My background, in struggling with dissociation, has caused me to need something to hold in touch and focus on in moments, where I feel like I am sort of disappearing somewhere else, an anchor, if you will, and when I picked up the concertina, I just wanted to hold it and look at it, and everything else could go away for a moment while remembering that I’m standing there in her studio at the InterUrban ArtHouse in Overland Park, KS. Being reminded of my love for art and specifically painting. As I flipped each section, I realized how therapeutic it is just to gaze at the artwork and get re-grounded.
I got into a conversation with her one day, and she invited me to sit down and paint with her and make a concertina of my own. This was an incredible experience because it’s not just a product, it’s the process that is more of the focus and learning how to let yourself go in the art, try things that you don’t usually do, get out of the box, color outside of the lines. I truly felt the joy that she carries impart into me and encourage me back into a path of painting for joy’s sake
The first time I met Melanie Nolker, she reminded me of someone I would like to be, a woman I imagined myself to be in the future, carefree and fulfilled. Melanie carries this joy that comes out in her artwork, not just because it’s colorful, but you can feel and see the life in everything she paints. I was intrigued by the concertinas that she paints, I didn’t understand the purpose of them, and then I picked one up and started flipping through it and I found it to be incredibly grounding.
THE GROUNDING PROCESS
“Grounded”, Acrylic & Pen, 12”x12”, SOLD.
After that time that I had with Melanie I continued to work on my concertina at home and with a viewfinder found a piece of it to enlarge and turn into this 12” x 12” piece that I have now titled “Grounding“, which speaks to sometimes coloring outside of the lines is the very thing that you need to get anchored in your purpose once again.