A Space for Wonder
What is NEXT?
While the walls of the Art of Life: NOW Gallery in Grand Rapids no longer hold Pierced. The journey for this painting and those that encounter it, continues. What began as a quiet ache in the studio has become a threshold others can walk through — a visual prayer, a sacred unraveling, an invitation to return.
Within the companion guide, you’ll encounter the four thresholds of Return — Rejected, Pierced, Healing, Celebrate — each step is a transformational threshold in the journey to return to who you were always designed to be.
Although ArtPrize is over for this year, it's not too late to explore an amazing unfolding journey for yourself, visit TheArtofReturn.com — a space of wonder, story, and sacred return.
About Us
Therese Kettman
Studio Owner
In 2021, I answered a long-silent call within me—the desire to create. It began with colors: letting them clash, collide, move, and flow side by side. The more I immersed myself in the process, the more I became lost in a world of boundless exploration. I discovered that I had been holding back, denying the inner tug to take a chance, to embrace freedom, to get gloriously messy. I realized something beautiful: I don’t need to know what the end will look like, because the real magic happens in the adventure of the 'in between.'
This journey has been all about taking a plunge—a leap into the unknown, into a new world of exploration:
A plunge into discovering my artist voice.
A plunge into building new connections and finding my creative community.
A plunge into recognizing my worth in simply being—giving and receiving.
A plunge into vulnerability, visibility, and courage to take risks.
A plunge into unfamiliar territory, like stepping into a foreign land where I don’t know the language or the cultural rules.
And so, here I go, stepping boldly into this adventure of creativity and transformation.
— Therese
