Artist Talk
Date: Sunday, October 4th
Time: 2:00 - 4:00pm
Artist Bio
Eryn Donnalley is a lifelong creator, author, designer, artist, and facilitator holding a Master’s degree in Consciousness Studies, Spirituality & Transpersonal Psychology. Her work focuses on transforming unhealthy mental states while exploring the mind-body-spirit connection within the creative process itself. Informed by a tenacious spirit and a 16-year career in construction management, Eryn continuously explores new mediums and expands her craft. Ultimately, her work aims to inspire hope, change, and resilience—offering an open conversation, a warm invitation, and an evocation for the human spirit.
'Out of the Darkness - The Art of Individuation' By Eryn Donnalley. On exhibit September 2nd - October 31st.
What is the link between creativity and inner transformation? Can the path from mental dis-ease to mental health be mapped through art? Can the creative process itself become the engine of healing?
Intersecting psychology, spirituality, and creative practice, this exhibition offers an intimate look into my path of becoming whole from a previously fractured self, rooted in developmental trauma, C-PTSD, and long-standing depression. I share openly about my mental health journey to reduce stigma, help others feel less alone in their suffering and, ultimately, to provide hope for those still struggling. Change is possible!
There are 4 distinct phases of transformation highlighted: Fracture, Descend, Crucible, and Integration.
Each phase possesses a different artistic style, energy, life force, and emotional quality. As such, I followed my natural instincts, moving between different mediums across a 13-year period.
The penned mandalas, for example, emerged primarily in the Descend phase during my years spent traveling and living abroad. Carrying everything I owned on my back, pen and paper were the most practical materials and I had little energy for physical endeavors as I was rebuilding myself from the inside out. The resulting works are quiet, delicate, and soft. The large wood and backlit mosaic pieces, on the other hand, appear in the Crucible phase and carry a fiery, determined energy that matched my inner world at the time. These were created in a workshop setting where sawdust, epoxy, glass, and power tools reign and the construction process was louder and dirtier, requiring immense physical labor. I had to make big, heavy, complex, arduous art! Nothing else could accurately convey the trials of the Crucible phase.
Transformation rarely speaks a single language, and the path to wholeness manifests differently for everyone. To explore that complexity, I have included a 4-point diagram within each phase, mapping my experiences through the lenses of psychology, consciousness, energy systems, and musical expression. Text accompanying many of the pieces offers additional entry points into the struggles, lessons and triumphs of each phase. Together, these elements invite you to look beyond the visual art and deeper into the lived experience of transformation. Do you see yourself in any of these phases?
Along the meandering path from darkness to light, I have become a wounded healer. My art is my medicine and my medicine is my art.
