, acting, directing, studio engineering art has served as a tool(s) which allow me to believe in my future, and push myself to move forward. Since being in jail and rehab, coming out and hearing my own music and the skill level I hold in that regard helped me realize that I don’t want to throw any of that away by allowing addiction to get in the way.

@buckit_lysd

Making jewelry allows me to focus on the creation of items that bring joy to others. It is my way of giving back. Creating and sharing what others enjoy brings me joy, which helps to keep my mind in recovery, and has helped me to stay sober for 26 years.

My favorite creative outlet is creating pen and ink illustrations on Bristal Vellum paper of photos I take of buildings. Perspective is something I’ve taken a lot of interest in. Art is something that I’ve engaged in since a young age. During the heaviest of my drinking days, I couldn’t maintain focus and wasn’t able to really make anything for several years. I quit drinking 5 years ago and started easing back into drawing a few years ago. My life is much different now, but when I can set aside the time for art I find a sort of meditative place that calms my mind and connects the lines as pertains to several aspects of my life. It is a good feeling, and another regular reminder of why I’m at my best as a sober individual.

My art is influenced from three different areas; comics, graffiti and the prison culture. I was incarcerated and served a life term sentence of 26 years to life. Currently I am off parole and using my art to help others in my community, mainly with an organization I helped create- “Together We Create”.

It has helped me to examine, express and unravel my past addictions, coping mechanisms, flaws, etc and share them with others by creating pieces of art that are thought provoking. In hopes of showing others that there is a way out of the darkness. Sharing my experiences through art is very therapeutic to me, because we are all human.

Art is a direct channel to my higher power. When I’m creating, I’m fully present and at peace. Not only that — as part of the creation process, I’ve learned that you have to back up and look at the bigger picture. It’s just like life: If you’re too focused on the little details, you won’t see the greater masterpiece that’s right in front of you. It’s a powerful life lesson.

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Japan Collection
Children’s book

I’ve been doing art on and off my adult life, but it really took off when got into recovery. Since then I’ve starting painting again and am taking lots of art classes and workshops. My work is ever changing. It’s a calling now, there is so much I want to create. I’m inspired by nature and other’s art. As it relates to my recovery, I can say “To thine own self be true”. I feel like I cannot not create. At this Art Show, I’ll be sharing limited edition signed and numbered prints of my ‘Ladies’ series, original palette knife wave paintings, driftwood beach designs and some landscape photography (my new passion).

See some of my other work on my ‘Art by Cris’ Facebook page

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Facebook page

My art is Acrylic and mixed materials. I didn’t start painting until 2020, during the COVID lockdown, as a way to distract from all the deaths and illnesses from impacting my physical and mental health. I have a connective tissue disorder that causes pain, anxiety, and episodic depression. To remain in a state of “remission” and avoid relapses into depression I started doing paint parties with my mom, who happens to be a published artist. Painting aggravates my tendons so I have to stop every so often and pick up where I left off. Some pieces have taken months to complete for that reason.

Art is something that has had a huge impact on my recovery(and sanity). Before I learned how to express my emotions properly, I channeled it into my pieces. Even currently, I still have to create an art piece to fully process life-changing events. Most of my art has the theme of mental illness, sobriety, and trauma. In the darkest of times art has saved me when nothing else could. A part of me goes into every single piece I create. Instagram: @Chels_Eye_art

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Online shop

I’m a mixed media artist and art gives me a healthy outlet to quiet the mental chatter. I use art as a form of active meditation and a gift of gratitude to my higher power. IG: aworkofheartstudio

Visit:
www.aworkofheart.com

Stuart will be our DJ and providing a background music soundtrack for the event. He is a part of the Ambient Mafia DJ collective based in the Bay Area. Visit his profile and learn more about the group here