Grief
In 1996, 17 months after the birth of our son and 2 years after his initial diagnosis, my partner Jack died of cancer caused by Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam. Overwhelmed by grief, I found myself making paintings that described my experience. The good folks at the Missoula Art Museum got wind of the work I was doing and invited me to show the Grief Series. With expert curatorial guidance from Steve Glueckert, the grief images were displayed in a gallery draped in black fabric, on a pedestal built to facilitate an intimate, close-in experience for viewer. A catalog was produced and over the next several years, the Grief Series traveled to ten museums and galleries in Montana and Idaho. See below for information on my 2022 exhibit at the Missoula Public Library entitled The Human Imagination Of Grief: Views From Art, Literature, And Science.
The 20 images were shown in a gallery draped with black fabric.
Each one was spotlighted on an upholstered stand.
Cathy Weber’s Grief Series as exhibited at the A catalog of the Grief series images and essays was published for the exhibit at the Missoula Art Museum. It is available from my gallery shop.
Cathy Weber’s Grief Series as exhibited at the The Human Imagination Of Grief: Views From Art, Literature, And Science
In October 2022, I participated in an event at the Missoula Public Library titled Re-Imagining Death: Conversations about Dying, Loss, and Grief. This event was a collaboration between the University of Montana’s Humanities Institute and the Missoula Art Museum. I presented alongside Dr. Ashby Kinch, Graduate Dean at the University of Montana and author of Imago Mortis: Mediating Images of Death in Late Medieval Culture, whose expertise lies in the art and literature of death and dying in the early 15th century. Joining us was Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona and author of The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss, who explores the neurobiology of grief.
I’ve known Mary-Frances since she was eight years old. Her mother and I were involved in founding a women’s shelter in our small Montana town. Today, she is a brilliant scientist whose work intersects beautifully with my own visual, literary, and artistic explorations of grief. Together, we’ve had the opportunity to exchange ideas across scientific and artistic disciplines, enriching our understanding of this deeply human experience.
You can learn more about her and her book, The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss, here. The book is also available for purchase at The Dillon Bookstore.