GABRIELA HOFMEYER, Graduate Researcher/Student
In 2020, I contributed to trauma informed research, education and interventions by joining a network of artists of all mediums, collectors and artist enthusiasts. This community joins together to celebrate the arts and raise awareness and funding for nonprofits dedicated to enriching the lives of trauma survivors. We advocate for accessible, affordable, high-quality trauma informed community education and therapeutic interventions. My academic research centers around Fractals and Quantum Dynamics in the field of Therapeutic Interventions, Social Change and Systems Theory.
I have been awarded a 2020 and 2017 NADC Grant for Disabled Artists and the Bay Area 2019 and 2020 Changemakers Award. The National and State Grant Award is to support Artists with Disabilities in California, sponsored by the National Arts and Disability Center, the California Arts Council and the Semel Institute, UCLA.
Constellation Verses/Hibernating Stained Glass (2020)
(Acrylic, Resin on Wood Panel, 96” x 48” x 1/4”)
This piece is a response to the ‘madness’, be it physical, emotional, psychological, intrigue, or deception that ‘shatters’ lives. Misinterpretation abounds, good is confused for evil, evil for good. We seek light in the darkness, harmony in disc(h)ord, rebirth after death. The truth is often a gentle whisper, a point of light far off in the distance, a small candle flickering in a screaming, hypnotized, spellbound universe of absurdity. The warmth and light of a single candle beckons us toward the Truth. At first, we see the aftermath of impact. The imagery mirrors our fragile inner and outer cosmos. Upon wider view of the painting pan-out the full piece reveals there is more than the raised tactile surface of the thin sharp lines which emanate from the focal point of the piece. Each shard shimmers with resin imbued with metal powders of silver, gold, bronze and copper. The resin looks and feels like glass “shards” that emanate from the central impact. Viewers in a contemplative moment with the piece describe feelings this piece evokes when they step back to view the painting in its entirety. Viewers describe seeing “the Light”, “Spirit” and imagine “Rebirth”...a light beckons enveloped by a gentle, soft, warmly illuminated prismatic jewel-toned halo.The light is perceived at once and at the same time shocking and raw, and eventually settles to a warmth and peace. The message is of hope and not to despair.