Brain Reconnected
A Collection of Art, Short Stories, and Poetry
by People who have experienced Brain Injuries;
for People who love art and words and the sheer joy of creating.
People with Brain Injuries, their family, friends, and caregivers may be especially interested.
March 6 – March 22, 2025
Mills Station Arts and Culture Center
10191 Mills Station Rd.
Rancho Cordova, CA
Gallery Hours:
Thursdays and Fridays, 2 pm – 7 pm
Saturdays from 11 am – 4 pm
Reception: 5:30 – 7:30 pm Friday, March 14
Artist Talk: 6:00 pm Friday, March 14
Mindful Art Journaling with Matt: 11 am – 3 pm, Saturday, March 8
Click the button below to see Brain Reconnected
As seen on Good Day Sacramento (TV Channel 31)
Some Highlights from Brain Reconnected Exhibit below. You can buy the book to see and read everything that is in Brain Reconnected exhibit.
The Journey
Life is a journey. Sometimes we get knocked down. Sometimes it is hard to get up. But we keep trying and pushing forward.
A brain injury is one of those challenges. One of those obstacles.
Brain Reconnected is an exhibit and a book to help you see that you are not alone, that others have traveled this path before, and want to walk beside you.
Get up!
Climb!
Get up again!
Building Blocks
After a brain injury, it can feel like you need to rebuild yourself, put things back together. Stacking the blocks that were knocked into a new you, trying to build it similar to who you were before.
Brain Circles
Part 1:
Nine depictions of what a brain injury might feel like.
Darkness
Bright lights
Dented Head
Splitting Headache
Neurons
Piercing Headache
Tingling
Feeling Flat
Vice
Brain Circles
Part 2:
Nine depictions of what a brain injury might feel like.
Scatter Brain
Decision Impossible
You Can’t Smell This
Unbalanced
Brick Wall
Sound Overload
Brain Fog
Memory Gaps
You Can’t Taste This
Sometimes Life Turns You Upside Down
This gymnast started a cartwheel, but somewhere in the middle, things went the wrong way. Not to be defeated, the gymnast changes her routine, and sticks the landing… upside down.
Some doctors dismiss your symptoms as just being “in your head”. Ironic that they use that term, because it is in your head, but it isn’t your imagination. Some lawyers for insurance companies refute your claims as being related to something other than your brain injury. “You’re just getting older; these things happen to older people.” There are a few doctors or lawyers or insurance companies that are on your side. It feels like you are in a tug of war with these professionals. Sometimes that tug of war is with friends and family that are all pulling against you while you struggle to maintain. It feels like the odds are against you and the challenge is insurmountable.
Ways to help your brain reconnect
Trees are my inspiration for strength and resiliancy
In 2019 I saw a picture of a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree. It was all gnarled and twisted and looked half dead. Yet, it looked beautiful, and even if it was half dead, it was half alive too. I learned that some consider the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine to be the oldest living species of tree, with at least one being over 4,800 years old. I knew then that I needed to go see these trees myself, to stand among them. I wanted to feel of their strength and ability to withstand a harsh environment and still thrive for a very long time.
The Bristlecone Pine helped me to realize that the strength and resilience of trees was something I admired. I looked back on my childhood and realized I loved to climb trees, to sit in them and look over my backyard and feel like I was on top of the world. And so, after visiting the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forrest in California’s White Mountains, I started painting trees. A trip to Muir Woods National Monument just north of San Francisco inspired several paintings. The old oaks on my property inspired more. I read “The Overstory” by Richard Powers, “Around the World in 80 Trees” by Jonathan Drori and Lucille Clerc. “Finding the Mother Tree” by Suzanne Simard. All of these books reinforced my love of the strength and fortitude of trees of all types.
I happened upon an article about a large and possibly oldest living organism in the world, a grove of cloned aspen in central Utah that has been named Pando. Over a hundred acres of genetically identical aspen, all coming from the same root system. Over Labor Day in 2024, I traveled to Utah to visit my sister, and took the opportunity to drive to the location of this mass of trees. Standing among them was thrilling, humbling, and awesome.
Trees now represent the strength I want to cultivate in me, and to inspire others to be strong and to thrive where they are. Here, you will see the strength of these trees in what I call my “tree portraits” (Trees are such graceful things to paint portraits of. A tree won’t complain if I show too many wrinkles or if I don’t quite get the painting to look exactly like the tree.)
Brain Reconnected,
A book by Matt Harline and Ava Yulisa
with Judy Garner, Matt Davis, and Celeste Wilson.