Touched with Fire: Behind the Curtain Drawing by Elisif Bruun.

Touched with Fire: Behind the Curtain

Art Gallery, Arts & Humanities Hall, CCBC Essex
7201 Rossville Blvd, Baltimore MD, 21237
October 5 - November 20, 2015

The theme draws its name from the groundbreaking 1996 book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, by renowned psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison. The same driving discomfort leading to substance misuse and desperate behaviors also may yield extraordinary creativity: grand gifts to the rest of us born of incomparable urgency. Touched with Fire: Behind the Curtain presents uplifting and life-affirming art alongside words and journal entries that reveal a harrowing darkness: how to reconcile these two internal forces?

Artists featured in the exhibition include Elisif Bruun, Emily Ruggles Holman, Christopher Kojzar, Jonathan P. Maser, and Rob Waalkes.


Related Events

Touched with Fire: Behind the Curtain Opening Reception

Art Gallery, Arts & Humanities Hall, CCBC Essex
October 9, 2015, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Opening reception for Touched with Fire: Behind the Curtain, an exhibition featuring uplifting and life-affirming art alongside words and journal entries which reveal a harrowing darkness: how to reconcile these two internal forces? Exhibiting…

Touched with Fire: Behind the Curtain

Crazy Art Film Screening & Dialogue

Arts & Humanities Hall, Recital Hall, CCBC Essex
October 17, 2015, 5:00 - 7:00pm

Part of the New Day Campaign 2015 Film Series, and shown in conjunction with Touched with Fire: Behind the Curtain at CCBC Essex, Crazy Art (2009) is a compelling, revealing examination of the therapeutic relationship between art and mental illness.…

Photograph courtesy of George F. Spicka, who will perform for this event.

Talking Touched with Fire I

Arts & Humanities Hall, Recital Hall, CCBC Essex
October 28, 2015, 1:00 - 2:30pm

In the first of a three-part 2015 Talking Touched with Fire Series, creative people come together to share their reflections on the relationship between mental illness, addiction, and creativity. The event opens with a mindfulness experience led by…