Opening: A Few of My Favorite Things: Works from the Collection of Deanna Miesch

“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.”
–George Bernard Shaw / 1856-1950

Art should make you think. It should make you feel. It should help you remember. All of what ART can bring to your life is essentially therapeutic. ART should be a living thing. It should reaffirm our place in the living world. It should help us in small ways and large ways. In short, we should engage with art and it should surround us. It tells us the world is worth living in. Art has always been important in my life. From a fairly early age I started to understand its importance. My artistic education, if you will, began through the eyes of my mother. All those times she would bring me to museums – that was my initiation. My mother’s appreciation for other cultures around the world, often through the lens of art, seeped into me. I gained an appreciation for sure. But, I also realized that I wanted my life to be surrounded by creativity. I wanted my life to be surrounded by ART in all its various incarnations. Later, during my studies, I would immerse myself in this special world. Ultimately, I came to understand that I wanted to live with ART – not just my own, but that of other artists and creatives. I wanted to encourage it. I wanted to support it. I wanted to give it a prominent place in my creative trajectory.