Prayer for the Water. Deb Criss, artist
The Jubilee! Gallery will host Remembering Heart and Earth, an exhibit by local artist, musician and holistic counselor of body-mind therapies, Deb Criss, beginning with an opening reception at 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 1. The exhibit will continue through October 29.
The collection of acrylic, oxide and mixed media paintings highlight Criss’ deep love and gratitude for the Earth. “I am in awe that we even get to be here,” she says. “My paintings are here to help people remember that the Earth is what sustains our life.”
Despite having performed hundreds of live music shows, Criss has only just begun bringing her paintings into the public eye with Remembering Heart and Earth being her first solo exhibit. “I reached a place in my life where there were no words—where words couldn’t describe what I was thinking and feeling anymore,” Criss says.
Art enthusiasts will be able to see paintings such as Prayer for the Water, inspired by a group of Asheville locals who in 2003 saved the Woodfin Watershed from the threat of commercial development. The painting shows a person on his or her knees with a hand raised to the sky beside a small yet incredibly bright blue fish-filled pond.
“When I was nine years old,” she says, “I began painting and writing music—back and forth, one after another—like weaving a tapestry. I experience writing music as the creative ‘out-breath’ following the deep ‘in-breath’ of painting.”
Criss says these lyrics from a song she wrote a few years ago always travel with her: “The fire is burning/ You’re kneeling at the gate/ Trembling like water through stone/ Nurture the surrender/ Lay it all down/ This moment calls for you alone.”
Jubilee! is located at 46 Wall Street in downtown Asheville. For more information visit jubileecommunity.org.
