Hold Me Like Before
An exhibition by Carissa Potter & You
August 8-24, 2014
Exhibition Dates: August 8 - 24, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday, August 8, 7-10 PM
Feel Better Now - Art Hypnosis Workshop: Saturday, August 16, 2-4 PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4 PM
Ever in search of the miraculous, Carissa Potter’s Hold Me Like Before is an investigation into the realm of therapy and self-betterment performed in collaboration with visitors to the Royal NoneSuch Gallery. Harnessing the power of objects, installations and live events, Potter will lead visitors in employing a variety of methods to provide solace, reassurance and to project a better future. Hold Me Like Before considers the psychology of our relationship to objects and the ability for objects to trigger experiential responses to smells, moods, and tactile memories.
During the exhibition's opening reception, visitors will be invited to collaborate in the piece “Something To Look Forward To” by creating an energy object embedded with their highest hopes for the future. The resulting objects will be on display for the remainder of the exhibition and then mailed to each collaborator after the show concludes.
On Saturday, August 16th, the gallery will also host Feel Better Now, an art hypnosis session led by the artist. In Alain de Botton's recent publication Art as Therapy, the author theorizes that people should feel better after viewing art. For this event, willing participants will undergo hypnosis in the hopes that after the session they will leave the event feeling perhaps just a little bit better.
Artist Bio
Originally from Minneapolis, Carissa Potter lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her practice is a careful investigation of intimacy both publicly and privately. Carissa’s prints and small-scale objects are meant to integrate into retail environments and point to the hopeless romanticism of consumer products. Carissa Potter is a founding member of Colpa Press and founder of People I’ve Loved. Since 2010, she has been an artist in residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, where she teaches letterpress and she is a mentor in Southern Exposure’s One-on-One Mentorship Program. She received her MFA in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2010.