Virtual Artist Talk & Reception Tuesday, May 4th 4:00 –6:00 p.m. CST Please click the button below to attend the Gather reception. Visceral Reception

Exhibition Information Site Address: 162 W 2nd St, Winona, MN 55987 (Blue Heron Parking lot) Date and Time: April 26th - May 7th (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

2020 was a challenging year for everyone, full of deep, visceral emotions. In the wake of COVID-19, social unrest, natural disasters, and the worst economy we’ve seen since 2008, we have a lot of baggage to deal with. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with these types of emotions. The purpose of our show is to highlight a few of these challenges and create a space of expression, healing, and action.
It’s Time by Ellen Klismith is a piece that brings forth self-evaluation for the viewer while reflecting on her actions regarding the many major events reported throughout the year. It encourages the audience to look into how their own physical or mental responses to these events may have affected themselves or the community around them.
Stasis by Nathan Birch is about looking inward and discovering a personalized and healthy balance between social media and your real life. Finding this balance ensures that we all can continue to use these technologies in a sustainable and healthy way with no negative impacts on our mental health.
The Cost of Ignorance by Michelle Truxal is a work about the loss of life suffered from COVID-19 using the mediums of tapestry weaving and data. This space is created to reflect upon what we have lost this year, support each other in our emotions of grief, and provide an active outlet to encourage healing our community.
This collection of works also seeks to raise awareness for three local organizations: Take Action Minnesota, Ellie Family Services, and Bridges Health
Because of the hardships we all experienced in the past year, we wanted to use this show as a way to start changing things for the better. We’ve included for each project a few ways to support causes relating to our projects. We also hope you strive to make small changes in your own life to create your own positive impact on the world today as well, we all have the power to make positive changes that will lead to large impacts!

Welcome to the Visceral show artist talk!
It is being held on the Gather app. Please use on a desktop or laptop, as it does not fully support mobile phone.   Please click this link--> Visceral Artist Talk on Gather to go to the artist talk!. You will need to choose an avatar and grant the gather site to have access to your device's video camera, microphone, and speakers. This will allow you to communicate with and hear the other guests. Then click the "Join the Gathering" button, and you will be taken to the virtual space! Use the W, A, S, and D keys to move around the virtual space, and X to interact. When you get close to others, you will be able to chat with them.