Sticks & Stones
exhibition by Marcie ziskind in Gallery 2 @ dvaa
Exhibition Runs: November 3rd - November 24th
About the exhibition:
In May 2020, while in the grips of a pandemic, business shutdowns, political divides and glaring racial injustices, Philadelphia also experienced the residual effects of a tornado, leaving fallen tree branches all over the streets and sidewalks for weeks.
As Marcie Ziskind walked around the heated urban landscape, witnessing the emotional and physical wreckage of a broken city, her thoughts turned from the fallen branches surrounding her to the events of the last few months, and the words that so fiercely hurt us all. Sticks and Stones by Marcie Ziskind is the physical embodiment of the way words can hit you, pummel you, stick with you, and forever change your perspective. It is meant to reminds us that although they can hurt, words must be said to evoke thoughtful transformation.
Sticks and Stones will be on view in Gallery 2 beginning November 3rd, and will be available as a video walkthrough shortly after. The opening reception will take place on Thursday November 4th, from 6-8pm.
15% of all proceeds from this exhibit will be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a cause important to the artist.
About the Artist:
Marcie Mehrman Ziskind is a self-taught artist. She’s been felting for many years, but her passion for roving, fiber art & making felted items ramped up after the death of her oldest son in July 2016.
Marcie uses the physicality of making felt to process her grief. Not only does she pour her physical emotion into the making of her “Grief Vessels”, and other felted items, but they also hold the grief itself. They all have interesting nooks & crannies, just like our grief, which hides in all the little places inside us & pops out at unexpected and often inopportune times, and surprises even us. In the process of grieving, if we are open to possibilities & blessings, we allow something horrific and traumatic to turn into beauty and newly opened doors.