Kindness and creativity will be on display at the Craig Gallery in Dartmouth, N.S., on Thursday as part of the 28th annual Mosaic for Mental Health event. “This is a signature fundraiser for the Canadian Mental Health Association Halifax-Dartmouth branch, and all of the funds that we procure from this show go to our social programs with adults with mental illness,” says Garry Wilson, a community mental health volunteer. “We started off a number of years ago with a very small number of pieces, I think it was something like 39 pieces. We’ve evolved today to over 1,200 pieces of art.” Wilson says the artists are from the Maritimes and around the country. “This year’s theme is kindness, which is really apropos to the things that are going on in our society today,” he says. “(The artwork) ranges in scope from acrylics to oils, fabric art, felting, clay work, just a number of mediums that are really, really interesting to display.” He says they are hoping for a large crowd when the gallery opens on Thursday at 6 p.m. “It runs until the 27th of October. The tiles go on sale on Friday evening. All of the artwork is purchased online. Tomorrow evening is our preview night, and people can come in, have a look and see what they might like to purchase,” says Wilson. “One in four people suffer from mental illness in our society. We are all touched by mental illness in some way, some form. Whether we have mental illness ourselves, whether we are supportive of another individual with mental health…everyone has been touched in some form, some way. “It really brings light to the fact that mental illness is really prevalent in our society today.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
