Art & Medicine Fair at The Portland Grief House

At The Grief House we're testing the notion that - to be able to rejoice or to grieve (which we suspect are interdependent emotional states) a person needs to learn to interact generously with the world.

That's harder and harder to practice in our isolated, automated, virtual, industrialized lives.

We believe, when we see ourselves as artists, makers, and healers - whether our work directly addresses loss or not - we become medicine for unaccompanied grief; we contribute to a map-making project that leads the way back into bigger, fuller human life.

We suspect everyone makes this medicine. It seems likely each of us offer a particular, needed ingredient. We hope that creating places where we can share our unique gifts will help build communal medicine that's potent and helpful for all of us.

We're grateful for the artists, makers and healers who give themselves to this work whole-heartedly and offer it generously.

We're honored to share their work.

Our Plan For The Day:

The house will be open on May 18th from 10AM - 6PM

With offerings from:

Patty Montoya: art & ancestry work - titipoza.com

Ryan Smith: hand forged knives - @ry_knives

Hilary Rappaport: hand made candles and grief rituals

Krystle May Statler: poetry - krystlemaystatler.com

Tina Tau - dream work, memoir - tinatau.com

Misha Hahn - pottery & prints - sort-hands-studios.com

Jojo Donovan - energy work, zines - sevenstonestarot.com

Jan Stott - custom woodworking (featured everyday throughout The Grief House)

...and more!

We'll also have Grief House t-shirts, prints and postcards for sale, featuring the original art of 

Chelsea Granger - chelseagranger.com

• The fair is free to the public. RSVP's are welcome but not required (if you know you're coming - we'd love to look forward to it!)
• We will be emptying the Grief House of her current adornments and filling her walls, shelves and bookcases with art and offerings from our community.
• You are welcome to stroll through our home, see what feels like it's meant for you, purchase and take the work that feels right from our home to yours.
• You'll be invited to replace your chosen piece with a note about where it will live next.
• Some artists/makers/healers will be offering short talks about their work - its meaning to them, their process, how it helps them, what they hope it might offer the wider world. A schedule of these talks is forthcoming.
• If you're interested in talking with a particular practitioner - check the schedule and come to their talk. You're also welcome to drift through and chat with folks as opportunity affords.

We hope this will be a chance to make our home and family feel larger and more tightly woven. To see each other more deeply and see the world more fully and vividly through each other's eyes.

We're so happy to be part of this community with you. We feel hopeful about how we might heal and grow in it together.