Nancy Gershman

Memory artist and psychotherapist, Nancy Gershman creates pictures of memories you have (or wish you had) of your loved one for healing, legacy and celebration. Bring her the stories that mean so much to you, and she will fashion a fine art, storytelling “photograph” from your personal photos and her own image library. So versatile, so dreamlike and so spot-on are her “Dreamscapes" that families display them at memorial services, mail them as thank you cards, wear them as reunion T-shirts, or snuggle up with them as blankets. To see how her bereaved and end-of-life clients feel about their Dreamscapes, visit Nancy’s gallery website, Art For Your Sake online, or call her at 773-255-4677 (EST).

Articles:

Nancy Gershman: Healing Through the Arts

Nancy Gershman recently spent two months in Russia, and was surprised that this “Motherland of Suffering” could have so many lessons about hope. She shared her experience with Dr. Gloria Horsley at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. She was teaching master’s students in a psychology program how to visualize a new memory designed to overwrite distressing memories. Students were asked to bring in photos of a pet or person who they were grieving. One sexologist had lost a horse, and was so sure he had died a dignified death because “he didn’t bother anybody.” Quietly passing […]

Read More
Open to  hope

Making a Photomontage to Celebrate a Life

The Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) organization features digital artist Nancy Gershman discussing legacy photomontages. It’s a tool to counter grief and regrets, and can help the bereaved move towards a place of acceptance. You can create a photomontage yourself, or rely on an artist like Gershman to create a keepsake for you. Gershman works with clients around the world who send her photos, images, and notes about their loved one so that she can create a one of a kind piece of art that doubles as a memento and celebration of life. She created Art for Your […]

Read More
Open to  hope

Art Therapy Can Help in Healing from Grief

Artist and photographer Nancy Gershman, of Art for Your Sake, joins Dr. Gloria Horsley at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference to talk about art therapy as part of the grieving process. Gershman is a friend of The Open to Hope foundation and specializes in working with those who have lost a loved one and want to explore their grief journey using an artistic lens. She calls herself a “memory artist” and the moment she enters a room that hosts memories of a loved one, she can start picking out aspects that would make for a good […]

Read More
Cartoonist Keith Knight in Tears

Cartoonist Keith Knight on How Words Live On

Keith Knight is a “gentleman cartoonist” whose various, nationally syndicated comics are published in the Washington Post, MAD, Daily Kos, Medium.com, and the Funny Times. Visit Keef on his website and watch the documentary on his work. A vet’s rates don’t come down just because it’s a dying rat Don’t rate a deathbed experience by the number of words exchanged Use a smart phone to become your family’s personal historian He who laughs in the face of spiders is king Play back absurdities of the day out loud Immortalize the deceased with talk bubbles Your To Do List   A vet’s rates don’t come down just because it’s a […]

Read More
writer Penny Slusher

Writer Penny Slusher on Somber-Free Rites

Buying presents for the dead and gifting them; knowing your “mama dance” and texting as the deceased: this and more when memory artist, Nancy Gershman talks with writer and actress Penny Slusher about somber-free rites. Currently, Slusher is working on a one-woman show about the house she grew up in Bristol Tennessee, and how living with tragic events affected the family in their daily lives. Take your meals with the dying, whether they’re hungry or not Be what the dying need you to be Behave as if the dying still care about manners Study your mom so one day you can do The Mama Dance Before you […]

Read More
improv artist Marc Hershon

Improv artist Marc Herson on Vision Quests for Mourners

Fasting on water, chanting his heart out and beating a drum for 4 solitary days  in a pine valley opened a door to the afterlife for Marc Hershon. This and more when memory artist, Nancy Gershman talks with Hershon about his vision quest – a Renaissance man who performs and teaches improv; hosts and produces Succotash, the Comedy Podcast; draws an award-winning, weekly cartoon for California’s Half Moon Bay Review and names ubiquitous products (like Swiffer, Dasani and BlackBerry) as Creative Director for Lexicon Branding.    The show must go on (then off) Conversations with fathers, now dead, are less awkward No one calls you by your given name in the afterlife Beating a drum goes well with confessing as loud as you can Make friends […]

Read More
Dana Jerman

Poet Dana Jerman on Griever Dreams and Signs

Not only is there is no wrong way to interpret dreams and signs, but they can become catalysts for a great day. This and more when memory artist, Nancy Gershman talks with writer, photographer and performing poet Dana Jerman of Chicago. Visit her on blastfortune.blogspot.com.  Flush out icky feelings with words  Use one dream element as a creative impulse for your day Some relatives are warmer through the mail than in person Instead of silence, upset somebody with your feelings and opinions Enjoying the friends of a dead friend is the perk of funerals Acknowledge good, bad and ugly feelings inside, as they pass It’s our job to […]

Read More
writer J.W. Basilo

Writer J.W. Basilo on Starting Fresh When the Old Guard is Gone

How can you use a death and a birth to foster a new culture of decency around the dinner table? This and more when memory artist Nancy Gershman talks with Chicago-based writer, performer, and director J.W Basilo. A National and World Poetry Slam finalist, Basilo is also a PushCart Prize Nominee, and co-host of the Uptown Poetry Slam. His work has appeared on NPR, CBS, WGN and the Chicago Tribune. Catch him on http://BustedMouth.com and http://chicagoslamworks.com. Start a tradition when the Old Guard dies New at the head of the table? Speak your mind Be truthful about the dead without crossing yourself Complete the conversation before anyone’s dying, […]

Read More
comic Yisrael Campbell

Comic Yisrael Campbell on Uplifting the Dying

How can you use your talents to make the dying feel like they’re at the center of your universe? Be a DJ on a pretend radio station with your friend’s name in the call letters: this idea and more when memory artist Nancy Gershman speaks with Yisrael Campbell (born Chris Campbell): a comedian of Irish and Italian descent, who grew up Catholic in Philadelphia and now lives with his wife and four kids as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. The star and writer behind the critically acclaimed Off Broadway show “Circumcise Me,” Yisrael brings his one-man show to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival August 2014. […]

Read More
Playwright Taren Sterry

Playwright Taren Sterry Finding the Funny in Sadness

Taren Sterry is a comedic actress and playwright who also teaches improv, presentation coaching, public speaking and team building. She is a full time manager of Volunteer Training at Visiting Nurse Service of NY Hospice and Palliative Care. Her nationally acclaimed one-woman show, 180 Days, is about her first six months working in hospice. Visit Taren at www.tarensterry.com and www.180daysplay.com. Finding the funny when your option is profound sadness Restage awful memories as comedy to alter the past Everyone, even a sourpuss, can notice one positive thing Not even those in the business are immune from death Compassionate listening deepens any relationship Close mindedness isn’t permanent […]

Read More
Next Page »