ArtLife717 is the public facing name of the nonprofit Mental Health Awareness and Creative Arts Gallery. At ARTLife717 we offer a unique gallery experience by creating an inclusive space where everyone, anywhere on the mental health spectrum, can exhibit their creative work. We accept work in any medium, with the only stipulation that you desire to grow, thrive, and expand your artistic life. Along with a shifting display of artwork that melds mental health wellness themes with creative inspiration, we also provide a space for free art classes that unifies people of all types to focus on the creative process. A process that yields positive life connections with others.
Upcoming Exhibit & Artwork Submission link
Windows & Doorways: Artwork submission link and guidelines.
Artists are invited to interpret windows, doors, and thresholds—literal or symbolic—as representations of transition, opportunity, challenge, or hope. This theme welcomes artwork about change, boundaries, openness, and the spaces between where we’ve been and where we’re going.
Art drop-off: Thurs., Fri., Sat., Jan. 8th, 9th, and 10th – 12pm to 5pm
Reception: Sat., Jan. 24th, 2026 – 5pm to 7pm – SUBMIT YOUR WORK
One-time donations to our nonprofit organization
can be made through our PayPal Giving Fund
or by mailing a check payable to “The Mental Health Awareness Gallery” to:
Brian Belt P.O. Box 543 Philmont, NY 12565
Recurring monthly donations can be made by clicking ‘Donate now’ below
A Petition for Positive Action
Our nonprofit gallery- ARTLife717 (aka) Mental Health Awareness & Creative Arts Gallery that provides Mental Health Support and Awareness through the arts needs your help. Massive federal budget cuts to Medicaid and other Mental Health/Addiction service providers are imminent due to the House passage of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”. Even in revised form, the bill is certain to pass through the Senate by this summer and will have a devastating financial impact on the mental health/addiction support system here in New York and across the country. Our gallery is a fully peer-founded, peer-led organization that will serve as a cheap option through therapeutic art classes as the federally funded NYS mental health system as we know it will dismantled. Please Donate so our gallery can continue to provide the mental health support and activities that sustain and vitalize the lives of those dealing with mental health and/or addiction problems.
NAMI Columbia County, NY and ARTLife717 Gallery Raise Awareness of Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week (May 4-10) and Mental Health Awareness Month (May).
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Columbia County Affiliate and ARTLife717 will hold an opening reception for the Self-Portrait Reflections exhibit on Saturday, May 10, 2025, 5-7 PM at the ARTLife717 Gallery, 717 Columbia St, Hudson, NY. “An exhibit of art that reflects how you see yourself at this moment” will run through July 12, 2025.
Read More about this event.
NAMI and ARTLife717: Help for those with mental health disorders and their families
By DEBORAH E. LANS HUDSON —
The Columbia Paper – Thursday, February 27, 2025
The truth is that no one by mental health disorders. Some are more serious than others, and some are manifested by substance use disorders. One in every five individuals (roughly 60 million Americans) lives with a mental health disorder at some time in his life, and the families of those individuals are inevitably affected as well. Almost 50% of all adolescents (13–18-year-olds) experience some form of issue, and 22.2% suffer what the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) classifies as a “serious” mental health disorder, meaning one that seriously impairs the ability to function. NIMH says that only two-thirds of those affected receive some form of therapy.