The Power of Art on Healing

FREE and Open to the Public

Come to The Art Center Highland Park – 1957 Sheridan Rd, Highland Park, IL - on September 24, 2-4pm, to hear from Artists who focus their work on healing through the creative process. The Power of Art on Healing is an open forum and panel discussion about how art can impact healing. 

Panelists will share how art has helped in their own journeys surrounding health and disease, and include: Ellen Sandor, founder of art(n); Vickie Marasco, director of Art Impact Project; Christine M. López, M.Ed., ACE, trauma-informed/trauma-responsive yoga specialist; Clara Tomaz, exhibit honoree and Media Manager at TAC; Caren Helene Rudman, Curator of Voices & Visions, Standing on the Bridge Between Health and Disease. Participants are encouraged to share their experiences, or just come to listen and explore the power that art has on healing, ultimately leading to HOPE.  

The event is connected to TAC current exhibition, Voices & Visions; Standing on the Bridge Between Health and Disease, and is scheduled to run on the last day the show is open to the Public, September 24. Voices & Visions began in 2010 as an exhibit about breast and ovarian cancers and it transitioned to a biennial exhibit with a wider theme of cancer as a metaphor. In 2022, TAC is proud to present the most recent work by Ellen Sandor & (art)n in collaboration with curator/artist Caren Helene Rudman, “A Burst of Hope.” Using Caren’s Previving series imagery – created after undergoing life-saving surgeries due to her inherited affliction with the BRCA-Gene - juxtaposed with the scientific sculptural renderings of CRISPR by Ellen Sandor & (art)n, the viewer enters through this short film and VR experience into a journey of strength, beauty, and HOPE. 

Each year, TAC honors someone who has battled cancer. In 2018, they honored Jackie Sabath who had exhibited in 2016 with what turned out to be her last work of art made specifically for 

Voices & Visions just days before the exhibit installation. In keeping with the theme of hope, this year TAC honors Clara Tomaz, whose story of incredible strength and perseverance exemplifies the meaning of HOPE. While undergoing the challenges of her cancer and losing her ability to speak, she created powerful videos documenting her story and is currently TAC’s communication & media manager! 

The Power of Art on Healing is a free event, and all are welcome, but online registration is required: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-power-of-art-on-healing-tickets-407661375147 

For more information, please email info@theartcenterhp.org, call the office at 847-432-1888, or visit their website at www.theartcenterhp.org  

The Art Center, a 501 not-for-profit organization, has been a cultural destination that inspires and ignites passion for the arts through self-expression, dialog, and community engagement, since 1960. 

Image: Video, Installation, and VR experience, A Burst of Hope, 2020, by Artists and Panelists Ellen Sandor and Caren Helene Rudman as displayed at The Art Center Highland Park in the exhibit Voices & Visionsuntil September 24.