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Lisa Anita Wegner

“I make stuff and sometimes write about it ”

Tag Archives: Trauma Therapy Art

August 1, 2015 Art Saves Lives: Therapy Art by Angela Chao and Lisa Anita Wegner

Art Saves Lives is the first joint exhibition of Angela Chao and Lisa Anita Wegner, two visual artists whose work grew out of brain injuries they had experienced. Angela suffered a concussion at her work on a film set, while Lisa lives with post-traumatic stress disorder. lisa_angela

They connected over their art being the way out of their personal traumas, allowing them to both function and stay connected to their true selves. They share an understanding of art as something they need on a daily basis to nourish their souls, and are so simpatico on this, that they refer to themselves as each other’s “Brain Buddies.”

Angela and Lisa are eager to share their stories and their art, helping to spread awareness to others that art is a very real therapeutic option.

Come to see their show of paintings, post-production photography and collage now on display at the gallery at Richview Library: and visit their website at artsaveslives.ca.

After a concussion curtailed her first career, ANGELA CHAO discovered cranio-therapy and found herself able to think freely and begin to escape the personality and mental changes, PTSD, depression and anxiety that had plagued her since her accident. Even more exhilarating, she could sit still and accomplish things, an ability that had been taken from her. She started doodling and discovered her hidden artist, and a place where she can leave behind mental challenges and be free to create.

In her new career as an artist, she has already won an award at the Art Square gallery where her work premiered, as well as Flight Centre’s first prize of a trip to New Zealand and Australia in a competition with 1800 artists. She recently competed in Art Battle 2015, and has donated her artwork to an AIDs charity event at TIFF.  In addition, her unique story has generated coverage by the Mississauga News, Brain Injury Association and Hospital News. http://mindlessdoodle.ca/unnamed copy

LISA ANITA WEGNER is the creative producer of Mighty Brave Productions, a small award-winning multi-media production company based in Toronto. She has been exploring film, video, post-production photography and performance art for over twenty years, with an emphasis on emotional authenticity, collaboration, and – since experiencing a PTSD-related breakdown, the possibilities of art as therapy. Her work has been shown at the Phoenix Art Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 1313, Moniker Gallery, Toronto Art Fair, Buddies in Bad Times, The Black Cat Artspace, NXNE Festival, Partners In Art’s ARTrageous In Motion, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche and, most recently, at the RAW Sensory show at Toronto’s Mod Club. www.lisaismightybrave.com

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January 17, 2015 Toronto Artist Shocked When Asked to Prepare Stadium Performance by Mentor.

Lisa Anita Wegner is a filmmaker, producer, curator and performer who is accustomed to working in small local art galleries and screening venues in Toronto Canada.  Working with established curator Patrick MacCauley, Wegner got a taste of working large-scale when she was the 26 foot tall Queen of the Parade in front of an enormous audience for Scotiabank’s 2013 Nuit Blanche.

 

 

This led to several seasons working with performance in multi media environments, exploring soundscapes as well as video. In 2014 Wegner played a lead role in a scripted film, her first in six years, acting as the Caucasian Agent in Will Kwan’s http://www.reelasian.com/festival-events/if-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-everything-looks-like-a-nail/ commissioned by Reel Asian International Film Festival. She brought her team back to create  a Ten Foot Queen of the Parade the Partners in Art Annual Fundraiser, which Wegner says felt like her coming out party, meeting the Toronto Art World.

 

“I can’t stop performing. It was a thrill to be back on a traditional film set for Will Kwan just as much as it is to don by Thin(k) Blank Human outfit and perform my deepest soul searching in my studio. I always knew I loved it but now that it’s a daily practise I truly can not stop.”

 

Wegner is known for mentoring several artists and filmmakers per season at her studio Haus of Dada, so it makes sense that she would enjoy the benefits of mentorship herself. In a recent meeting with her Anonymous Mentor Artist, Wegner was told to think bigger and focus on the Male Rockstar Swagger that she developed after STARDUST: Life on Jupiter? at The Black Cat in 2014.

And then came the magic words to Wegner’s ears,

“Follow that swagger and dream a breakout show. I can see a collaboration. There might be an opportunity soon, and I’d work with to bring it to life.”

Wegner and her team are currently preparing to lift the curtain and to prepare the world to meet Thin(k) Blank Human Faceless RockStar. Lisa Anita Wegner wants to make her mentor proud.

-Fritz Snitz for Haus of Dada *The Fictitious History of the Haus of Dada* 2015

Another project from the Haus : Lisa Anita Wegner collaborating with a five year old artist on TARGET:

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November 11, 2014 Gallery1313 Shows Anonymous Trauma Therapy Art Piece in Windowbox

This is What it Feels Like: Mixed Media sculpture by Anonymous (A)

When I was brought on to Gallery 1313 to co-curate the Windowbox I was keen to bring work that is created through non-traditional means. November 2014 I am proud to show “This is What it Feels Like” by Anonymous, a woman I met in 2011 in The Women’s College Hospital Trauma Therapy Department.  She told me how therapeutic making art is for her and she is happy to have been given art making as outlet in the SPEAKArt Program.

It resounded with me when A talked about feeling inhuman, like three unstable delicate floating balls, unable to ground herself without the help and approval of other people. She feels like she’s been put together like a delicate patchwork and despite trying to cover this with normalcy, her hiding was transparent. She feels her body is a flying machine too unyielding for her to steer. Her little useless limbs hanging there, taunting her. She needs so much support just to exist it’s like she can’t stand up without support. She feels that her loins, belly and heart are blown open for everyone to see into her. I could visualize this as she was talking. I encouraged her to create the piece for herself and asked her if she would feel comfortable showing her work in The Windowbox to help start a conversation and perhaps inspire with other abused women through making and appreciating art.

 
 
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Made with tissue paper, wood, wire and found objects this piece is disturbingly beautiful and delicate self-portrait of a soul in distress.
My artist finds it hard to leave the safety of her home and wishes to remain anonymous. I fee privileged to be able to translate this piece for her. I used found objects from other projects and took the materials to her home. Through a simple papier mache sculpture A manages to evoke a feeling of a lost woman and her unhinged journey. While she is delicate, floating and blown open there is hope: a butterfly has landed on her and her third eye is open. She struggles with society, trying to fit into clothing that is far too small. And this lady is wrapped in a bridal veil, which hides her hunched back because she feels a  societal and family pressure to marry and the noose-like rope around her neck was the final touch.
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She considers herself a shut-in and blushed deep when I called her an artist. A is empowered for having made the leap to have created something from her imagination and feels it  is helping her making peace. She will be there in spirit at the Opening.
 Lisa Anita Wegner

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