Northern Initiative for Social Action (NISA) will host a coffeehouse exhibit on Aug. 17 to launch its new arts and culture project, Uncovering Recovery: The Past, Present and Future of Mental Health Recovery in Canada.
Thursday's coffeehouse exhibit is a free event and is open to the public. Local businesspeople, artists, makers, and anyone interested in attending one or more of the workshops are encouraged to attend.
This exhibit gets underway at 8 p.m. and runs until 9:30 p.m. at NISA (36 Elgin St. second floor).
Scheduled to take place during fall and winter of 2017-18, the Uncovering Recover project involves Thursday's coffeehouse exhibit, three mixed media exhibits, and a final exhibition in January.
The Memory Quilt workshop will be held in English and French and will guide participants as they design and sew quilt panels commemorating personally, locally, and nationally significant events in the history of mental wellness.
Participants in the Mind/Body Perspective workshops will use sensory writing techniques to describe their immediate experiences of mental illness and a ddcitions and then create performance and video pieces from the descriptions.
Finally, the Asylum City workshop will see participants reclaiming the original meaning of the word "asylum" as a place of sanctuary and recovery, as they design, model, and construct large scale art/wellness installations for placement throughout the city of Greater Sudbury.
"People with mental health and addiction challenges have so often been successful as artists, writers and craftspeople for a very good reason," said Dinah Laprairie, NISA executive director.
"Medical evidence shows that arts endeavours are beneficial for everyone's mental health and can be integral to recovery for people facing mental illness or addiction."
Thursday evening will feature visual art by Laura-Leigh Gillard and textiles by Haja Lucien, both of whom are contributing to the Memory Quilt workshop. Critically acclaimed Indigenous playwright, actor, and director Sarah Gartshore will perform a selection from her play "Debwewin", and performance poetry videos by author Sarah Pinder will be screened.
"This exhibit is an exciting first look at the cutting-edge art workshops NISA will undertake in the fall and winter," said community arts project leader Rebecca Machum.
"The artists involved are diverse and incredibly skilled, and we're honoured to showcase a selection of their works Thursday."
Light refreshments and door prizes will be provided. Check out the Facebook event page for more information.
