An exhibit closing this week in Murray collects artwork and poetry made by people going through addiction recovery programs in western Kentucky.
The “Feels Like Home” project, led by the Murray Sentinel in collaboration with the Murray Art Guild, includes works by more than 40 participants in programs led by Serenity Recovery and Neartown Recovery.
MAG executive director Debi Henry Danielson said during a reception event last Friday that her experience with this exhibition showed her the human nature of creativity.
“Art serves so many different purposes in our culture, and what I think happened here – or what I experienced – was, I almost want to say, bigger than art,” she said. “It was really about humanity.”
The poetry and artwork on display reflected not only on the lives of people before they went into recovery, but also how their lives had changed since they started their journey towards sobriety.
Monty Thompson celebrated two years sober on the day of the reception. He said the experience of creating artwork around his lived experiences was an eye-opening one.
“Well, it was a chance for us to just kind of express our, like I said, where we want to be, and kind of let people know that there is another place,” Thompson said.
The project came together after a $5,000 grant was awarded to the Murray Sentinel by the Kentucky Arts Council as a part of their Arts Access Assistance program, which supports arts programming for underserved communities.
The free exhibition is open to the public until Aug. 14 at the Murray Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the week.
