This weeks Window Walk Gallery Highlighted Artist of the Week is Eugenia “Gena” Harczo.
“Hello. My name is Eugenia and I was born in Armenia. My mother is Armenian and my father is Russian and Czechoslovakian. My Great-Great-Grandfather migrated from Europe to Pennsylvania, USA, and that’s mainly where my family planted their roots.
I’ve always loved the outdoors and I spend much of my time walking around in nature. This is how I get inspired to draw or paint. What I love most is to paint landscapes.
I never knew I had the desire to do art until my father, my birth mother, and my partner, all passed away in the same year, and not knowing how to process my pain and emotions, I picked up a piece of paper and started doodling, and before I knew it, it was 6 hours later!
I battled with mental health issues my entire life, acting out in ways that would always hurt me or other people around me. Before I found the beauty of putting a pencil to paper, or paintbrush to canvas, I would find comfort in self-harm. But now, instead of hurting myself, I put all that I am, onto a canvas.
Some of my art pieces don’t make any sense or are really dark,and they even make me laugh at times, but it is something I created. Nothing else maters when I paint. The world stops and for those few minutes or hours, I am free.
I was drawing my teacher in one of my FSP program groups one day, and when she saw it, she said she wanted to introduce me to someone and to be at the Friday group. That is how I met Julie, Peer Support Specialist and the Facilitator of ‘Expressive Recovery Art Therapy group.’ I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to have her in my life.
She has been kind, patient and tolerant with me and has even given me tough love when I got a little too big for my britches. Julie is an amazing artist and has given herself to helping me and my peers through art therapy and I truly believe she has saved my life. Without her and this group, I would be another statistic.
I know my job in life is to be of service, and if I could touch just one person with my story or move one person with my art in a positive way, then I’ve done my job. There IS hope and we DO recover, and I choose to recover today, through art therapy.”
To see more of Eugenia’s amazing work make sure to stop by The River to view The Window Walk Gallery in person!
