'I'm Fine Project' unmasking mental health struggles

At the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, a wall of art is unmasking the stigma around mental illness."Making that mask, you can enter into this your own conversation, but a community conversation, about mental health," says Carrie Breschi.The display is part of the "I'm Fine Project." Co-curators Breschi and Maureen Joyce are the artists behind it."We give them a prompt and that prompt is what mask do you wear in order to portray, hide or minimize maybe your own mental health struggles?" Breschi says. "And it's about being able to articulate that through the process of art. "Many times when you're in adolescence you're struggling with expression, you're struggling with how to talk about these things. And art gives you a way to talk about it in a maybe unconventional way, something that you're not used to."For them, the mission is deeply personal."'I'm Fine' began in 2019 after I lost my son," Joyce said. "He completed his life. And in the sadness of, as you can imagine, I wasn't able to function as a teacher, an artist and a friend. "It took me a long time, but finally, I went out to my studio, and I started working with the clay. And in that process, I realized how helpful that was to me."Joyce and Breschi say, at first, it was just going to be one workshop — but that quickly changed. "That one workshop has now turned into four years of about 70 workshops," Breschi said, "and we realized how much this world needs the conversation about mental health and mental illness and how much teens really need to talk about it."Students made masks during residencies at Brashear High School and University Preparatory School. Next spring, their work will travel across the state to join more than 1,500 other masks in one big exhibit."I think it's really empowering for the artists to come to those exhibits and see their mask and share their mask with their families," Joyce said. "Their families, many of them had no idea they were working on such projects."Joyce says "I'm Fine" has let her share her son's story while helping other people heal, too. "You never know who's struggling," she says. "And (my son) Pat helped us realize that. If we just reach out and help one person, we're succeeding in our project."

PITTSBURGH —

At the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, a wall of art is unmasking the stigma around mental illness.

"Making that mask, you can enter into this your own conversation, but a community conversation, about mental health," says Carrie Breschi.

The display is part of the "I'm Fine Project." Co-curators Breschi and Maureen Joyce are the artists behind it.

"We give them a prompt and that prompt is what mask do you wear in order to portray, hide or minimize maybe your own mental health struggles?" Breschi says. "And it's about being able to articulate that through the process of art.

"Many times when you're in adolescence you're struggling with expression, you're struggling with how to talk about these things. And art gives you a way to talk about it in a maybe unconventional way, something that you're not used to."

For them, the mission is deeply personal.

"'I'm Fine' began in 2019 after I lost my son," Joyce said. "He completed his life. And in the sadness of, as you can imagine, I wasn't able to function as a teacher, an artist and a friend.

"It took me a long time, but finally, I went out to my studio, and I started working with the clay. And in that process, I realized how helpful that was to me."

Joyce and Breschi say, at first, it was just going to be one workshop — but that quickly changed.

"That one workshop has now turned into four years of about 70 workshops," Breschi said, "and we realized how much this world needs the conversation about mental health and mental illness and how much teens really need to talk about it."

Students made masks during residencies at Brashear High School and University Preparatory School. Next spring, their work will travel across the state to join more than 1,500 other masks in one big exhibit.

"I think it's really empowering for the artists to come to those exhibits and see their mask and share their mask with their families," Joyce said. "Their families, many of them had no idea they were working on such projects."

Joyce says "I'm Fine" has let her share her son's story while helping other people heal, too. "You never know who's struggling," she says. "And (my son) Pat helped us realize that. If we just reach out and help one person, we're succeeding in our project."

'I'm Fine Project' unmasking mental health struggles

Good Housekeeping