“Can Opener“ original art by Michael Petit

Name: “Can Opener“ original art by Michael Petit
Start: 2025-02-07T17:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-02-07T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Southington Community Cultural Arts

Schedule

Fri Feb 07 2025 at 05:00 pm to 07:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Southington Community Cultural Arts | Southington, CT

I would like to invite you all to the opening reception of my art exhibit taking place at the Southington Community Cultural Arts Center on Friday, February 7th, 2025, at 5-7pm. The exhibit will also be open for viewing throughout the month of February during SoCCA’s regular hours: Tuesday-Friday, 12-5pm, and Saturday, 12-3pm.
“Can Opener”
When you look in a mirror what do you see? Do you see yourself? Do you see how the work day went? Do you see what you ate for lunch? Do you see colors, lines, light, gestures, and expressions? Or do you see something else? Maybe something that no one could ever see but you? And if you sat down with a piece of paper and pen, would you be able to draw yourself just how you look in the mirror? Or would you end up drawing something else?
Making art for me is like opening an unlabeled can of soup. It is an act of discovery. These are the images that came out with a pen in my hand over the past year. With a pen in my hand I can sit still, think, or not think, and end up with a tangible piece of evidence. Evidence that I have ideas, feelings, dreams, and memories. Some of the images are simple and childlike, others are cryptic and nonsensical, but they are all me. I’m very grateful to share with you these parts of me that I discovered this year.
Michael Harry Petit Jr, a Southington CT native, is a self-taught artist whose works center around spirituality, self-actualization, dream psychology, queer identity, and religious symbology. In addition to being an artist, Michael is also a poet and a classically trained violinist.
Michael has a BM of Violin Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College and a MM of Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.