Artist Lynn Shanks will present “Lyme Disease: Portrait of an Epidemic,” an exhibition of expressive figurative paintings exploring the experience of Lyme disease and its co-infections, at SUNY Adirondack’s Visual Arts Gallery in Dearlove Hall beginning November 5th.
The exhibition is a result of a year of preparation and painting, centered on in-depth conversations with nine Warren County, NY residents who have lived with Lyme disease, along with Shanks’ own experience with the illness.
Through portraits and related works, the exhibition shares their stories – many shaped by late diagnoses and lasting effects – and depicts the realities of treatment, physical symptoms, and the emotional toll of the illness.
In interviews with the artist, participants shared how the disease has impacted their identity, energy, independence, careers, relationships, memories, and plans for the future.
Portions of the interview recordings will play in the gallery, and informational panels will accompany the artwork.
An opening reception will be held Thursday, November 5, from 4 until 6 pm in the Visual Arts Gallery. The reception is free and open to the public, with no reservation required. The exhibit will run through December 10. Parking is also free.
Panel Discussion Nov 12
To complement the exhibition, a panel discussion on Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections will take place Thursday, November 12, at 5:30 pm in the Scoville Learning Center Auditorium on the SUNY Adirondack campus.
Shanks will open the program by discussing her artwork and the inspiration behind it, followed by a conversation with panelists on the growing problem of ticks and the diseases they carry and transmit in the southern Adirondack region.
Panelists include:
Moderator Holly Ahern, founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ACES Diagnostics, Co-founder and Vice President, Lyme Action Network, and Professor Emerita of Microbiology at SUNY Adirondack;
Dan Durkee, who serves as Public Health Program Administrator and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at Warren County Health Services;
Deanna Lebel, MHS, Government Relations Manager at the Center for Lyme Action;
Mary Beth Pfeiffer, an investigative reporter and author of Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change;
Mark J. Soloski, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; and Senior Advisor at the Lyme Disease Research Center; and
Ronald Stram, M.D., the founder and Medical Director of the Stram Center for Integrative Medicine.
The panel discussion is free and open to the public, with no reservation required.
Visiting the Gallery
The Visual Arts Gallery is open 10 am until 3 pm Monday through Thursday, and 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm Tuesday and Wednesday. The closest parking to Dearlove Hall is North Parking Lot (North Bay Road Lot). Enter from the main Bay Road entrance and follow the campus perimeter drive to the north/northeast side of campus.
Read More About Ticks in New York
Images of Lynn Shanks’ work provided.
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