In The News: What does loss look like?

Written by: Colin Staub, Newberg Graphic

NHS senior stages gallery show featuring artwork focusing on grieving process

Loss and grief are often not the topics people gravitate toward in conversation, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important to share and consider. In a gallery show opening this weekend, Newberg High School senior Rachel Cox hopes to do just that.

When Cox was 5 years old she lost her older brother, Davey, in a car crash, and as time passed she’s thought about that loss differently from year to year.

“I’ve learned as I’ve grown up, it’s really hit me, my brother’s gone,” Cox said. “I’m never going to have him again. At 5 I just didn’t get that: I lost him in different ways. Each day of my life I’ve lost him in different ways.”

It’s something that can bind people together, the experience of losing something or someone. But as universal as it is, it’s not always at the forefront of discussion. People sometimes understandably shy away from sharing and talking about grief with others, which Cox said doesn’t have to be the case.

“I think the stories should be shown,” she said.

For example, her family’s own loss has affected family members in different ways, a phenomenon she might not have discovered if the loss wasn’t discussed.

“My mom lost her son and she has a whole different perspective on that,” Cox said. “A perspective on that I find very interesting.”

So she began planning a project that opens this weekend at the Chehalem Cultural Center: “Bent Not Broken,” an exhibit featuring a range of artists displaying work inspired by the same theme.

“I just asked artists, what’s their story with loss?” Cox explained. “How has art helped them through loss?”

She contacted roughly 60 people to inquire about making a piece or two for the show, and got responses from an array of artists. Some offered to display some existing pieces related to the theme of loss and others set out to make something new, just for the show.

Cox herself plans to display some of her own artwork, including a painting titled “Splitting of a Heart,” produced two years ago.

She’s been making art ever since she can remember, taking inspiration especially from artist Frida Kahlo, who suffered severe injuries in a bus crash that affected her the rest of her life and figured significantly into her work.

“It actually kind of hit when Davey died I think, at (age) 5, when I started really looking at her art and considering that and what it meant for her,” Cox said. “I love looking at my soul and understanding what’s going on inside and being able to put it in something that’s not words; put it in color. It strikes people.”

The Chehalem Cultural Center came up as an obvious choice of venue for the show, especially as some of the artists are familiar with the centrally-located space through their work with Art Harvest.

Beyond the new experiences of putting on a gallery show, curating it herself and doing the marketing for the event, Cox also developed some skills through this project more along the lines of human nature and psychology.

“It’s been learning … how people handle loss as well, how to talk to people about it,” she said. “I’ve actually had some artists say, `This is just too uncomfortable for me. `It’s a little too close to him for me’, and they can’t make pieces for it.”

Last week the roster of artists was not yet finalized, but they all share the distinction of being local to the area. Some are Cox’s peers at NHS, some are practicing professionals. Cox approached a few artists she knew of from the Art Harvest Studio Tour last year. She estimates about 10 works of art would be shown during the month-long gallery showing.

“It’s going to be a really big mix of diversity,” she said. “That’s what I’m really excited to see.”

“Bent Not Broken” opens Friday and continues through Nov. 21. An opening reception will be held Friday evening from 5 to 8 p.m.

For more information on the show, visit www.facebook.com/bentnotbroken2015.