At The Confluence of Joy and Remembrance: The Mixed Media Art of S.T. Gately

S.T. Gately is a mixed media Visual Artist and licensed Visual Arts Educator based in Western, MA. Gately teaches grades K-8 as well as seniors in a variety of settings.

Wound Care, Ace Bandage and Acrylic on Canvas, Year Unknown.

Gately wrote of Wound Care on her website, saying:

In the Spring of 2022, my mother for whom I care, had a GI bleed in which she had to be emergency intubated. A month later, her legs swelled, blisters appeared and popped. We saw a lot of doctors to try and figure out what was going on with her. Turned out she had kidney disease, and we started going to a wound care clinic every week, with a visiting nurse coming in between to change the dressings. After 10 months of treatment and using lymph edema pumps every day for an hour, the wound healed. We had an abundance of leftover supplies, and, like an innovative artist, I am always looking for ways to turn pain and obstacles into something more. Something people can learn from and witness.

American Waste, Mixed Media Assemblage, Year Unknown.

And, of American Waste, Gately shared:

In the last few years, I have been quite busy with my day jobs and caretaking for my Mother. I decided I wouldn't start anything new, unless I was covering over old work and using found materials. Below, are bottle caps, plastic cutlery, jewelry, straws, expired covid tests, business cards, cell phone, mask, silica packets, makeup, vinyl record painted with acrylic and oil based paint marker.

In a world increasingly defined by fragmentation—of bodies, of attention, of care—Gately’s work reminds us that art can bridge gaps. It is not only a response to suffering; it is an act of joy, of ensuring that things which struggle to be seen or remembered nonetheless persist.