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