This fall, Gwenn Seemel (they/them) is doing a different kind of art show: it’s one where you’re invited to hang your work on the wall as well! Specifically, the Lambertville painter wants to see your coloring skills on display.

Starting October 11th, the Lambertville Free Public Library will be exhibiting Everything’s Fine, a series of surreal paintings about mental health that came together over the course of several years. Seemel livestreamed the painting process from their studio, broadcasting the making of this art in real time and chatting with viewers as they worked.

As part of the artist’s ongoing artistic conversation about emotional wellbeing, Seemel has now turned the paintings of Everything’s Fine into black-and-white illustrations that visitors can color in and then hang on the wall alongside their work. In this, the Seemel was inspired by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross who write in their excellent book Your Brain on Art:

“The act of coloring itself offers a way to reduce anxiety. Coloring is a structured task that helps bring order to the chaos of life.”

There will be coloring pages available at the library throughout the six-week run of the exhibition, and viewers are encouraged to add their pages to the wall at any time.

And because coloring in company can be more fun, Seemel will be at the library on October 22nd from 7 to 8:30 pm, armed with markers and their delightful sense of whimsy, for an artist talk and coloring book social.

Seemel is best known for their political work which has appeared in Newsweek and on the cover of an Oxford University Press book, but the accolades that matter most to the full-time painter are those that come from their community. As one longtime supporter of the painter’s work says:

“I appreciate [Seemel’s] bravery, compassion, creativity, verve, and vulnerability every time I see [their] work.”

WHAT: Everything’s Fine art talk and coloring book social.

WHERE: Lambertville Free Public Library, 6 Lilly Street, Lambertville, NJ 08530.

WHEN: Wednesday October 22nd from 7 to 8:30 pm.

WHO: Gwenn Seemel (they/them), an artist who quit social media and who doesn’t copyright their art.