DI residents bring art, advocacy together for My Sisters House

Two Daniel Island residents are teaming up for a night of art at the Gibbes Museum that will also raise money for survivors of domestic violence and their children. 

Mary Nemeth, director of development for My Sister’s House, and Kacey Gustafson, founder and creative director of CINÉ Creative House, are helping bring “Walk Through: A Fine Art Exhibition” to the museum on Thursday, Oct. 22. 

The one-night exhibition and salon will feature nationally recognized artists, live art creation, and original pieces available for purchase, with half of every sale going to My Sister’s House. 

Gustafson is curating the exhibition, while event planners Olivia Niemeyer and Hannah Cassibry are co-producing the evening. 

“Walk Through” is divided into three parts – Reclamation, Resilience, and Renewal – and guests will move through the museum as each is introduced. The artwork won’t be the only thing changing from room to room. Lighting and sound will shift along the way before the evening ends in the Lenhardt Garden, where selected artists will create new pieces in front of guests. 

Visitors will be able to meet the artists and watch them work. 

The exhibition will also include a reflection space sharing experiences from domestic violence survivors. 

“Walk Through reminds us that healing is not a single moment but a journey,” Nemeth said. 

She said the event offers another way to start conversations about a problem My Sister’s House has spent more than 45 years addressing. 

“One in three women nationwide will experience domestic violence during their lifetime,” Nemeth said. “Here in South Carolina, that number jumps to nearly one in two, making our state one of the places most deeply affected by this crisis.” 

Founded in 1979, My Sister’s House serves Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties. The nonprofit provides emergency shelter, legal advocacy, counseling, children’s programming, transitional support, and community education. In 2025, it served 977 survivors. 

For Gustafson, art offers a different way into those stories. 

“Art can give form to experiences that are difficult to put into words,” she said. “Walk Through creates space for those experiences to be felt individually and understood collectively. My hope is that guests leave having engaged with extraordinary work, connected with the artists behind it and discovered just how much of themselves they can find in someone else’s story,” Gustafson said. 

“Walk Through” will be held from 6-10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Gibbes Museum of Art. Tickets start at $200 and can be purchased at mysistershouse.org.