Name: “Restoring Your Core” Exhibition Opening
Start: 2025-01-18T17:00:00-08:00
End: 2025-01-18T20:00:00-08:00
Location: dnj Gallery

$\u201cRestoring Your Core\u201d Exhibition Opening$

“Restoring Your Core”: a group exhibit by artists with Crohn’s and Colitis at dnj Gallery located at 3015 Ocean Park Blvd in Santa Monica.
About this Event

Exhibition Opening

Saturday, January 18, 5pm - 8pm:

“Restoring Your Core”

a group show by artists with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Pamela Schoenberg, owner/director of dnj Gallery, and Ted Meyer, founder of the original “ArtandMed,” are thrilled to announce their exhibition “Restoring Your Core”: a group exhibit by artists with Crohn’s and Colitis. This ‘Art and Med’ program is a desire to educate, spread awareness and raise funds for chronic health conditions.

The beginning “ArtandMed” curriculum, created for use in medical schools, applies art as a tool to teach an understanding of wellness through patient/artist voices. With this added visual component, one’s ability to comprehend the illness becomes more possible. Thus, Schoenberg decided to embrace this core, as well as combining an additional health component, at dnj Gallery.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the topic of our third exhibition. IBD is a chronic group of diseases that cause inflammation in the intestines, with the main types being ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The symptoms span from mild to severe and can show periods of active illness followed by remission.

Also, this collaboration between Schoenberg, Meyer and patients/artists will exhibit a type of therapeutic healing: a practice which focuses on aiding the release of physical, mental, and emotional energy. In other words, these curators wish to partner with the patient/artist in a creative activity that has physiological benefits in dealing with challenges and stress management.

Daniel Leighton will be the Lead Artist in “Restoring Your Core.” Having issues with Crohn’s disease since he was six, Leighton’s work specifically demonstrates emotions experienced in the controlling of stress (or the lack of control). Daniel Leighton’s paintings are an expressive tale of his life with this traumatic disease. Using a triadic color combination, he asks his viewers to look, study, and acknowledge their feelings. “Each piece revisits my experiences with IBD, not just to relive the pain, but to transform it—to find meaning in it and connect with others who feel isolated in their own struggles.” Leighton utilizes the distinct features of technology to create his iPad drawings and paintings (which he will reveal in his app, called “Augmented Reality,” a day in February).

The remaining artists, chosen by Ted Meyer and Daniel Leighton, also have IBD and create their art as a response to their experiences with IBD. This group uses various media to express this disease.