Heather Hornberger’s sophomore show, Learning to Sit With Fire, will be coming to Mulberry Art Studios this August. Consisting of around one dozen abstract acrylic works on canvas, Learning to Sit With Fire builds on her first show, Finding Home, and aims to explore more deeply the demands on our souls as we work through trauma. The public is invited to attend a First Frida Opening Reception from 5pm-8pm on August 2.

"Learning to Sit With Fire is a collection of work that embodies my journey of healing from mental health challenges and trauma. Painting is a language all its own for me, enabling me to express my experiences, emotions and processes when words seem inadequate,” Heather explains.

“I've been a runner all my life...looking for escape. This season of life has been about learning to sit, to stay, to feel and let go; to heal. It has been an unraveling, a rebuilding, an exploration. It has been a lesson in learning to stay when I feel on fire, to wade in dark waters, and to learn that there is light on the other side of the darkness. 

I want Learning to Sit With Fire to inspire hope; and perhaps look at the ways we run, and how we can learn, little by little, to stay, to alchemize, to stand in the truth of what we sometimes forget: there is always a way through.”

Heather Hornberger studied communications at University of Pittsburg and later earned her RN from Lancaster Institute of Health, but as far as art goes she is almost entirely self taught. 

Mulberry Art Studios is located in historic downtown Lancaster at 21 N Mulberry St, and offers free parking in their private lot. Guests who are unable to attend the opening can contact gallery curator Stephanie Clayton-Kulfan at Stephanie.mulberryart@gmail.com to arrange a time to come in and view the art during the month of August.