The idea arose while you were walking with a friend in Hopkins Forest and gave new meaning to the term “road trip.” You packed your car and drove across country offering art workshops at domestic violence centers along the way, while producing portraits on the side to pay for gas and supplies. Your hunch proved true—creating art could indeed help survivors of domestic violence to reclaim their lives and move toward a healthy future. From that experience you founded A Window Between Worlds, a non-profit that has provided creative expression as a healing tool for more than twenty-thousand battered women and their children in shelters and outreach centers across the country. Women “explore themes in healing from abuse, such as processing anger, building self-confidence, and reconnecting with hopes for the future.” In separate workshops, their children work through similar struggles. Some ninety-four percent of women say their sessions were “useful to their progress in getting free from domestic violence.” As one participant says, “Each time I cut, pasted, and expressed myself I felt like there were very heavy pages that I’d been carrying on my back, and I felt that as I peeled them off one by one I was being liberated from something very painful.” At the same time, ninety-five percent of shelter workers report that the workshops have “helped the children make significant progress with their growth and healing.” And the art itself is powerful, having been exhibited, along with your stunning portraits of women survivors, in more than a hundred locations across the country, including the U.S. Senate’s Russell Office Building. In recognition of your distinguished achievement in socially responsible art, Williams College is proud to honor you with its Bicentennial Medal.
Megamenu Social