Artist Henri Mattise once said, “Creativity creates courage”, but sometimes, as in the case of the participants in the recent “Feels Like Home” exhibit, courage can lead to creativity.
The “Feels Like Home” art exhibition, which ran from August 7 to the 14th at the Murray Convention and Visitors Bureau (known as the Murray CVB), was the culmination of a series of hands-on workshops in which 40 adults from local addiction recovery groups explored the topic of “home” through creative writing and visual art. The exhibit, funded through a grant from the Kentucky Arts Council, was the collected effort of The Murray Sentinel, The Murray Art Guild, as well as the Neartown treatment center and the Serenity recovery program.
Jessica Paine, editor of the Murray Sentinel, applied for the grant through the Kentucky Arts Council after receiving information from Constance Alexander about an Arts Access Assistance Grant. The Grant, which is available to non-profit organizations unaffiliated with the arts, focuses on underserved groups in the community.
“We came up with an idea to serve adults in recovery from addiction,” Alexander said.
Alexander, an award winning writer and published poet, as well as a member of the board of The Murray Sentinel, not only advised Paine on completing the grant application but facilitated the poetry workshops based on her many years of experience. Working with Debi Danielson, executive director of the Murray Art Guild, Alexander designed a proposal of two workshops in poetry and two in collage art.
“We chose the theme “Feels Like Home” because that is a tagline for Murray’s Convention and Visitor Bureau, as well as the subject matter of public murals In Murray,” explained Alexander.
Alexander and Paine brought the idea to another member of the Murray Sentinel board Jereme Rose who is the executive Director of Neartown, a residential recovery program in western Kentucky, as well as Holly Cherry the executive director of the Serenity recovery program.
“Working together we decided to apply for a grant to support poetry writing workshops and collage workshops for people in the Neartown and Serenity Recovery programs,” Alexander explained.
Debi Henry Danielson is the Executive Director of the Murray Art Guild often referred to as MAG. MAG was one of the community partners for the grant and hosted the workshops. Danielson, along with other MAG volunteers installed the exhibition of artwork and poems at the Murray CVB. She stated that projects like this bring creative opportunities to populations who normally participate in the arts.
“Projects like this make a community smarter, more compassionate, and bring people together,” Danielson said.
Added Jereme Rose, “Projects like this can help to reduce the stigma surrounding substance use in a community,”
Rose, Executive Director at Neartown (who also gave credit to guide supervisor Miles Stanton for his help with organizing the project at the residential treatment center), stated that recovery is so much more than just going to treatment and attending meetings.
“The main goal of recovery is to find a different way to navigate the world,” Rose said.
Rose explained that being exposed to the arts can show people a new way to express themselves and can be a great outlet.
“I truly believe the arts are a path to healing,” he said. “When I had the opportunity to see the collages and read the poetry it became clear that this project was a success. The work was incredible!”
Serenity executive director Holly Cherry’s role in the project was to support and guide participants during the workshops, ensuring that they always felt safe and welcomed.
“For me it was about creating space where individuals could be seen for their strengths and their stories,” said Cherry. “Not their struggles.”
Cherry knew that a project like “Feels Like Home” could have the power to shift how a community understands recovery. She hoped that it could remind the community that recovery thrives when people are given opportunity, visibility, and support. She also knew that it could strengthen community partnerships.
“When people walk into an exhibition and see artwork and poetry created by individuals rebuilding their lives, it breaks down stigma and opens the door to empathy,” Cherry explained. “It shows recovery as something human, hopeful, and deeply creative.”
Cherry found that participants in the project gained confidence, connection, and a renewed sense of identity. She stated that many discovered talents they didn’t know they had or reconnected with parts of themselves they thought were gone.
“For some this project became a moment of transformation,” said Cherry. “ A reminder that they have something valuable to contribute to the world.”
Constance Alexander echoed that sentiment.
“The most important impact of the grant was its effect on the participants,” she stated.
Alexander noted that throughout poetry workshops participants realized they had important thoughts to express and that they gained confidence in their own insights and abilities. She explained that they were proud of their work and proud to present it to their peers. They were also able to give and receive feedback with grace and tact.
“I believe they realized they were more capable than they imagined,” Alexander said.
Danielson also felt that the participants learned about themselves, as well as gained the confidence that comes with trying new experiences in new places.
“I hope they developed new tools for processing their world and had some fun,” she said.
Alexander hopes that this experience will persuade participants to seek opportunities to do more work like this in the future, and that they have learned what a vital resource a place like the Murray Art Guild can be especially for those in the process of recovery.
“Addiction is an issue in every community, from what statistics tell us,” Alexander said. “And an exhibition like the one that emerged from Feels Like Home is another way of helping the community become aware of addiction and begin to realize that people in recovery are not so different from the rest of us.”
The letter of commitment from the Murray Sentinel regarding the “Feels Like Home” project makes reference to National Recovery Month, which is September of this year. Established in 1989 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to increase awareness of substance abuse, the annual observance also makes sure to celebrate recovery. “Feels Like Home” hopes to bring both celebration of recovery as well as awareness to the local community.
“Many times, all community members see is the negative results of active addiction,” said Rose. “The arts remind us all that we are human.”
The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, supports "Feels Like Home" with state tax dollars from the Kentucky General Assembly and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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