Artwork a reflection of her soul
This painting depicts Elle Free’s journey through treatment, when she felt like she was being “crucified.”
Elle Free used multiple colors and eyes to represent bipolar disorder.
Elle describes this three-piece installation as “personal, nonrealistic and more fantastical.”
Elle’s hands painting represents the different perspectives a photographer sees through his lens.
Elle Free
Although Elle Free grew up in an artistic family, it wasn’t until four years ago, at age 14, that she turned to painting to “bring attention to what needs to be said.”
And her voice is loud and clear in each of her paintings, as they reflect exactly what she was feeling at a precise time and place.
Elle struggles with severe depression, general anxiety and an eating disorder, and since 2013, she has been in residential treatment. In December, Elle also began transitioning from a male to a female.
“The reason people have a lot of problems is they’re not being authentic to themselves,” Elle said. “I had problems with myself, then projected them on to my parents. It was more of a confusion. I didn’t feel comfortable, and I didn’t know why. Art has helped me through things. I’m happy now.”
On Friday, Elle will be the featured artist in AMI Inc.’s seventh annual Poetry and Fine Art Show at the George Washington Hotel. AMI is a nonprofit agency that provides psychosocial and psychiatric rehabilitation to adults recovering from mental illness and co-occurring disorders.
“AMI has been really a great support with my health issues,” said Elle, who has resided in a co-ed residential recovery home in Washington since moving in November from Zelienople.
Austin Lee, a certified peer specialist at AMI, is a big fan of Elle’s artwork, and feels fortunate to have Elle as the show’s featured artist, even if it’s a one-time deal.
“I usually try to hook them. She’s off to bigger, higher things,” Austin said.
Yes, she is.
In June, Elle will graduate from Washington High School; in August, she will start college at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where she received a partial scholarship to study fine arts.
“I’m terriby excited about college,” she said. “There will be a lot of opportunities.”
The scholarship is just the latest in a long list of awards and honors Elle has received this year.
She won Best of Show in Washington’s Got Talent, the first time an art category was offered, and was selected an American Vision nominee in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition at California University of Pennsylvania. As an American Vision nominee, her work was shown nationally in New York City, alongside the award-winning work from 100 other regions representing all parts of the country.
“My painting is a little more abrasive, you could say. It’s activism for mental illness,” Elle said. “It’s my way to communicate things that I’m not sure how to put into words. It represents me. It’s what I see on a day-to-day basis.”
Among the artists she respects are surrealist painters Salvador Dali and Hans Giger, pop artist Andy Warhol and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, best known for her self-portraits.
Elle promised Austin 20 paintings for the show, but ended up entering about 15, all of which, Austin said, are quality pieces.
“We’re trying to show the quality of work people with mental illness can do” he said. “There is way more to people than their diagnosis.”
Elle said she can’t explain the genesis of some of her paintings, often thinking after a piece begins to take shape, “What am I doing right now? That’s cool.”
One of her pieces is a naked body with what appears to be electrodes protruding from its head, signifying, Elle said, her journey throughout treatment “when I felt like I was being crucified.”
Another shows five colorful hands, all trained around the eye to represent the different perspectives a photographer sees through his lens.
And Elle describes a three-piece installation as “personal, nonrealistic and more fantastical.”
All, however, are designed to promote the art show’s anti-stigma campaign.
“I identify as transgender, but that’s not me,” Elle said. “We’re people, not a gender. Birth sex doesn’t mean anything. Every person is a person of worth. I’m not a label. People don’t deserve labels.”
AMI Inc. will hold its seventh annual Poetry and Fine Art Show from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at the George Washington Hotel, 82 S. Main St., Washington. Washington County residents 16 and older with a previous or current history of mental illness and or a co-occurring substance abuse disorder will be participating. A poetry reading and awards ceremony will begin at 5:45 p.m. For more information, call Austin at 724-228-5211. In addition, those who visit the art show can sign up to participate in free on-site Paint-and-Sip sessions, conducted by April Ryan of the Inner Artist Studio, at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Each session will be open to a maximum of 10 participants, who will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis.