The Connection Between Mental Health and Art, Interview with Kathryn Vercillo

Thank you to the amazing Kathryn Vercillo, author of Ghosts of Alcatraz, Ghosts of San Francisco, The Artist's Mind: The Creative Lives and Mental Health of Famous Artists and many others, for giving me the opportunity, through her compelling research, to open up about something that I ordinarily do not talk about: mental health. Mental Health is a term that is often stigmatized. Nonetheless, it remains a relevant topic of importance that applies to everyone. As an artist, it isn't often that I am given the chance to speak on this subject. Atleast not in this way. Everyone, at some time or another struggles or has struggled. Sometimes scars are left behind. Sometimes deep scars are left behind. And as a person, you wear them as best as you can. Or maybe you hide them because that is easier than confronting the pain. It doesn't mean that you are abnormal. If anything, it means that you are real. It does not change that it hurts. But it also does not define you. Kathryn's ingenious approach to connecting art and psychology isn't just brilliant but genuinely compassionate. Through giving the artist an opportunity to answer interview questions with both art and words, she is bridging the gap between mental health and art in a captivating way. As a person, sometimes it feels as though there is immense pressure to be the best version of yourself, even when you are struggling or to always present the best side of yourself, even when you are exhausted. Discussing mental health does not mean that you are isolated. Like art, it is a dialogue that needs everyone's voices to coalesce. Thank you so much, Kathryn for all that you do and for furthering the discussion of the connection between mental health and art. Read Part I and Part II of my interview here:

Part I (Visual Answers): https://createmefree.substack.com/p/interview-with-cierra-g-rowe-part

Part II: https://createmefree.substack.com/p/interview-with-painter-cierra-g-rowe

'Serendipity' by Cierra G. Rowe

 

Surreal skies linger overhead,
among thick and soft clouds, over an empty back road.

https://www.artofcierra.com/product/serendipity-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

'Marshmallow Clouds' by Cierra G. Rowe

 

Puffy white clouds yawn and stretch in a dramatic gradient sky
above haybales sitting near a quiet country road.

https://www.artofcierra.com/product/marshmallow-clouds-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

'Breath of Night' by Cierra G. Rowe

 

Night exhales in dramatic shades of blue,
while twinkling stars shine overhead like fireflies.
Headlights head somewhere down the road.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/breath-of-night-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

'Clear My Mind' by Cierra G. Rowe

 

Shedding all thought and worry on a rural road,
under a cool blue sky in early fall.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/clear-my-mind-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

Thank you❣️

 

A very heartfelt thank you to the American Diabetes Association for sending me this beautiful, framed display of the front cover, containing my art and my article page from issue 6. This is so nice and a very, very kind gesture that I wasn't expecting. It has been a long day and I really appreciate this, this made me smile.❣️

Diabetes Care Volume 48, Issue 6 Cover

It is a great honor and privilege to have my painting 'Blessed (Opal, Lapis Lazuli)' as the cover art for Volume 48, Issue 6 of Diabetes Care and furthermore to have an exclusive interview featured within its pages, along with being included in their The Art of Diabetes Care collection of artists and contributors. Diabetes Care is a journal published by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and is the leading clinical and clinical research journal for diabetes globally. As the daughter of someone with diabetes, whom I care for deeply, this is of absolute importance to me. I don't know that my words will do justice to how grateful I am. I would like to especially thank writer Benjamin Page from Washington, D.C. for taking the time to interview me over the phone. It was a pleasure to talk about my artistic background, my father, upbringing and reasons behind my art. I would also like to thank the American Diabetes Association and every single person who makes this amazing journal possible. Thank you so much. I have included relevant links below.

Diabetes Care Volume 48, Issue 6 : https://diabetesjournals.org/care/issue/48/6

About The Artist Cierra G. Rowe : https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/48/6/861/158279/About-the-Artist-Cierra-G-Rowe

The Art of Diabetes Care : https://diabetesjournals.org/care/collection/3059/The-Art-of-Diabetes-Care

About the Artist: Cierra G. Rowe , Diabetes Care article

https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/48/6/861/158279/About-the-Artist-Cierra-G-Rowe

'Composure' by Cierra G. Rowe

 

A rose floats easily in the dark, glowing with verve and poised through faith —
speaking to the notion that being brave and taking a leap of faith can, at times,
show you the light that is already within yourself.
The rose is, metaphorically, everyone. Anyone.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/composure-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

Happy Mother's Day

This day is for the amazing women who brought life into this world, took on the role of mom in unique ways and who sacrificed so much, all in the name of motherhood. To the moms, mums, ma's, mams and mamas of the world — Happy Mother's Day. You are loved. You are seen. You are appreciated. You are honored.

If your mother or mother figure has passed on and this day is hard for you, I am so sorry. Please stay strong and know that nothing outshines love and that their love is always near, keeping you warm. I know that no words can touch the pain but some how, some way love is the medicine. My heart goes out to you and you have my deepest sympathies.

May is hard. It's very difficult. I get shaken up whenever it comes 'round. But I celebrate my Grandmother in the only way that I know how on this day: by attending her church with my mother and wearing a big ole hat that I sewed a rose onto in her honor. My gran taught me how to sew and I wanted the hat to be special. She loved hats. This church is a very special place to me. When I go there I am often moved to tears and today was no different. 

Today is Mother's Day but your mom is more than one day. She's more than nine months. She's worthy of being known as a person and of being appreciated for all of the things that she went through before she had you. That matters. As a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a niece, a sister, a granddaughter and a wife, Mother's Day is special. Sacred, even. Because no one would exist without their mothers, and their mother's mothers and their mother's mother's mothers and so on. I have so much respect for the women who have raised, embraced and adopted those who needed them in their life. For these things and more, you are celebrated. 

Happy Mother's Day.

(photo is me and my mother at church. She wanted me to wear a dress and I was like ummmmm no. lol but my husband and I bought her a nice cake to enjoy.)

'Bourgeoisie' by Cierra G. Rowe

A chandelier hangs privately above a vase
and rug, in a room all but empty with green walls.  
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/bourgeoisie-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x8-framed

 

''You don't post selfies.''

My preference for the aesthetic of black and white photography, as opposed to full color photos, is partly because of how stylish they appear, because I like for my paintings to be the focal point concerning what I post and because black and white photos are often not photos that people online feel inclined to take or use without consent.

I am told that I don't post many ''selfies''. This has been said by a few people. Recently I was again told this. It's laughable but I guess even something as silly as a statement like that can be thought-provoking. ''You don't post selfies'' ...and from what I've seen, when you do ''finally'' post a candid photo of yourself, it's referred to as ''a rare selfie''. It all sounds very ...I don't know, self-absorbed? It almost brings to mind Sir David Attenborough narrating the exquisite movements of some​ enigmatic creature, hidden behind the shadows of a remote jungle, rarely emerging from its lair within a high budget nature documentary. Lol. The phrase implies that an ''appearance'' is expected — that you are somehow meant to show off or be loud in being seen online and when you're not, you are somehow ''hiding'', even if you are not hiding. Is it curiosity? Or maybe people have become so accustomed to others posting intimate photos of every moment of every day, that it is now accepted as a social norm. ''You don't post selfies.'' Well, yes... that may technically be so but as an artist what good would that really do? Maybe I am dealing with a lot and don't necessarily feel compelled to take a bunch of ''selfies''- one after the next. Maybe I'm not the most confident cherry in the bush. Maybe on some level I'm aware of how superficial people can be and don't want my art or myself as an artist to be relegated to cosmetic preferences, projections and vapid fixations, based on how I appear to whomever. I am passionate about art. Painting is therapeutic​ and writing is an extension of that. So maybe those things are more important to me than trying to look ''appealing'' or appear however someone appears when they post a myriad of self-photos and personal previews across multiple platforms. If I post a photo, I'd prefer that it relate to my art somehow and be genuine. As an artist, this is important to me. So, with all of that being said, here is a photo taken earlier of me in the morning, while in the middle of doing some ​r​eading, drinking tea and drawing an outline for a new painting.