Artists take on eating disorders

Katie Seiz takes scissors to glossy fashion magazines, cutting apart what she says are ridiculously idealized images of female beauty.

When she reassembles the pieces, along with vintage fabric and other sundry materials, the 26-year-old artist invents beauty in new forms.

Art as therapy is something Seiz has turned to since she was hospitalized for anorexia nervosa at the age of 15, when the emotional twists and turns of starting high school prompted her to try to regain control by depriving herself of food.

"Art is my vehicle to cope with anxiety and stress," she said. "Being able to say something through another medium is something I've held onto for many years beyond my hospitalization."

Seiz's creations are among those of more than 40 artists who have donated to a silent auction and art show, featuring paint, jewelry, tapestry and other artistic genres. The proceeds of the event will go to the Duke Center for Eating Disorders' efforts to develop a web-based treatment program for families who cannot afford or do not have access to eating-disorder care.

The auction's purpose hits close to home for about one-third of the donating artists, who, like Seiz, have either struggled with eating disorders in the past or continue to wrestle with them.

Heather Evans-Smith, a photographer, has donated a piece called "The Mask," which she says represents the disguises many women feel they have to put on to live up to societal standards of beauty.

"There is this perfect image that is shown in magazines and on television," she said.

Evans-Smith, 34, says she was relatively fortunate in her history with an eating disorder, overcoming it at the age of 14 without needing to go to the hospital. But she realizes that for others, gaining control over an eating disorder can be a lifelong battle.

Seiz, for example, calls anorexia her "little demon" that pops up every now and then, threatening a relapse. However, she believes art has been an invaluable source of strength in helping her beat it down.

Her first art-therapy session, held in 1998 in the Iowa hospital where she began her recovery, is imprinted vividly in her mind. Seated in a group session, she was handed a glob of clay and asked to sculpt an animal that represented how she felt.

"I created a tiny baby bird," she recalls. "I was feeling scared about growing up and going into the world."

Since that "loaded cathartic" experience, Seiz has turned to art to channel her emotions in a healthy way. Ten years after living with a disorder that she described as making her feel cold, weak and tired all the time, she graduated from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, with a bachelor's degree, with a concentration in fine arts. Now a professional artist and accessory designer, Seiz runs a small business creating handmade adornments from her home studio in Durham, N.C.

Though her eating disorder no longer affects her body, it's a prominent theme in her artwork. By destroying the flawlessness of fashion-magazine pages, Seiz says she is able to take control, turning something that had previously been intimidating into something around which she creates her own meaning.

Though Seiz may be the only one to have crafted a piece for her college art show portraying lipsticks in the shapes of cannons aimed at a Vegas showgirl, she intends the messages of her creations for a broad audience.

The artist hopes her work may inspire anyone "who has ever looked into a mirror and released a lengthy sigh of discontent and exasperation."

E-mail Ilana Yurkiewicz at ilanay@nando.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com.