GRIEF
The loss of a loved one is a universally stressful and emotional event. Grieving is the outward expression of your loss and is expressed in many different ways. Whether the death is expected or sudden, there is a wide range of emotions that take place. These emotions are normal and healthy and help us come to terms with our loss. The best thing we can do is allow ourselves to grieve.
What is one way that has helped you cope with the loss of a loved one?
How can you help someone else in their grieving process?
What is one way that has helped you cope with the loss of a loved one?
How can you help someone else in their grieving process?
GARY ERNEST SMITH
Up from the Dust 1972
oil on canvas
Gift from David & Ingrid Nemelka, in memory of Ruth Hubold Nemelka
Smith strives for simple, direct statements that capture the essential character of his subject.
Who do you consider to be the subject of this painting?
What do you think the underlying theme of this painting is?
KENSHI WESTOVER
The Tumor & The X-Ray 2017
mixed media
Courtesy of the Artist
"There is a world of things out there...They are all things in themselves. But we make them sensible to us by giving them meanings that shore up our own views of the world." - Helen Macdonald
The Tumor
Connections forged in the mind: memories, motivations, habits, personality, preferences, quirks—the way we are wired. The tumor has eaten holes through these, blasting through the brain like an incendiary device, charring everything in its path, leaving giant gaps where networks of knowledge used to be. Broken connections are left dangling, the raw ends grasping blindly through the void. How did this happen? What year is it? How old am I? What do I want? What can be done? What should we do? How much time do I have? Oh, the weight of the wait...
The X-Ray
The picture we take of the problem. What is there. What we see. What we want to see. What we choose to see. What is true. What is not. The meanings we draw. The stories we tell ourselves. What we decide to do, based on what we think we know, based on what we believe. We frame the problem against something familiar, something solid, something safe. We look for order in the chaos. We look for clues, for causes, for cures. We try to make sense of the insensible. We do not agree. We do not have to. But none of this changes the verdict. The outcome is sure.
Too soon our watch has ended.
The Tumor & The X-Ray 2017
mixed media
Courtesy of the Artist
"There is a world of things out there...They are all things in themselves. But we make them sensible to us by giving them meanings that shore up our own views of the world." - Helen Macdonald
The Tumor
Connections forged in the mind: memories, motivations, habits, personality, preferences, quirks—the way we are wired. The tumor has eaten holes through these, blasting through the brain like an incendiary device, charring everything in its path, leaving giant gaps where networks of knowledge used to be. Broken connections are left dangling, the raw ends grasping blindly through the void. How did this happen? What year is it? How old am I? What do I want? What can be done? What should we do? How much time do I have? Oh, the weight of the wait...
The X-Ray
The picture we take of the problem. What is there. What we see. What we want to see. What we choose to see. What is true. What is not. The meanings we draw. The stories we tell ourselves. What we decide to do, based on what we think we know, based on what we believe. We frame the problem against something familiar, something solid, something safe. We look for order in the chaos. We look for clues, for causes, for cures. We try to make sense of the insensible. We do not agree. We do not have to. But none of this changes the verdict. The outcome is sure.
Too soon our watch has ended.
THOMAS A. LEEK
Eternal Forces 1990
watercolor
Gift from David and Ingrid Nemelka
The artist uses watercolor as a medium to create “ideological summaries of life experiences.” The Book of Revelation in the Bible describes the eternal forces that will impact everyone. They may intersect and hit all at once; they may arrive on their own.
How do you handle these forces in your life?
TREVOR JACK THOMAS SOUTHEY
Pieta 1983
bronze
Gift from Joseph and Jan Cannon
SRI WHIPPLE
Seasons Change 2014
oil on board
Courtesy of the Artist
J. LEO FAIRBANKS
Grief Portrait of Lillie Annetta Huish Fairbanks c.1902
bronze
Courtesy of Timothy and Hilary Burton in Memory of Jane Elizabeth Burton
This piece represents the anguish of the artist from losing his mother. When the artist’s younger brother was an infant, his mother was carrying him in one arm, a lamp in the other, as she walked down the stairs—only to lose her balance and, to save him, fall in such a way that she hit her head. She died from the resulting trauma.
When have you experienced grief?
How do you manage sorrow and heartache in your life?
EDWARD HOWARD BETTS
Dark Garden 1959
oil on board
Gift from 1963 Springville High School Junior Class
Many long to reach out to a lost loved one. There are many ways that people try to communicate with those that they have lost; to feel that connection again or to achieve peace. One place that we go to do that is the cemetery. When we visit a loved one’s resting place it helps us feel connected to their memory and gives us a place to grieve and heal.
What do you see in this abstract painting?
BRIAN KERSHISNIK
Death Suite 2015
hand colored relief prints
Courtesy of the Artist
“My subjects are typically not grand, they are you and me—a little awkward in their common work-a-day holiness. They are often not ‘getting it’, or perhaps getting it wrong. They are misunderstood, like you and I are misunderstood, but loved and lovely too. They are a little heavy-footed in their dancing, a little disheveled in their useful and inscrutable activities, a little disoriented in their best of intentions. The subjects in my paintings are metaphorical and mythological autobiography and when it is working, they are you too.”
How does approaching death through a humorous lens make it easier to talk about?
BRIAN CHRISTENSEN
Texting the Dead 2017
porcelain
Courtesy of the Artist
This piece contains a number of ceramic cell phones with messages to deceased loved ones. These messages attempt to broach the distance between ourselves and those who have passed on.
Are those that are deceased truly gone?
What would your text message be to a loved one?
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