Art’s interactive installation has a subtle power to serve as a healing catalyst. Visitors often experience new insight when given an opportunity to connect with the work. As the artwork begins to unlock the soul, the interactive installation becomes a place of hope and healing. Here’s an excerpt from Walker’s story that inspired an avalanche…
In 2012, Courage Ablaze included seven-foot pillars portraying Congo’s stories of rape and images of the fierce determination of Congolese women. An eight-foot copper tree, the Flame Tree, held charred frames representing the eight million people slaughtered in Congo’s holocaust. The small pillars portrayed the courageous survivors rising up out of the ashes and rebuilding…
Kara, a young woman, had been battling cancer for several years. To portray her story for ArtPrize 2011, I combined the paintings of Kara in Braving the Wind with an interactive metal Healing Tree. Visitors were invited to write notes, honoring loved ones struggling with cancer and then hanging the notes on the tree. This…
In partnership with the Go Red For Women movement, my 2010 ArtPrize work, called Woman in Red, features Natalie Ruggeri. Natalie, the model portrayed in the paintings, tells her story as a congenital heart survivor. Following heart surgery, Natalie offers this advice: “Listen to your symptoms. Don’t take things for granted. Cherish what you have.”…
ArtPrize ushered my 2010 paintings onto a large stage—with thousands visiting my Woman in Red collection that was created in partnership with the American Heart Association and featured at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Through ArtPrize over the following years, my work began transitioning beyond watercolor paintings to interactive healing installations that focused on soul…
For my second year of ArtPrize, the American Heart Association invited me to tell the story of Natalie Ruggeri, a young heart patient survivor. The work called Woman in Red combined two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements with paintings and an elegant red gown displayed on a mannequin. This healing work continues to inspire and challenge viewers…