Local artist Patricia Moss-Vreeland held a free, one-time workshop at the Penn Memory Center clinic at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 20, 2017.
By Chloe Elmer
Local mixed-media artist Patricia Moss-Vreeland engaged members of the Penn Memory Center community with stimulating conversation and a reason to explore their creativity Tuesday night during a free Art of the Mind workshop at the Penn Memory Center at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.
Moss-Vreeland is an artist who works with drawing, painting, and digital means to connect memory and thoughts to visual collage statements. She currently has an exhibition of artist proofs on display until October in the Penn Memory Center’s “Art of the Mind” gallery.
Participants were led on a tour of the gallery on the second floor of the South Pavilion.
Guests were given a guided tour of the exhibition at the beginning of the workshop to learn more about Moss-Vreeland’s thought process behind each work, as well as what elements of the work she leaves up to the viewer’s imagination.
“Memory is your portal to creativity,” Moss-Vreeland said to participants as they had a chance to be more hands-on. Each participant was given an envelope with mediums such as post-it notes, colored paper, printed words, and patterned paper to make a collage in whatever way they wanted.
Guests were encouraged to let creativity flow while making collage-type pieces.
After creating their pieces, participants were encouraged to share their own thought process behind their piece, confronting what memories or thoughts they may have associated with each aspect of it.
“Emotions and experiences change everything,” said Moss-Vreeland, commenting on the artwork after hearing the stories behind them, asking “where do you confront visuals?”
Moss-Vreeland has had works exhibited nationally at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Institute of Contemporary Art. Her art resides in permanent collections at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Norton Museum. She is the author of the book, “A Place for Memory: Where Art and Science Meet,” published in 2013.