Heal, Create, and Share

Arts + Literature Laboratory presents Heal, Create, and Share, a group exhibition curated by Roberto Torres Mata, from Wednesday, May 1, 2024 through Saturday, June 22, 2024.

A reception for current exhibitions will be held on Friday, May 3 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm.

Heal, Create, and Share is an art exhibition focused on addressing mental health challenges within diverse and all communities in Dane County. The core concept centers around providing a therapeutic and communal space where individuals can engage in artistic expression, share their experiences, and collectively contribute to a communal quilt. Through the act of creating art, participants are encouraged to embark on a journey of healing and build a supportive community.

Exhibiting Artists: Rodrigo Carapia, Lilada Gee, Dakota Mace, Lesley Numbers, Ash Armenta, Rachael Griffin, J Myszka Lewis, Cat Birk, Jana Cariddi, Issis Macias, Heather Kohlmeier, and Cullen Houser.

The artists will explore themes around mental health to provide a positive impact on all communities. The exhibition will showcase a diverse range of artistic expressions, including paintings, sculptures, and multimedia installations that convey different perspectives on mental well-being. I aim to include artists from diverse backgrounds here in Dane County whose work will shed light on the subject and spread awareness to heal, create and share with everyone. The diverse artworks contribute to an evolving cultural conversation about mental well-being, providing a snapshot of the community's creative responses to these issues.

This project aims to create a powerful and accessible platform that raises awareness about mental health and actively involves the community in the process of healing and destigmatization. With broader issues currently happening around the world, I want to address mental health issues locally and become more involved with my community and listen to the stories and voices that too often go unheard.

Scheduled events for Heal, Create, and Share:

Community day quilt making with Roberto Torres Mata: May 11, and June 15, 2024, from 12pm - 4pm

Meditation and Yoga: May 18, and June 8, 2024, from 10am - 11am

Family Fun through Craft: June 22, 2024 from 12pm - 4pm

Rodrigo Carapia

Rodrigo Carapia is a self-taught artist who originates from Mexico City, Mexico. Carapia has lived and worked in Madison for 15 years. He first began with street art, which allowed him to experiment with his art on bigger scales. When he moved to Wisconsin in 2008, he started to perfect his craft on canvas and paper. Once his brush touches the canvas, the work he portrays becomes an epitome of his rich Mexa culture. As an artist and activist, Carapia uses his work as a form of self-expression and resistance by offering art workshops in schools, juvenile shelters and juvenile correctional centers, giving the youth a form of expression and a sense of freedom. His work has been donated to grassroots organizations that help the undocumented community as well as workers’ unions. His public art can be spotted around the state in murals, restaurants and shows.

Carapia’s work has also been recognized by several publications and news channels including The Capital Times,... Read More

Lilada Gee

A dynamic voice on behalf of Black girls and women throughout the African Diaspora who carry the heavy burden of generations of sexual trauma, as well as their own—Lilada Gee has committed her life to the defending of Black girlhood and the healing of Black women.

Sexually abused at a very tender age, Lilada suffered dire effects such as self-hatred, clinical depression and suicidal ideation. These devastating experiences made her deeply compassionate for how girls who have been sexually abused feel, think and live, through their trauma. Via her own healing journey, she developed an unyielding passion to help Black girl victims of sexual abused heal and reclaim their spirits, minds and bodies from the devastation of abuse.

A bold biographer, Lilada uses her critically acclaimed book, I Can’t Live Like This Anymore! as a powerful tool to empower survivors take back their lives. In this edgy inspiration, a triumphant story of victory rises from a past scarred... Read More

Dakota Mace

Dakota Mace is a Diné (Navajo) artist and researcher who focuses on the cultural appropriation of Indigenous design-work, material culture, and textile history. Mace received her MA and MFA degrees in Photography and Textile Design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her BFA in Photography from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has developed workshops and lectures that focus on the appropriation and influence of Indigenous design work within fashion and popular culture. Her work as an artist and researcher has been exhibited nationally as well as internationally at various conferences and galleries.

Mace is also the co-founder, with Paige Skenandore, of the Native Art Market at Arts + Literature Laboratory.

Lesley Numbers

Lesley Anne Numbers is a printmaker, illustrator, and art educator based in Madison, Wisconsin. She creates prints for people and organizations she loves, teaches workshops at the library, and paints murals around town. She has taught art classes for all ages in a variety of non-profit and community settings and screen printing at The Center for Printing Arts at Madison College, and has sold work under the name Patchwork Printshop. With a background in art education and a lifelong love for old objects and the outdoors, she finds inspiration in children’s artwork, vintage textiles and scientific illustrations, and all of the beautiful forms, colors, and patterns found in nature. Other sources of inspiration include: music, poetry,... Read More

Ash Armenta

Ash Armenta is a print media artist from the Bay Area of California. They graduated with their MFA in Printmaking from the University of Wisconsin- Madison in 2022. They are the current Thurber Artist-in-Residence, a year long studio residency through the Madison Arts Commission.

In 2018 Ash opened Little Giant Collective, a member-owned cooperative print studio in Santa Cruz, Ca and continue contributing in advisory roles at LGC.

Ash concluded the two year program at Tamarind Institute and received the title of Tamarind Master Printer in 2017. The program included several collaborations with artists such as Matt Shlian, Rashaad Newsome, Nicola Lopez, and Nina Elder. They hold a BA in printmaking from UC Santa Cruz.

Ash currently teaches as an instructor at UW-Madison. In addition to their studio practice, Ash is a professional tattoo artist and has been working in the industry for two years. They also enjoy doing collaborative projects, graphic design,... Read More

Rachael Griffin

Rachael is an Ohio-born printmaker and painter who currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin. Her work, predominantly large-scale monotypes, always comes back to the human appetite. What is it that we like, and why do we like it? Her images of pastries, fruit, and meat are often icons of Americana, but they also consider the mysterious notion of beauty, attraction, and seduction. Pleasure, humor, and meditation are all constants that can carry on throughout Rachael's daily and artistic practice. Rachael earned her MFA in Printmaking at UW-Madison, following her BFA from Ohio University.

J. Myszka Lewis

J. Myszka Lewis’ work is motivated by the intricacies of language and the complex relationships between object, image, and materiality. Using printmaking, painting, and embroidery, she breaks down and re-images basic objects in order to examine notions of familiarity, structure, and stability.

Cat Birk

Cat Birk (b. 1994, they/them) is a painter and researcher based in Madison, WI. Their interdisciplinary practice brings transgender studies, queer theory, and critical theory into the expanded field of painting. They received the 2024 Russell and Paula Panczenko MFA Prize, and their prize winning exhibition, my mother is a horse, opened at the Chazen Museum of Art on April 25, 2024.

Jana Marie Cariddi

Jana Marie Cariddi received her BFA in painting and illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannnah, Georgia. Her work explores a world where rainbows cry, utters spurt green glitter slime, and stylish muses rule the world. A quirky mash up of nihilistic feminism and gloom gives birth to colorfully charged paintings and drawings. She has been featured in Meraki Magazine and the Artipoeus Salon Podcast.

Issis Macias

Issis Macias is an artist living and working in Madison, Wisconsin. A self-taught artist and daughter of Mexican immigrants, Macias was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her creative journey is deeply rooted in the community and the diverse array of artists she has encountered throughout her life. In 2020, amidst the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic, Macias faced a significant career transition and became a new mother. She found herself embracing her art with renewed passion, using creativity as a means to navigate and heal during turbulent times. Through her intuitive painting practice, Macias is compelled to find solace and sees her work as an expression of personal experiences and healing generational traumas. Presently, Macias is based in Madison and maintains strong ties to Los Angeles.

Macias has been recognized as a finalist of the 2023 Forward Art Prize, accepted to the 2023-2025 Bridge Work Program at Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL), and became a... Read More

Heather Kohlmeier

Kohlmeier is an interdisciplinary artist, papermaker, and educator. Process and material are central to her making practice and inspire her creation of both functional and sculptural forms. These forms are often a study of translucency, as well as the relationship of strength and fragility found within the natural world. She has shown work nationally and internationally. (Source: UW-Madison School of Human Ecology)

Cullen Houser

Cullen Houser is a multidisciplinary artist working in printmaking, neon lights, and digital media. Through his layered assemblages, the interactivity of various materials blur the lines between analog and digital spaces. Houser received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sonoma State University with an emphasis in printmaking in 2018. Houser received the Tandem Press Gabriele S. Haberland Travel Award in 2022 and the UW-Madison Temkin Exhibition Award in 2023. Houser recently held his Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, Singularity, at Tandem Press, where he also works as a Project Assistant.

Roberto Torres Mata

Roberto Torres Mata, a native of Huntington Beach, California, is a multidisciplinary artist whose work delves into the profound issues surrounding migration in the Americas and beyond. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University and pursued further studies, obtaining his Master's degree from the University of Madison-Wisconsin.

Torres Mata's impactful artworks have garnered recognition and have been showcased in prestigious institutions, including exhibitions at the Metropolitan Art Museum, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Chazen Art Museum, and Antigua Academia De San Carlos. His compelling artistic expressions have resonated with diverse audiences, leading to the acquisition of his pieces by universities, museums, and private collectors.

Throughout his academic journey, Torres Mata has received notable accolades, including the Graduate Research Scholars award and the esteemed Chazen Prize. Currently, he proudly holds the Laguna Arts Prize,... Read More

Heal, Create, and Share

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