What is “madness”? How do artistic representations of “madness” inform and shape our own experiences?
Join us for a drop-in art-making workshop during which participants will reflect on Francis Bacon’s iconic psychological meditation Figure With Meat as a starting point for exploring their own questions and ideas about mental health. This program will combine close looking, art making, sound, and conversation to provide space for making and sharing.
about the series
Mindful Making is a series of art-making programs produced in collaboration with students in the graduate Art Therapy and Counseling program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). The students leading this program worked closely with museum educators and SAIC faculty to propose, design, and create public gallery experiences informed by their art therapy research and practice.
about the facilitators
Efthymia Bissias is an interdisciplinary artist who received her BFA with an emphasis in fiber and material studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021. Using traditional fiber techniques and recorded sound, Efthymia crafts sculptures, installations, and performances that challenge how bodies accept and process discomfort and pain. Her work has been exhibited across Chicago and northwest Indiana, where she participates in community-based arts projects. Complementing her artistic endeavors, Efthymia is currently pursuing an MA in Art Therapy and Counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Krizia De Abreu is a screenwriter, director, editor, graphic designer, sculptor, and poet. In filmmaking, she specializes in horror, fantasy, and thrillers. As a poet, she uses the medium of metaphor to describe all things macabre. In her poetry, she touches on the topics of femininity, mental health, sexuality, death, and overcoming obstacles.
She graduated from Columbia College Chicago (May 2021), earning a Bachelor’s degree in Filmmaking. Though a very flexible writer and creator, she discovered her natural talent as a Horror filmmaker. Her ultimate goal is to acquire as many skill sets as possible in her genre, going as far as becoming a certified Special Effects Makeup Artist. As a world-building artist, she plans to create characters on paper to transform into living and breathing creatures on set.
She has also acquired a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Psychology. As someone who experiences life so heavily in her own head, the human mind has also been a space that invokes so much curiosity in her. As a graduate art therapy student at SAIC and a mental health advocate, she feels that there is a responsibility for art to convey human experiences in a way that is ethical and honest. At the very core of all forms of her work, she embraces and interprets human experience. Her characters are not caricatures. Their struggles are not exploited, they are expressed and explored.
what to expect
This program will meet and take place in Gallery 399, on the third floor of the Modern Wing. Participants will be invited to respond to the art on view and the soundscape via optional artmaking activities. All materials will be provided and all skill and experience levels are welcome. Folding stools will be provided. ASL interpretation and/or assisted listening devices are available upon request at museum_interpretation@artic.edu. Assisted listening devices are limited and available on a first come, first served basis. Requests must be made at least two weeks in advance.
