Sutter County Museum exhibit expresses love for those lost

Angela Guglielmino, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·3 min read

May 8—Ada Terry-Aina has been the Sutter Health Children's Bereavement coordinator for about 12 years. In the position, she runs groups with children and teens on bereavement and loss through the integration of the arts.

Guest curator Terry-Aina and the Sutter Health Children's Bereavement Group developed the "Transitions: Art of the Sutter Health Children's Bereavement Group" exhibit at the Sutter County Museum in Yuba City. The exhibit features work created by over 40 students participating in free community support groups and will be on display until June 9.

"In working with children and teens over the years, (the exhibit) to me is like an expression of their journey. Their journey through their process in grief, and so I don't deem it as art, but to me it's hard work," Terry-Aina said. "Because what they are doing is they're taking their expressions about that loved one, and being able to take a little piece of their heart and create, creatively, a narrative of their expression of love about their loved one."

Creative expression is healing, she said.

"(Creativity is) a nonverbal expression that is just as powerful as a verbal expression. A lot of times, especially in processing grief, kids don't know what to say," Terry-Aina said.

A person can express their voice in a creative way. Colors, for example, can represent emotions. Terry-Aina said that brown is comfort, red is anger, blue is the need for calm and peace and green is the color for healing. The groups learned about this.

The exhibit includes emotional volcanos that students made. A volcano represents where gas is filled up and they begin to explode. Terry-Aina said that if we do not process our emotions, then we in turn will explode, so group members identified what is in that emotional volcano.

The groups also, for example, made memory boxes, masks and banners that are currently a part of the exhibit. The masks represent what they want people to know about how they are feeling.

One banner at the exhibit reads, "LOVE YOU DAD," and shows the dad in heaven watching over his family.

Terry-Aina has a personal connection to this topic.

"Several years ago I lost my father when I was in grad school, and I also lost my mom in 2017," Terry-Aina said. "Very recently, I had a tragic loss with my sister. So, as an adult, it's hard being able to deal with grief and loss, let alone being a child and not being able to have an expression through those very traumatic feelings that these kids are going through. And so we automatically assume as adults that kids are resilient automatically, but that's not always the case, so they need support."

On Friday, there will be a free Transitions exhibit reception and student graduation event at the Sutter County Museum to celebrate Sutter Health Children's Bereavement Group students. Later on May 16, there will be a free Sutter County Museum Speaker Series: The Grief Process of Children and Teens and the Integration of Healing Through Art from 5:30-7 p.m.