Opening Reception: Apr 6, 2018, 5-9 PM
Runs from Apr 6 – 21, 2017
Artbeat Studio, 4th floor, 62 Albert St
Hours: Tue – Fri 12–5 PM | Sat 12–3 PM
Without art, I'm not sure I'd ever have gotten out of the darkness I was living in. I'm lucky, there are so many who don't. This past September I lost my nephew, Gordon Torchia, to an overdose. Right after he passed from this life, he visited his mother, Liz, and told her, “Love never dies”. I heard that message and began to paint: first to cope with the pain, then to stay sober, and finally to move through the stages of grief.
In just over 4 months, I've painted well over 40 paintings, some large, some tiny, but all of them an honouring. Not just of my nephew, but of life, courage, compassion, and love. And pain, yes pain too. All these things I know he'd be happy to have expressed in his name.
I hope each viewer will feel that final message through these paintings, that there is love, and it cannot be vanquished.
~ Kathleen Shellrude