Counseling and Testing Services (CTS) and the Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) invited all UNT students to participate in the third annual Healing Art Showcase on Nov. 16. Students were asked to submit artwork that represented empowerment and resilience related to mental health, and the artwork was put on display in CTS.

The goals of the Healing Art Showcase are to educate about and address mental health issues that can impact academic and personal functioning among students, as well as decrease mental health stigma.

“The Healing Art Showcase gives students the opportunity to express themselves without having to speak and to empower and heal themselves through creativity,” said Steffanie Grossman, Ph.D., licensed psychologist, outreach and group coordinator and eating disorders and body image services specialist. “By sharing their artwork, experiences and resiliency, students are allowing our CTS clients to know they aren’t alone and to feel normalized and validated through their art and artist’s statements. It’s a way for students not only empower themselves through their artwork, but to empower their fellow Eagles as well.”

Awards were given in several categories, and the winners were chosen by a panel of judges, including:

• Rebecca Barham, MFA, Art, Dance, and Theatre Reference Librarian
• Elaine Pawlowicz, MFA, Associate Professor Art, Drawing and Painting, Coordinator of Foundation Drawing 2
• Myriam Reynolds, LPC, ATR, Registered Art Therapist, Counseling and Testing Services
• Yvonne Starnes, UNT Student and Undergraduate Counseling and Testing Services, Intern

The award winners were:

• Best in Show – Dysmorphic Reflections: Self Portrait #2, Dysmorphic Reflections: Self Portrait #3 & Dysmorphic Reflections: Self Portrait #4 – Heather Leigh Hoskins
• 1st Place – The Concealed Beauty, Ode to the Collector & Practiced Gaze – Mark Coleson
• 2nd Place – Victorious – Bethanya Abebe
• 3rd Place  –  Cats Cradle & Girl with Words – Gretchen Vickers
• Honorable Mention –  Plath & Singled Out – Mariam Mughal
• Honorable Mention –  Panic, Self-Reflection, Escape – Erika Suarez
• Acknowledgment Award – Price – Matt Simms
• Affirmation Award – “Living Colors” – Natch Azure
• Authenticity Award – untitled – Laura von Rosenberg
• Change Award – Spirits Unleashed – Morgan Newsoroff
• Coping Award – Good Morning – Katherine Curry
• Cultivation Award – Untitled #1, Untitled #2 & Untitled #3 – Anna Esparza
• Empowerment Award – Breaking Through – Victorya Leighanne Poole
• Expressive Award – Night in the Mountains – Hannah Rodrigues
• Fearless Award – Silence – Katie Pierce Farrier
• Forever Love Award – “Cody” – Lauren Stroh
• Grounded Award – Believe You Are Valuable – Amy Wachal
• Hope Award – untitled – Bianca Mujica
• Inner Self Award – Color Spectrum, Rippling effect, & Thinking Tree – Anonymous
• Journey Award – Letting Go of My Marbles & Open Book – Sarah Taylor
• Letting Go Award – Catharsis & It’s Not All Dark – Kaitlin Hammonds
• Mutual Healing Award – Stick Figure – Marie-Claire Valdez
• Perseverance Award – Ascent – Jessica Smith
• Positive Escape Award – “Grow Good Thoughts” – Brightyn Anne
• Silver Lining Award – Nothing Picturesque – Morgan L. Swartz
• Strength Award – Inner Critics, Safe Space & Self-Portrait 2017 – Brittany Wierman
• Transcendence Award – Cinq étapes de chagrin et le papillon monarque. (Five Stages of Grief and the Monarch Butterfly) – Patricia “Trish” Dudley
• Vulnerability Award – Recovery – Abby Pfaff

Click here for more photos of the artwork.

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Contact: Ray Willhoft, 940-565-2464,nbsp;raymond.willhoft@unt.edu