Crystal Meneses
A Thousand Hands
April 4 – May 25, 2025
Upstairs Gallery
Newport Visual Arts Center
Join us for an opening reception:
Friday, April 4, 6-8pm
“A Thousand Hands” celebrates AAPI Month, and Crystal weaves her Asian Pacific Islander heritage throughout her art. The exhibit is inspired by her devotion to harmony in community and her deep spiritual relationship with Kuan Yin, the deity of compassion and mercy. Crystal practices Art Divination, a form of intuitive creation that has whispered to her since childhood. Her art emerges from dreams, memory, prayer, imagination, and ritual. Through this exhibit, she invites individuals to explore art as a tool for spiritual care, offering a transformative experience for those seeking healing and connection.
Media: Acrylic on board
Medium: Fire, guava leaf, egg, water, candle, and spirit.
OF NOTE: On May 24th from 12:30-3:30pm, Crystal will be leading a workshop at the VAC titled “A Thousand Hands: Art and Spiritual Healing” – sponsored by Oregon Humanities. CLICK HERE to learn more or register.
Crystal Meneses is an interdisciplinary artist, death doula, and hospice chaplain who guides communities in using art as a tool for healing. She has been honored with the Oregon Community Foundation Fields Fellow Fellowship (2019), the Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship (2019), and the Seeding Justice Lilla Jewel Award (2024). Crystal’s academic and creative journey includes studies in music therapy, art therapy, divinity, and biomimicry.
Her notable work in arts and social change community advocacy includes music programs at Coffee Creek Women’s Prison, community murals (AR, painted, and mosaic), the “Last Words” cemetery concert series, therapeutic choirs for children, intergenerational creative communities, programs for artists experiencing houselessness, and arts-based engagement with individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.