Preston Zeller painting at his desk, surrounded by paint and brushes

A Documentary by Preston Zeller

The Art of
Grieving

Name: The Art of Grieving
Director: Preston Zeller
Genre: Documentary, Art, Mental Health
Released: 2022
Duration: 70 min
Rating: 9.0

Following the untimely death of his 35-year-old brother, an artist immerses himself into a year-long painting project to process grief.

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About the Film

An artist delves into a year-long project to paint every day as a way to process grief.

Following the death of his 35-year-old brother and being faced with the emotional toll of grief, an artist delves into a year-long project to paint every day through intuitive abstract painting as a way to process grief and share his process with others. Along the way, this opens the doors to new conversations, ultimately urging the question: why isn't grief addressed better in Western culture?

As a culmination to this year of painting, the 365 paintings are assembled into a final massive 10 ft × 20 ft image to represent a year of grief and further spur conversation over the subject.

Art + Healing

Visual creativity fades as we mature into adulthood for a variety of reasons, though most common among them is a perceived lack of time and the thought that you must be some level of skill for it to be worthwhile. Though this couldn't be further from the truth. Creating a visual work doesn't mean the whole world needs to see it — it can be just for you, and it should be. Creating means you're able to express yourself in not just a different way, but a way in which words may fail to describe your feelings and emotions. Art has the incredible ability to do this.

365

paintings

hours filmed

40+

countries reached

202 sq ft

installation

Stacks of paintings spread across a table — the physical reality of 365 days

“Makes the case for art therapy as an effective and visually stunning way of finding meaning in tragedy.”

— Film Threat, 8/10

Building the installation wall — assembling 365 paintings into the final mosaic

The Filmmaker

Preston Zeller

Writer / Director / Producer

After the sudden death of his 35-year-old brother Colin, Preston turned to painting as a way to survive the grief. What began as a personal practice — one painting a day, every day, for a year — became the foundation for a documentary exploring why Western culture struggles to talk about grief.

Preston directed, produced, and is the subject of the film, channeling his experience as both artist and griever into a story that urges the question: how can we be better equipped to deal with loss?