River Arts events

River Arts Inc. is hosting an artists’ reception during the month of September. Please join them for this special event.   Artists’ Reception for Things Behind the Sun and Fragility & Fortitude--an Exhibition About Mental Health Reception date: Thursday, September 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m., artist and keynote presentation starts at 6 p.m. Exhibition dates: August 26-Ocotber 4, 2024 105 9th Street, Prairie du Sac, WI, 53578 Please join River Arts to celebrate two new exhibitions at the Sauk Prairie River Arts Center. Things Behind the Sun by Abrahm Guthrie & Fragility and Fortitude, an exhibition about mental health. This reception will feature words from artists Abrahm Guthrie, brief remarks from curator Kel Mur, and a keynote from Amy Thomas the Clinical Program Director of Hancock Center for Creative Arts Therapies. Please read on for more information about each show: Things Behind the Sun, paintings by Abrahm Guthrie “Each piece in this show can be read as a small prayer, a symbolic visual narrative made of color and shape. They are mysterious, even to me, as they pulse and vibrate together over many months to form their own meanings. They are a joy, a dance, the feeling of a lover’s bare back in bed, lying in the grass watching the stars, they are messages of love and patience, shifting constellations of shapes that bloom and come to life organically on the canvas.” Artist Bio: Abrahm Guthrie grew up in a small barn that the family before his had turned into a temporary house. His dad cut firewood on the weekends and taught every one of his children the importance of having two winters’ worth of wood carefully stacked to dry in the woodshed. His mom taught him the potential of crystals and divined his future from a deck of animal-themed tarot cards. As a child he spent his life by a creek, eating dry ramen noodles and building spaceships to leave the planet. When his parents fought he and his sister were sent to their grandmother’s house. Their grandmother kept them busy feeding and grooming her varied collection of animals, which included, a fox, a doe, a family of opossum, a monkey, three or four rabbits, and a multitude of cats, dogs and chickens, to name a few. Nights there were spent listening to endless hours of dice roll across the tablecloth and watching alien documentaries that his uncle put on to help piece together the story of his abduction. Learn more about the artist: abrahmguthrie.com @abrahmguthrie Fragility and Fortitude, an Exhibition About Mental Health “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms Fragility and Fortitude is a group exhibition showcasing artwork dealing with the topics of mental illness, mental health maintenance, trauma, and related life experiences. Art and mental health share a profound connection, and this exhibition creates a space for healing, expression, and understanding. This group of works explores the delicacy of each individual’s experience while simultaneously acknowledging the bravery and strength it takes to move forward. Thank you so much to our Sponsor Hancock Center for Creative Arts Therapies.