Celebrating life at the “Essence Through Art” exhibit at the Emy Frentz Art Guild

Gage Cureton
Staff Writer

Family members and friends gathered at the Emy Frentz Art Guild Oct. 18 to celebrate and commemorate the lives of lost loved-ones through art.  

The exhibit features artwork, created by Mankato area artists, of pieces depicting the artist’s vision of the life of a lost family-member. 

“There’s been more of a conversation throughout the community about addressing how we can support families who have lost loved ones.” said Noelle Lawton, the executive director of Twin Rivers Council for the Arts.  

Lawton said that the goal of the exhibit was to create an atmosphere of celebration where families could honor the amazing lives of their deceased children. Through collaboration between Twin Rivers Council for the Arts and One Bright Star, a resource for grieving families who’ve lost a child to death, a call went out to local artists and basic information was sent to them such as the child’s personality, hobbies and life. This information was used as a source of inspiration for artists.

“I knew his name was Dan,” said Margie Larson, the artist who created the painting for Daniel Anderson, a 10-year-old boy who drowned in June 1997. 

“What the inspiration was, was that he had a dog,” Larson said. “And then my own children were free-range children like Dan was.”

Larson said Anderson enjoyed playing in the outdoors with his dog and loved drawing. This served as another source of creativeness for her.    

The exhibit at Emy Frentz Art Guild is open until Nov. 9 and all members of the public are welcome for viewing. 

Feature photo by Gage Cureton | MSU Reporter.