Photo Courtesy of Bellevue Art Museum
Author: Giancarlo Agogliati
For many of us, we can be so self-assured in our day-to-day routine that we forget how easy it can be for life to change in an instant. For the artists featured at the current exhibit of Bellevue Art Museum’s Community Education Gallery, their lives were forever altered when they experienced a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). The Community Education Gallery, as BAM describes, is intended to “Celebrate and nurture the community by featuring student work and exhibits that promote educational enrichment and cultural awareness,” and this exhibit has been curated with the help of the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington, an organization which aims to “Increase public awareness and support for anyone affected by brain injury through education, assistance, and advocacy.”
(Courtesy of The Artist)
One of the featured artists, 68 year-old Whidbey Island resident Barbara Kuznetz, modeled the above embroidery after the beauty she can observe looking through her living room’s glass door to the nature outside. Ms. Kuznets was in a head on collision with a fellow biker on the Burke Gilman Trail in May 2013. After spending over 3 weeks at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center immediately following the crash, she continues to recover and experience lingering effects to this day.
While a TBI can drastically alter one’s life, these artists are using the tools they have retained to express themselves and bring awareness to the struggles of living post-TBIs in a way that is inspiring beyond words. There are artists of widely varying ages, backgrounds, and recovery statuses, and the exhibit provides a unique way to seek understanding of how these injuries can affect one’s life. From former dancers looking for a new way to non-verbally express themselves, to those who had little creative outlet and are now able to explore that aspect of themselves due to inability to carry out their usual tasks, the Brain Injury Art Show at Bellevue Art Museum gives an inspirational look of how humans can continue to thrive in the face of life-altering change.
The Bellevue Art Museum will be hosting this exhibit until February 26th, 2023.
MUSEUM HOURS
Gallery & Store Hours:
Mondays & Tuesdays: Closed
Wednesdays – Sundays: 11am – 5pm
Artful Evening (07/09): Closed
LOCATION
510 Bellevue Way NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
(425) 519-0770
Giancarlo Agogliati | Drifting in and out of Space | KXSU Arts and Music Reporter