Local artist Jess Zoerb is embarking on her first solo exhibition, featuring a collection of artwork that encompasses the past year of her own personal growth.
'Hope on a String' is a show that presents a journey of introspection, exploring mental health and personal growth. Zoerb considers her work to be expressionist and conceptual in nature, especially as it explores her sense of self using art as the language.
“The concepts that I paint are often metaphors of how I understand myself, but they're also quite universal concepts that others can relate to,” said Zoerb. “They are often an expression of emotion and understanding that I'm not able to articulate through words.”
The recurring theme in her collection, Zoerb explained, is the balloon that represents the concept of hope.
“All my pieces kind of have an element of dark and light and I try to capture the holistic experience of being a human, so the balloon is often that little splash of hope,” said Zoerb.
For Zoerb, painting is an outlet to release emotion through creativity, which has led to a very personal collection of work — although she wants her art to be open to the perception of her audience.
“I do see my work as a collection of experiences and it's a combination of all the people in my life and the experiences I've gone through,” said Zoerb. “[But] I also like to leave the paintings open to interpretation by the viewer so that they can perceive whatever they need to receive from the image.”
The show is certainly an empowering next step for Zoerb, and she finds that sharing her art — even though it is a very personal process — has so much value.
“Art is something I do for myself first,” said Zoerb. “[But] sharing my art has become really important to me because I can see how it reaches other people at a very deep emotional level, and I'm seeing the power behind that.”
Zoerb completed most of the pieces that will be on display as part of 'Hope on a String' within the last year. The exhibition is her first as a painter, and with her debut show on the horizon, Zoerb dreams of seeing more creative connections making their way across the city.
In the past, Zoerb has done live painting demonstrations to bridge a unique connection between art and the public, and she is currently working on creating new ways to bring art to the public eye.
“Everybody is creative and I'm kind of brewing up ideas of how I can bring that to other people and help them find that process of creating that helps them balance their emotional health, their mental well-being,” said Zoerb.
Zoerb hopes to see many come out for her debut, and encourages the community to keep an eye out for future endeavours.
“I'd love to see art everywhere and I'd love for it to be just intertwined into our culture, so there's some ideas that I'm going to be working on in the new year,” said Zoerb.
'Hope on a String' will be open for viewing at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre from Jan. 3 to Feb. 14. A reception with the artist, featuring music from Brian Paul D.G. and refreshments, will take place on Jan. 25, from 2 to 4 p.m.
