Looking to Lighten Up?

As part of the Colby Museum’s Community Day on July 31st, Lunder Institute for American Art Resident Fellow and self-proclaimed “Experience Broker,” Adriane Herman is orchestrating her 4th Emotional Value Auction from 12-4 pm in the museum’s lobby. Harnessing the power of witnessing to facilitate release, this non-monetized auction is grounded in reciprocity, allowing participants to pass along something that might be challenging to release to someone they know will appreciate it. “Bids” take the form of written statements of interest or desire; no money changes hands. Authentic written expression and shared vulnerability are rewarded, and are rewards in themselves. 

About this participatory witnessed release, Herman states: “The project is grounded in reciprocity, foregrounding the generosity inherent in receiving, as helping someone to release something that weighs them down can precipitate life-changing shifts and create space for new things both physical and immaterial. Lacking–or even with–familial structures to ‘hand things down,’ it can be hard to release. Many need to know someone else will appreciate something, carrying forward some aspect of its story or past, in order to let go of something of significance to them.”

To release something through this event, email emotionalvalueauction@gmail.com with a photo and brief statement about the item and why you are releasing it. Items can be dropped off at the Colby Museum welcome desk by Friday, July 16. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 12-5 p.m. on Sundays. Alternate arrangements, such as mailing items and possible pick-up, can be made through the above email.

Join us July 31st to witness the power of witnessing!

July 31st: Emotional Value Auction with Adriane Herman (At Community Day)

Saturday, July 31, 12-4 pm

Colby College Museum of Art, 5600 Mayflower Hill

Free and open to all

Deadline for dropping off items: Friday, July 16, 5 pm, at the Colby College Museum of Art

About Adriane Herman: Multidisciplinary artist and educator Adriane Herman studies accumulation and release in our physical and emotional landscapes. Born in New York City, Herman currently lives in Southern Maine, where the local recycling center offers her inspiration in forms such as waxing and waning piles of discarded wood scraps that she likens to a compost pile rife with manifestations of human intention, aspiration, accomplishment, procrastination, and all the other stuff of life, including its completion.