Empty & Meaningless: Shaping the Light Within

An Exhibition. A Workshop Series. A Living Invitation to Reclaim Your Story.

Welcome to a project that began in a women’s prison and now lives in public & private spaces, in living rooms, in art studios, and in the quietest corners of the heart.

Empty & Meaningless: Shaping the Light Within is a multi-part solo exhibition and community art project by Adrienne Fritze—a journey into the stories we’ve inherited, the ones we’ve created to survive, and the deeper truths waiting to emerge when we set those stories down.

This is not art to be observed from a distance.
It is art that invites you to step in.
To witness.
To release.
To re-engage with your own becoming.

✂️ What Is This Project?

It’s a lot of things at once:

• A collection of layered collage and intimate illustrations by artist Adrienne Fritze

• A series of workshops where participants build and decorate a paper box that holds their personal story of transformation

• An evolving public installation of these boxes and voices—spanning 20+ years of creative work

• A quiet rebellion against shame, silence, and isolation

• A practice in rewriting the script of your own life

🧰 What Happens in the Workshop?

Each person chooses a single relationship to explore—something unfinished, unresolved, or defining.

Through reflection, writing, guided exercises, and the creation of a personal box artwork, participants uncover what they’ve believed, what they’ve carried, and what they’re ready to let go of.

They name a commitment to something new.
They shape that new story with their hands.
And if they choose, they offer their box into the exhibition, becoming part of a collective voice.

You can join in-person or request a care package to participate remotely.

🖼️ The Exhibition

Opening September 2025 in Eugene, Oregon, Empty & Meaningless: Shaping the Light Within will feature:

• Adrienne’s solo works in collage and illustration

• Dozens of participant-created boxes from recent and past workshops

• Group statement posters from communities around Oregon and beyond

• Thematic installations (The Whisper Jar, The Envelope Offering, The Wall of Release)

• Invitations for visitors to reflect, write, whisper, and step into their own process

🌀 Attend a Workshop

June–August 2025, community-hosted workshops will be offered across the Willamette Valley.

Upcoming hosts include:
🎨 Pegasus Gallery (Corvallis)
🛠 MAXtivity Arts Center (Philomath)
✨ In-studio workshop with Adrienne (July)

Join the mailing list to get workshop announcements and registration links.

👉 [Join the List] or [Sign Up Here]

Want to host your own? [Get in touch →]

💗 Support the Work

This project is funded by the community it serves.

Supporters help provide:

• Materials for box-making workshops

• Framing, printing, and installation for the exhibit

• Artist time, energy, and creative nourishment

• Access for participants from all walks of life

Give once, give monthly, or fund a box:
✨ Support on Ko-Fi →

📖 Read the Backstory

This is more than an exhibit—it’s a story unfolding in real time.

Follow Adrienne’s behind-the-scenes journey through a series of blog posts capturing the conversations that shaped this work. From prison workshops to collage metaphors, from naming the exhibit to reauthoring our lives—it’s all part of the story.

🌱 [Read the blog → Conversations in Creation]

🌀 You Are Invited

You are not broken.
You are layered.
You are becoming.
You are loved.

Empty & Meaningless: Shaping the Light Within is an invitation to meet yourself again—with tenderness, truth, and courage. Whether you view the exhibit, make a box, whisper into the jar, or write what you’re ready to release, you are welcome here.

Create. Witness. Let go. Come alive.