beyond ana
Sept. 21-Nov. 24, 2024
The Huron County Museum is pleased to host beyond ana, a new art exhibit by Blyth artist Kelly Stevenson. beyond ana is both a tribute to a voice lost before its time and a catalyst to start conversations.
Sarah Stevenson was just 18 in 1997 when she lost her years long battle with anorexia. That loss left a lifelong mark on her then 6 year old cousin Kelly who has spent the years since trying to come to terms with Sarah’s death, and advocate for better access to proper treatments and a shift in society’s understanding of eating disorders and those who battle them.
With beyond ana Stevenson aims to open the viewers eyes and hearts to the reality and humanity of those who live with illnesses that are so often misunderstood and caricatured as simply being “young women’s diseases” rooted in vanity.
This exhibit is included with regular admission to the Huron County Museum, or free with Museum membership or a Huron County Library card.
Content Warning: beyond ana explores the impacts of eating disorders, including anorexia, and may not be appropriate for all audiences.
Opening Celebration
All are welcome to the Huron County Museum to celebrate the opening of the exhibit on Saturday, Sept. 21.
- Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
- Opening remarks at 7 p.m. in the Museum theatre
- Exhibit viewing until 8:30 p.m.
Artist’s Work
Throughout the run of beyond ana, a selection of pieces created by Stevenson will be available for purchase from the Museum Gift Shop. Visit our blog to learn more about some of the work created by Stevenson that is currently available in the Gift Shop.
Artist Kelly Stevenson
About the artist
Kelly Stevenson is an award-winning artist and graduate of OCADU’s Drawing and Painting program in 2012. She is currently based out of Blyth, ON.
Her practice is multi-disciplinary including drawing, painting, installation and fibre art. Topics range from mental health to rural life, to religion, to memory and nostalgia, to technology and human connections. Much of her work has a social and/or political undertone with which she strives to use to open a dialogue between the viewer, the work and society at large. She uses her art practice as a way to understand the world we live in and her place in it.
Taking inspiration from Nancy Spero, John Scott, German woodblock prints, Daniel Johnston, Henry Darger, outsider art, craft and graphic novels, her work often carries a naive and graphic aesthetic, appearing simple but complex in nature.
She believes art should be accessible to people of all economic backgrounds and also produces affordable art in the form of zines, prints, stickers, bags, and t-shirts along with calendars, pins and greeting cards.
The artist being held by her cousin Sarah