How Art Heals-WEB

65 27. Mary Louise Gerek WWW.MLFIBERARTS.COM COLORADO, USA “I have suffered from depression for many years. It is now controlled with medication. The image in Inner Landscapes: Depression describes how my depression feels—with me on one side of a wall (of my own construc- tion), and with all the colors on the other side.” I was struggling again when I made this piece. When it was completed, I felt much lighter. I didn’t have to carry the image around in my mind or my heart anymore. It did not cure my depression, but it helped me let go of some of the burden. “Mel, a dark-morph red-tailed hawk, was hit by a car. Rescued by the Raptor Center at the Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center in Pueblo, Colorado, she was nursed back to health. She had brain damage that affected her balance, so she could not return to the wild. Then, she got cancer. “My husband and I were on a trip south to get to knowmore about Colorado shortly after we moved here. We met Mel when a volunteer was walking her in the sunshine as a break from the intensive-care unit. She posed for a portrait that I have long wanted to re-create. She died about a year later.” Creating Forever Free was the perfect opportunity to try new materials and texture techniques. I wanted her feathers to be free to move, rather than staying f lat against the background. Remembering the life and strength in her eyes, I wanted to set her free. Now, in the blue Colorado sky, she is forever free.