Nancy Gershman Interview on Anita Talks Genealogy Blog Talk Radio Program airs April 11, 2011

April 1, 2011 - PRLog -- In this week’s segment – Anita Talks Genealogy: An Interview with Digital Artist Nancy Gershman - Host Anita Wills interviews Chicago-based digital artist Nancy Gershman of http://www.ArtForYourSake.com on the role of legacy portraiture in a personal history. How do Gershman’s custom fine art photomontages distill legacies into iconic moments, and how do these story-pictures remain meaningful and keep future generations emotionally connected to an ancestor or the recently deceased?

Called a “meaning-maker” and “private mythologist,” Gershman uses her Dreamscape Process to draw stories about the whole person, crafting portraits from personal and collective memory, stories, historical photos and genealogical research. The process involves remixing and repurposing existing photos, often augmenting the re-imagined scene with authentic imagery to stand in for memories or events for which there are no photos. The resulting photomontages, aptly called “Dreamscapes,” look like a snapshot from a dream. Unexpected by-products of creating Dreamscape portraits are often the oral histories or narrative-writing Gershman’s work engenders in those who receive her gifts.

About Anita Wills
Since 1978, Host Anita Wills has shared innumerable tips on backing up one’s genealogy research. “Otherwise,” says Wills, “it’s just an oral history.” Wills is also the author of two books Pieces of the Quilt: The Mosaic of An African-American Family, and Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color. Her specialty is African-American and Native American genealogy research. Anita Talks Genealogy airs Wednesdays 7:00- 7:45 pm, and Fridays, 7:00-7:45 pm. The toll free call-in number is (877) 516-6887.

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About Nancy Gershman of Art For Your Sake

Thanks to the transformative power of digital photo manipulation, fine art photomontage artist Nancy Gershman makes dreams-to-order. Her specialty is legacy portraiture for gifts, personal histories and life review. As a post-therapy resource, Gershman works with individuals coping with loss and regrets, creating prescriptive photomontages for healing.

A member of the Association of Personal Historians and The Society for the Arts in Healthcare, Gershman is committed to meaning-making in portraiture, shaped by memories, stories, photographs and genealogical research. Her work has been featured by The Loyola University Museum of Art, CBC Radio's Definitely Not The Opera, Annals of American Psychotherapy, Living with Loss Magazine and numerous other publications.