Art & Soul Circle: “and then there was Light”

The experience of loss is both universal and unique. Through poignant paintings and a collection of original poems, this body of work beautifully and stunningly navigates the complexities of Grief.

This Art & Soul Circle will gently hold these shared human truths and guide participants toward Light. Whatever your relationship with loss – you will find love, space, and light in this circle of shared reflections. Rev. Wendy Miller Olapade & Chaplain Katie Willis will facilitate the dialogue.

Description of the Work: “and then there was Light” is an art exhibition highlighting the ephemeral science of loss after losing a loved one. Light has an interesting way of making itself known in spite of impending dusk, and through various reflections and refractions and multiple mediums, the light can… well, come to light.

Artist Statement: I made this series of work because the alternative was drowning. I am an empty cup poured over with love and grief and loneliness, somehow gurgling through the depths of my loss despite feeling like I have nothing of me left. I was told that working with my hands will bring me back to myself, and so I began the journey of this collection for that reason; I dug my fingers around my heart and spread it across paper so that I might illuminate lost pieces of my reflection.

At its core, my art has been a way for me to connect with and embody the memory of my mother. The loss of my first friend, caretaker, and most ardent supporter has been beyond profound in its magnitude. I am left gaping and gasping for air when the Sun has blinked out of my life. And so in the absence of that foundational light, I have inadvertently begun creating it. My pieces explore the traces light has cast upon a changing darkness, as not every sadness is opaque. The work I create lives primarily through candlelight; candles are a manmade light, a glow created to replace the warmth and brightness of the Sun. A fire that allows us to continue seeing despite the fall of night around us. Candles have always been a conduit for human perseverance.

My hope for this project lies in the delicacy of a child’s mourning; I want to honor my mother’s life and impact, but I also want to acknowledge the ocean-deep depth of my loss and connect these feelings to those who might have experienced similar longing.

Artist Biography: Bernadette Mary Dineen is a visual artist, astrochemist, and poet. She grew up in New England and began her artistic journey at a very young age, her first inspirations being the animals and nature around her. As an autistic child, she spent much of her time observing the people in her life to make sense of the world, and this observation eventually spilled over into portrait work. Bernadette has split herself between art and science for most of her life, truly finding home within both disciplines and existing as a unity between them. She is particularly interested in exploring different depictions of light and how it moves, how it casts, and how it settles in her works. Bernadette does not limit herself to a singular medium in her expression of light; she allows the inspiration to dictate which artform it wants to materialize in, and in this diversity she is able to convey the gaping breadth of her grief in the wake of her mother’s recent death.