EXHIBITIONS

Art (re)makes us.  Experiencing a different point-of-view helps people to see and feel themselves and the world around them, deepening the human experience.  

The artwork in this exhibition highlights the (teal) shock that occurs in the prefrontal cortex when someone develops Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  The blot or ‘SPLOTCH’ makes it 

Art (re)makes us.  Experiencing a different point-of-view helps people to see and feel themselves and the world around them, deepening the human experience.  

The artwork in this exhibition highlights the (teal) shock that occurs in the prefrontal cortex when someone develops Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  The blot or ‘SPLOTCH’ makes it difficult for people with this debilitating condition to regulate their emotions, make decisions and observe how they think.  The question, “Do you want fries with that?” suddenly appears as loaded as “To be, or not to be.”  

Will your right and left frontal lobes ever talk again?  This exhibit addresses what trauma does to the amygdala or the hippocampus when trauma causes PTSD.  “Out damned spot!” you say.  Yes, you’re PTSD has remade you into Lady Macbeth!   Thus, begins your brain’s sideshow.  

P.S.  “Teal” is the color for PTSD Awareness Month, which is far from Christmas, in June.

In early 2019, Jo Ann O'Rear began selling black and white "painted drawings" on paper in-person in NYC to raise  awareness for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.   The art project automatically became a "feel-telling experience" in which people would view the art on paper and find themselves reacting emotionally and telling stories about it

In early 2019, Jo Ann O'Rear began selling black and white "painted drawings" on paper in-person in NYC to raise  awareness for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.   The art project automatically became a "feel-telling experience" in which people would view the art on paper and find themselves reacting emotionally and telling stories about it.  The 'frenetic, but true" style of the artist (emotional realism) was an innate hit with people of all ages.  

"The elephant makes me feel the most," said a customer in Washington Square Park in NYC in the summer of 2019, explaining why he chose a particular painting over a choice of many others from a stack of "painted drawings."  It was to be a gift for his niece, whom he hoped would be emotionally moved as he was by the painting.  A young man bought a painting of a panda for his girlfriend, because his nickname for her was, "Panda."  An older man and tourist in Union Square bought some dog paintings, because they looked like his dogs back on his farm in Virginia, not to be outdone (meaning wise) by the young woman who purchased a cat because it looked like her former college roommate.  She planned to send it to her in the mail.    

The Curatorial Process allows people to express their identity and to tell their own stories.  For instance, a young woman at Washington Square Park bought a cat, because it looked like her former college roommate and she planned to send it to her in the mail to say, "If you were a cat, this would be you."  Such opportunities for uncensored storytelling helps combat the 

"Unpersoning" of people occurring due to our growing virtual and censored world.  "We get to say what it is?" an excited customer asked me at Washington Square Park in mid-July, 2021.  You get the idea of this traveling art exhibit!

Using an empathetic economic model, people donate what they can for a painting - $1.00-$50.00 so  far.