A new art exhibition at Jan Brandt Gallery in Normal explores two women's experiences as foster parents to a teen.
Titled Mending & Flow, the show opens Sept. 15 with a mimosa reception at the gallery that coincidentally sits on the former grounds of the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Children’s School. Visual artists Kirsten Heteji and Alanna Veitch of Normal created ceramic and textile pieces over the summer as a way to process their year-long co-parenting of a family member in need of support.
“Becoming a parent for the first time with a teenager was hard,” Heteji said. “They had all this previous experience in their life and we kind of had to pick up where they were at.”
For Veitch, it was a challenge shifting the dynamic she had with a family member she now was responsible for mothering.
“That brought up a lot of different emotions,” said Veitch. “Am I doing this correctly? Am I not? How do you do this correctly? There’s not a book — I want the book! I think it was a little trial and error.”
After spending a year in their care, the teen has now moved out. Heteji and Veitch spent the summer grieving, decompressing and processing what happened. Brandt, who frequently works with Heteji, asked them to create an exhibition; Mending & Flow is the result.
“We both unconsciously chose to process our experience through our work,” Heteji said. Viewers can see variations and nuance of their individual experiences in the clay and textile hangings they’ve made.
Veitch’s hand-shaped ceramics look vaguely like images seen in nature: barnacles or oyster mushrooms forming on a log, for example, a coral reef or deep sea anemones. Heteji wound thread around ceramic rings in macrame-like formations — organized, yet unpredictable formations representing a long and not wholly reliable process of healing.
While each piece is a product or reflection of the past year — and the support they continue to provide remotely — the show is not a literal representation of them, him or what all they went through together. It’s not totally abstract, either. They chose, after all, to be explicit about where Mending & Flow came from.
“There isn’t really a reason to hide behind the work, so to speak,” Heteji said. “Does the context of foster parenting add to the work? I’m not really sure. But maybe it’s an open door for people to look at it in a certain light.”
Veitch said the past year has taught her to meet someone “where they’re at” in the process, realizing how important art making is to her own well-being.
“It taught me a lot of patience,” Veitch said. “Lots and lots and lots of patience.”
Given a re-do, there are a lot of things they would have done differently, but Veitch and Heteji don’t regret opening their home to a child who needed one.
“There’s not enough role models for kids who are in the system,” said Veitch. “I feel like there’s a lot of kids in foster care that aren’t getting their needs met. The system’s a little bit broken, and the kids are suffering when they’re not getting what they need. Unfortunately, he was a good example of that. But I wouldn’t change trying to make someone feel loved and safe in a home.”
Mending & Flow's opening reception is 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15 at the Jan Brandt Gallery, 613 Oglesby Ave., Normal. After Sunday, the gallery is viewable through Oct. 14 by appointment. Email janbrandtgallery@gmail.com or text 309-287-4700 to view.
