People deal with grief in their own way.
For Melissa Coffey, who lost her daughter in a swimming accident, she used artistic expression to help her deal with some of the emotions she experienced.
On Friday, April 1, Coffey and several other artists will be part of an exhibition called “Gone,” which is about the moment when everything changes. It explores the dark side of grief and all the hard emotions that come with it. A reception will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 600 Broad.
“I’m really trying to use that nightmare to help others,” she said.
Coffey said another spark to do the show was her daughter, Mallory, whose passion is art. Her work will be featured in the exhibition as well.
Other artists include Jennifer Carroll-Prater, Francie Klopotic, Janice Rachels and Susan McKew.
While most are visual artists, a few wordsmiths have also been included in the show.
Steven Deitch has written a poem and others have written about their grief.
Coffey said she hopes that this exhibition will be the first of two. She’d like to have a second one is more positive. Often grief spurs people to do positive things, and that’s what she’d like to see in the second exhibition.
An opening reception will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday for the “Native Flora” group exhibit featuring Georgia and South Carolina based artists including Lea Rigdon, Karey Santos, Mike Meissner, Fox Si-Long Chen, Tiffany Evitts, Ana Thompson, Angela Minter, Katherine Mialkowski, Nong von Buedingen and Katherine Schiller.
Works focusing on the native plant life in Augusta area will be Augusta & Co., 1010 Broad St., from March 16 to April 22.
View the Westobou artist in residence studios and the annex studios from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. Devin Lovett is the artist-in-residence, and the studio is at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art. Aort Reed and Katie Scarborough are featured at the annex studio behind the old Academy of Richmond County building on Telfair Street.
The tours are free for Westobou members or $5 at the door for nonmembers.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
