Opening Up About Process and Pain with Sculptural Artist and Mental Health Advocate, Kellie Gillespie (S4, E11)

In the episode, "Opening Up About Process and Pain with Sculptural Artist and Mental Health Advocate, Kellie Gillespie (S4, E11)" sculptural artist and mental health advocate Kellie Gillespie is interested in deepening the conversations within and between art and mental health. Kellie holds an MFA from Rinehart School of Sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art, and her work focuses on issues specifically associated with mental health, as well as the concepts of recovery and survivorship. Kellie specializes in the use of everyday found and forgotten objects, often unappreciated, and strives to show their hidden value. In this way, her artwork aims to portray: “the potential in that which is broken, the value in the castaway, and the importance in the forgotten.”Kellie wishes to break the negative connotations surrounding the subject of mental illness allowing those who have suffered to insert their own stories in the art and make their own related connection. Kellie discusses the intensive preparation and physically demanding fabrication of the work and how that lends to its final result, as she embraces the tedious, repetitive production of a piece. Crediting art with saving her life, she shares about her own journey through her battles with mental distress and recovery. In the interview, Kellie reviews a few of her powerful pieces that explore the controversial landscape of eating disorders, self-harm, alcoholism, anxiety and depression.To view Kellie Gillespie’s work, visit her website at: www.kelliegillespie.comOr follow her on: Instagram: @kellie.gillespie.art and Facebook: @kelliegillespieart#mentalhealthawareness #sculpture #installationart #sculptureinstallation #foundobject #prescriptionbottles #discardedbysociety #recycled #upcycle  #installation #multiplicity #mentalhealthart #foundobjectart #artofvisuals #infinityroom #immersiveartDon't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJenAnd please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.comConnect: Instagram: @ jengaitaLinkedIn: @ jensicilianoTwitter: @ jsicilianoSend us Fan MailSupport the show