Artist: Kristina Flannery
These three pieces-Dark Sun, Dandelion Dragonfly, and Spell and Count High-reflect how life's challenges have fueled creativity and transformation in the artist's work.
Dark Sun emerged from a traumatic seizure episode, inspiring a newfound love for gardening and a vision of beauty in darkness and change. Dandelion Dragonfly captures symbolism of growth, transformation, and wisdom. Spell and Count High grew from a personal injury-chipping bones in her foot-which became a lesson in patience, resilience, and the significance of details, symbolized by the 26 bones in the foot and 26 letters of the alphabet.
Kristina Flannery was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2007 after a rare encephalitis left her in a month-long coma at 19. Through intensive therapy and volunteering at Moss Rehab and Camp Independence, she rediscovered her love of the arts. By 2015, painting became her creative outlet, a source of healing, freedom, and purpose.