(HAWTHORNE, NJ) -- The Passaic County Arts Center hosts "Everything's Fine" by New Jersey artist Gwenn Seemel from April 22 through July 16, 2023.  The artwork is from a series of surreal paintings about mental health.

We were already headed nowhere good in 2019 before the pandemic hit. Teens were reporting alarming increases in the prevalence of certain mental health challenges, with 1 in 3 students describing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. And then COVID hit.

Today, though the safety measures for the virus have all but disappeared, the effects of years of remote learning and social distancing are still playing out for children of all ages as well as adults.

That's where New Jersey painter Gwenn Seemel's new series of surreal paintings comes in. The collection--a project that's funded in part by the Puffin Foundation--will be on display at the Passaic County Arts Center starting April 22nd. It's called "Everything's Fine," because Seemel wants to make it clear that she knows everything's not.

There's the virus whose longterm impact is still to be determined as well as the ever scarier threats of global warming and the daily trauma of systemic racism, misogyny, gun violence, and the unrelenting political divide. Amidst these pressures, Seemel doesn't want anyone to think they’re the only one struggling with anxiety or depression.

These images are a starting place. "I feel like this," you might say, pointing to the dragonfly being offered an oxygen mask. You could use a postcard of the skeleton who's practicing death as a bookmark--a private reminder that at least one other person, AKA the artist, has felt like you. Or maybe you make it public, setting the image of a measuring tape monster as your profile pic.

However you use it, the artist wants this work to feel like it belongs to you as much it does to her. As Seemel puts it, "These images were designed with you in mind, both because I need to feel like I'm not alone and because I want you to feel that connection as well."

The Passaic County Arts Center is located at 675 Goffle Road in Hawthorne, New Jersey. It is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 11:00am to 5:00pm.

There will be an opening reception and an opportunity to meet Gwenn Seemel on May 13th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm at the Arts Center.