November 2011

USC Sumter in Sumter, SC, Features Healing Works of Art

In coordination with the Humanities Festival of Sumter, SC, USC Sumter will feature an exhibit titled, Sometimes Words Are Not Enough, from participants of Healing Icons®, facilitated by Columbia, SC, artist, Heidi Dahr-Hope, on view in the Umpteenth Gallery through Nov. 30, 2011.

Dahr-Hope explains that this artwork has been created by Oncology Patients sharing their personal story of battling a life threatening disease through their artwork. The traveling exhibition, Sometimes Words Are Not Enough, displays color reproductions of artwork created by diverse cancer patients from a broad spectrum of life circumstances. The pieces are visually and symbolically profound. The viewer receives an intimate glimpse into the frightening, disorienting world of living with a life threatening disease. When words are not enough, these works of art speak from the heart to the soul. Each unique piece of artwork tells a story. Collectively, they spread the gift of hope and healing to cancer patients, their families, and the community at large. 

Healing Icons® is a non-profit organization whose educational outreach is to demonstrate the importance and value the visual arts have in the process of individual as well as community healing. Women whose lives have been touched by cancer and their families need more than medicine to heal. Sometimes words are not enough to express what the psyche is feeling. Patients with cancer and their families face intense stress due to the uncertainties and overwhelming emotions surrounding a cancer diagnosis.

Through participatory workshops, retreats, seminars and didactic lectures, Healing Icons® reveals the profound role the visual arts play in uncovering active and latent trauma. This method activates the healing process enabling participants to move forward, empowering them with new coping strategies. For more information regarding Healing Icons®, you can access their website at (http://www.healingicons.org/default.shtml)

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listing, call Cara-lin Getty, Director at 803/938-3727 or e-mail at (cgetty@uscsumter.edu) or the Gallery Assistant, Laurel Jordan at (jordalau@uscsumter.edu).

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