Welcome to her mind

WILLARD — A local teacher is having her artwork shown at a local gallery. Marnie K. Lillo, a Willard Schools visual arts teacher, will have her work displayed at The Art Junction, an art gallery located at 2634 Prairie Street in New Haven. Lillo's exhibit, "Welcome to my Mind," will be displayed through Sept. 26, with gallery hours Thursdays and Fridays from 5-7 p.m. and "special showings available upon request," according to a news release. The release describes Lillo as "an accomplished colorist" and a "young emerging artist" who works in multimedia, exploring various media to turn her vision into art. "She loves to explore various media with her organic imagery that examines her playfulness with her drawings that emerge from her imagination, studio and sketchbooks," Art Junction director Kevin Casto said. Launched in 2011, The Art Junction came into being as a result of Casto's master's thesis project at Boston University entitled "How can community-based art education enrich the rural community of Willard, Ohio?" "The Art Junction" is his attempt to put into practice what he researched, as well as what he has learned from his years as an artist, art educator and citizen, to help enrich the local community. "Art allows us to understand who we are and make sense of the world around us," Casto said. "Most of us need opportunities to reconnect to the community and environment so we can awaken and explore the beauty in the world we see daily. Everyone has the ability to create, not everyone has the opportunity. This is one of the driving factors in the mission of the Art Junction."