Family commemorates somber anniversary with art

MARBLEHEAD – Tragedy leaves much in its wake, particularly when the loss is a young person whose future seemed bright with promise. Losing 15-year-old Holly Windrush Pierce in August 2004, when she was hit by a car in Vinnin Square, was deeply shocking and heart wrenching for her mother, father and older brother.Reliving that time as they commemorate the 10th anniversary of Holly’s death has spurred not just pain, but also creativity in Kacy, Steve and Noah Pierce, all artists.Together, the Pierce family has created the exhibit “A Hundred Hearts (for Holly),” which will be the featured exhibit throughout September in Stetson Gallery in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead, 28 Mugford St., Marblehead. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held Sunday, Sept. 7 from noon-2 p.m. in the gallery.As Kacy Pierce explains:”‘A Hundred Hearts (for Holly)’ is a family exhibit: three artist members of one family using varied visual media to conjure up, remember, reflect on and express love for the family member who is missing and who is missed.”The paths taken in exploring this terrain of the heart are unique both internally/emotionally and externally/visually. From relief sculpture to comics, assemblage to painting, any material is fair game when searching for a way to express the inexpressible. Individually and together, we’ve encountered heartbreak, wonder, confusion, silliness, color and love. What else can we do but use all of that to rebuild our broken hearts? We make these works in celebration of family, despite sorrow and loss. From these pieces of art, a fullness of heart is pieced together?a hundred hearts, for Holly.”After Holly’s death, the Holly Windrush Pierce Fund for the Arts was established to offer grants to individual young people and to arts organizations who work with youth. Recipients have included RawArts, Rebel Shakespeare, Circus Smirkus, Suzuki Assn of MA, Girls Inc. and many other groups and deserving young artists. Proceeds from the sale of work in this exhibit will go to the Fund, and any other donations will be gratefully accepted.Kacy Pierce earned her bachelor’s degree in Studio Art at Smith College and her master’s degree in Creative Arts in Learning at Lesley University. She is a registered Yoga teacher who leads classes on the North Shore. She is also a SoulCollage facilitator, and offers art workshops in papier mache, handmade books, collage and expressive arts. She was the program director and gallery director at LynnArts, Inc., and has taught at both Arts at Tower and the YMCA. Her art making draws on her love of textures, found objects, paper, materials and color, and she finds delight in “tiny things, stories, books, movement and writing.”Steve Pierce was a much loved art teacher in the Marblehead Public Schools for 32 years, and taught in the Arts at Tower summer program for 10 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Art Education from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and his master’s degree in Art Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In his art making, he prefers working with wood and metal to create nature inspired sculpture, both as relief and in the round, sound and music making sculpture and public art. His sculpture “Discovery of Purpose” holds a prominent place in the landscape of Marblehead High School. His inspirations include Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, Winslow Homer and “all the influence of nature, in its variety and abundance.”Noah Pierce has been making art since he was a young child. He studied in Marblehead at the Acorn Gallery and at Marblehead High School, and has studied at Mass College of Art, Worcester Art Museum, North Shore Community College, Montserrat and other art schools throughout the region. He uses his art education in his current position as a screen printer at Gorilla Printing, as executive editor for Inklings Komikazine (a comic magazine) and as a designer for T-shirts he sells through theINKistheLIFEon Etsy online.