OUR TOWN Published:  October 2005 "Healing Through Art" A Woodstock Newspaper by Susan Foster
	"What is it like to feel invisible?  What should you do if you hate yourself?   What if you have so much pain and confusion bottled up inside that you feel like you might explode?       These are some of the questions that artist Amy Kinney wrestles with on a daily basis.  Amy grew up in Woodstock, was a gifted painter, graduated as valedictorian   from the Academy, and received her teaching certificate in mathematics.  Outwardly, her life shone as a success.  Her interior life was just the opposite.   “I felt like I was simply fooling everyone, that inside I was really this terrible person.  But no one had figured it out yet because of my façade”, Amy says now.       Her struggles led to depression, anorexia, and self-mutilation.  “I thought I needed to punish myself with starvation and cutting.  Sometimes it felt like the only way I could take control of my life.”  With intense therapy, soul-searching, and by using art as an outlet, Amy finds herself on the road to recovery.  Through her art, she expresses both the lows and the highs that have been part of her life in the last several years.  Her simple yet powerful colored pencil drawings, which she began when she was hospitalized, reflect a revealing honesty.  Her drawings reveal her experiences in the depths of despair, as well as the moments when hope began to dawn.       Now Amy feels a calling to share her story.  “I want people to hear my story, and maybe it will encourage them to tell their own.  And if not, that’s okay too.  But hopefully they won’t feel so alone” she says.  Though every person’s experience with depression is unique, Amy found that when showing her artwork many people could relate to her drawings.  “I began to realize that this was my purpose.  To help people articulate their inner struggles and to show them that they are not the only one with these feelings”, she says.  In addition, part of Amy’s goal is to help battle the social stigmas associated with mental illness.  “Too often, depression, eating disorders and self-injury are hidden and not talked about.  Silence only magnifies the struggle”, she says.  Healing can begin when the problems are no longer buried away.  Amy’s show is about connecting her artwork to the community. She has designed this show to help break the silence surrounding mental illness. People can buy dedications to friends and loved ones to hang by the pieces of art.  These dedications become permanent fixtures that travel with the show, each one representing an individual voice in this unified journey.       Amy’s art will be on display at the East Woodstock Congregational Church on Saturday, October 22nd, from 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., as well as following the 10:00 a.m. worship on Sunday morning.  For more information, please contact the church at 928-7449, or look at their website, www.ewcchurch.org   Or visit Amy’s website, www.amys-art.com "