The Southern Vermont Arts Center is hosting closing programs and a reception for the “More than Meets the Eye” exhibition. At 3:00 p.m. we will feature artist Terry Boddie, visiting faculty member at Bennington College, for a gallery talk. Learn directly from Terry Boddie about his work. Boddie will discuss his “Blueprints” series and the19th century process, cyanotype, that he uses. He will address both the origins of the process and how he uses it in his work to examine the structural relationships between chattel slavery and the prison industrial complex. Boddie’s talk takes place in front of his work at SVAC in Yester House, Gallery VII. Join us for refreshments immediately following Boddie’s talk and before the panel presentation.

At 4:30 p.m. John T. Broderick, Jr., Senior Director, External Affairs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, will present his talk titled “Changing the Culture Around Mental Illness: It’s Way Past Time.” Through Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s R.E.A.C.T. Mental Health Awareness Campaign which provides individuals throughout New Hampshire and Vermont with tips about how to deal with signs of emotional suffering and with resources for support and help, Broderick has been reaching out to students, educators, parents, businesses and communities, to change the conversation on mental health and to help reduce stigma. Broderick believes that “we have the ability to change the culture and the way mental health is viewed.”

Following the presentation, please stay with us for a discussion about mental health issues in our community and how to address them. We will be joined by local mental health professionals specializing in various arenas, who will share information about their current work and trends they see within the mental health field. There will be an open discussion in which audience members can ask the panelists questions about the presentation, how to address the issues we see in our community, and how to get involved to help fight the stigma that is attached to mental illness in our society.

Broderick’s presentation and the subsequent panel discussion will take place in Yester House Gallery II, which holds the “I Am More” exhibition by The Yellow Tulip Project.

Event image: Terry Boddie, “Prison Industrial II”