The Atrium Gallery at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston Campus will host a solo exhibition of USM alumnus Michael Libby from August 9 to September 27. Art as Medicine brings Libby’s creative expression and expertise in counseling and therapy together in this significant body of work.

The Atrium Gallery is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and is accessed through the main campus entrance at 51 Westminster Street, Lewiston, Maine. There is free, onsite parking.

Michael Libby, NCC, LCPC-C, CADC, earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the University of Southern Maine in 1992 and his Master of Science degree in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling from USM in 2017. He also earned a post-graduate certificate in Expressive Arts Therapies at Lesley University in Cambridge. A licensed Mental Health Counselor (LCPC-C) and Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC), Libby believes the answers to the current opioid epidemic and other serious related issues will evolve mostly from a community response.

He says of his art, “The art making process for me is about letting go and not taking it too seriously; it’s a process of unknowing, recollection, and recovery. My time in the studio has taught me to trust disappointments, mistakes, and celebrate failures. These are the elements that make a painting successful - a process of self-discovery that is playful; a serious kind of playfulness that’s interactive facilitating understanding - like the shadows dancing in the beautiful darkness on the walls of Plato’s cave.”