Spirit Vessel installation from the exhibition
Storms and Silver Linings
Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa.
January 28 – May 28, 2023.

Special thanks to Dick Oberg Photography

475 messages from viewers and community members were added to the vessel by the end of the exhibition.

A Family Tragedy & Healing with Art
In 2013 my 88-year-old father, Alfred Minka, was murdered in my childhood home in Michigan. This terrible crime was committed by a neighbor my father knew and trusted.  After, a three-week trial and eventual mistrial, a plea deal was made in January, 2018, finally giving our family closure.

During this time my artwork became an important catalyst and I became interested in helping others use artmaking as a tool for expression, healing, acceptance and empathy.

The inspiration for the Spirit Vessel installation was twofold. The painting Leelanau Cathedral was based on the memory of scattering a portion of my parent’s ashes from a boat in Lake Leelanau in northern Michigan. It was a beautiful, touching memory – the light caught the particles as they descended into the blue green waters and it was the last place I saw my father alive.

With Spirit Vessel I wanted to create an installation that would allow community members to release their own burdens by writing or drawing on strips of fabric. The vessel served as a repository for trauma, pain, or grief to be carried away. The illuminated papier mache orbs represented gratitude, hope, spiritual connections and love.

Spirit Vessel provided participants a way to share their internal conflicts, sorrows, gratitudes and triumphs – privately and anonymously, if they chose. Being able to see this as a tangible depiction of our collective humanity, our collective vulnerability, created a powerful message about what unites us, rather than divides us.