DAVENPORT, Iowa — A new exhibit is coming to the Figge Art Museum featuring a local artist and former Black Hawk College art professor.
The collection is called Storms and Silver Linings, created by Zaiga Minka Thorson.
The display will feature several oil-based paintings which contain abstract depictions of nature and spiritualism.
The center piece, Spirit Vessel, is a boat that will hang from the ceiling with glowing paper-mache orbs attached.
Thorson describes the boat as being a vessel to carry away pain and burdens. As part of the exhibit, visitors will be able to write their personal stories of hope, burden and gratitude on pieces of cloth and paper which Thorson will add onto the boat over time.
"I found even journaling at times myself, that if you get [your thoughts] out in some way, that it's less of a burden - that you're somehow releasing that burden," Thorson said. "By releasing it, you're ready to start moving on."
The collection has significant personal meaning to Thorson, as it's a result of her own personal tragedies.
Thorson lost her father in 2013 when he was murdered. The circumstances of it were especially traumatic for her.
She said the grief prevented her from making art for some time, but she eventually went back to painting, searching for a sense of closure and hope. That has lead to this creation, which will be officially unveiled on Saturday, Jan. 28.
"Whether it's the visual arts, music, theater, dance, those are all things that bring people together, and perhaps we understand each other better," Thorson said. "I'm always thinking about hope and ways that we can heal and come together and help each other."
Storms and Silver Linings will be in the Figge Art Museum at the Gildehaus Gallery, the first-floor space in front of the main stairwell and elevator.
The exhibit will be on display from Jan. 28 until May 7, 2023.
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