Art show for recovering addicts draws global interest

Joan Zych was sober for three years, but something was missing.

Zych was a painter. In the emersion from years of alcoholism, that expression of emotion that comes from, the revelation of experience, had left her.

“I couldn’t bridge the gap between making art and being sober,” she said.

How do you get that back?

Inspired by the book “Addiction and Art,” Zych started the Tallgrass Recovery Art Show in 2013.

The intent of the book is to help make it easier to welcome people with addictions back into the community.

“To give them a voice,” Zych said.

Eight years later the show continues to grow in the number of submissions and attendance. It also led to the “Vision and Voice” program for students at Joe Foss Alternative School in Sioux Falls. That program recently was awarded a $20,000 grant for three years from the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation.

Some of the students who went through the program now contribute to the show.

This year’s Tallgrass Recovery Art Show is Friday, Aug. 27 at the Post Pilgrim Gallery. The gallery is in the lower level of the Last Stop CD Shop, 2121 E 10th St., which also includes the recording studio for the White Wall Sessions.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and close at 9 p.m.

The event includes light food and beverage and live music.

It’s not a fundraiser, though some works are for sale. The primary activity is just absorbing the artists’ work and learning their stories.

“Everybody has the opportunity, if they want, to tell the story about how addiction has affected their lives,” Zych said. “Whether they themselves have the disease or someone they know.”

There will be work from about 30 artists this year. There are submissions from beyond the Sioux Falls area, including the United Kingdom.

Zych expects up to 500 people to attend the ninth edition.

It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience to see the affect that art has on people who attend, whether they are addicts or not.

Organizing the show, with the help of friends, also rebuilt that lost bridge. It led Zych back to her art.

“You can’t have a show if you’re not going to have a piece in it,” she said. “That would be ridiculous.”

Staying sober: Those in recovery say it has been their toughest year ever