CIA student exhibition explores grief at Hospice of the Western Reserve

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 29, 2024

CLEVELAND—Maddie Cantrell, a rising senior majoring in Painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art, is excited to announce her solo exhibition, Living with Grief, in The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Bereavement Center of Hospice of the Western Reserve.

Living with Grief will include four paintings that illustrate the experience of living with grief. Grief is not a linear process, but a recurring cycle that lasts a lifetime. Cantrell wants bereavement center visitors dealing with loss to feel like part of a community, and that they are not alone in their endeavor.

"Since losing my maternal grandparents, I have felt all-consumed by grief. I was really close with them and feel like I’ve been robbed of my experiences with them as an adult," Cantrell says. "Grief is love with nowhere to go, and my paintings give that love a place to go."

Living with Grief will be exhibited at Hospice of the Western Reserve’s Bereavement Center at 300 E. 185th St., Cleveland. There will be an opening reception from 3 to 7pm on Thursday, May 9. Following the reception, the work will only be on view to bereavement center visitors.

Susan Hamme, team leader of Counseling Services at Hospice of the Western Reserve, believes the biggest impact Cantrell's art will have will be to validate visitors' grief experiences.

"So many times, the thoughts and feelings experienced by the grieving individual are so difficult to put into just the right words," Hamme says. "Art has a way of providing the validation of the experience in a way that does not require words."

Hamme also believes Cantrell's art will offer grieving visitors a sense of connection.

"Grief is one of the most isolating experiences that one can go through," Hamme says. "I believe that art can provide for an experience that demonstrates understanding and validation on a level that brings true comfort from the realization that someone else can share and express that experience."

Cantrell was excited to partner with Hospice of the Western Reserve for Living with Grief.

"Before my grandma's illness, I had no idea what Hospice was. We had an in-home hospice nurse who began to feel like part of the family," Cantrell says. "I was also eager to work with Hospice because they create a community through their generosity and care toward people dealing with grief. I’m excited to become a part of the community of grieving people."

To learn more about Cantrell's work, visit her website or follow @maddiecpaints on Instagram.

Living with Grief was created through CIA's Creativity Works program, which is made possible by the generous support of the Fenn Educational Fund and the G.R. Lincoln Family Foundation. Creativity Works is a self-initiated internship program with the goal of supporting a student's professional development. Participating students create proposals that align with their long-term professional goals.

Contact
Cleveland Institute of Art
Michael C. Butz, Director of College Communications + External Relations
mcbutz@cia.edu / 216.421.7404

Cleveland Institute of Art
The Cleveland Institute of Art is a private, nonprofit college of art and design that has been the training ground for countless students who have gone on to make important contributions to the fields of creativity and innovation since it opened in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women. Its students have designed internationally recognized products, their artwork has been exhibited in major museums and private collections around the world, and their entertainment media has been enjoyed by audiences and game players for generations. It enrolls about 600 students nationally and internationally and has a faculty of about 100 full-time and adjunct members, all of whom are practicing artists, designers and scholars.