Using gloved hands, artist Kelly Mathews rubs blood-red paint over layers of melted beeswax as “Fire,” her painting, takes form. She carefully uses a blowtorch, then a heat gun to dry her work before she can brush on another layer of wax that’s simmering in a nearby pan in her makeshift basement studio.

The Logan Square artist said her profession doubles as a sort of therapy. While that’s true of art for many, it’s especially notable for Mathews, 48, who said she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her early 20s.

“When your emotions are so extreme on both ends, you’ve got to be able to communicate that,” said Mathews. “Art is a wonderful tool for that.”

Mathews is one of about 20 artists with bipolar disorder who will be featured in an upcoming exhibit designed to raise awareness about the illness, which can cause extreme bouts of depression and mania. “Insights II: An Art Exhibition of Creativity and the Bipolar Brain,” will run May 31 through June 2 at the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago and will also serve as a fundraiser for a mental-health education program for local teachers.

Founders of the Chicago-based Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation, named for a DePaul University graduate who had bipolar and died in 2004, came up with the concept for the show and held a contest to recruit artists with bipolar. Those involved in the show say it also highlights that many who battle bipolar have an artistic gift.

The link between bipolar and other mood disorders and creativity has long been studied. Experts say that while not all people who have the illness are creative, research shows there are many who are. Some artists have publicly said they’re bipolar — most recently, singer Mariah Carey — and experts have speculated that other artists, like Vincent van Gogh, could’ve had the disorder.

Terence Ketter, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Stanford University, has studied the link between bipolar and creativity and found a strong relationship between the two.

“This is a devastating disease; you don’t want to romanticize it,” he said. “But there is some sort of silver lining … (which) could be creativity in some individuals.”

Ketter said he started his research after noticing creativity in many of his patients. He said the talent of artists with bipolar could help battle the stigma against it.

“These folks make very important contributions to society,” he said.

Mathews said she was “overjoyed” to learn of the exhibit because it will shed light on the illness she’s learned to live with and has come to find is “not the end of the world.”

After spending her teen years as a typical “moody teenager,” Mathews said, she started to sense a problem as a young adult. “I was either on top of the world or had this uncontrolled, burning rage.”

A psychiatrist eventually diagnosed Mathews with bipolar, she said. While she knew of a family history of depression and addiction, Mathews said she was surprised by the diagnosis but also relieved to be able to attach a name to it and start medication.

Ryan Licht Sang Foundation “The Disintegration of American Empathy” by Kelly Mathews. “The Disintegration of American Empathy” by Kelly Mathews. (Ryan Licht Sang Foundation)

While dealing with the illness, Mathews finished art school, got married, became an accomplished equestrian and now is a full-time artist. Mathews has created art using photography, film and glass blowing, but said she now focuses on the encaustic method using beeswax. Like much of her work, the piece called “The Disintegration of American Empathy” — which will be featured in the upcoming show — is based on social-political themes.

Bipolar “is not a death sentence,” Matthews said. “There’s a lot of help out there.”

Dusty and Joyce Sang, creators of the foundation, said they were inspired by their son, Ryan, who was an artist and had bipolar disorder, to do a smaller-scale version of the show last year in Florida, where Ryan grew up and where they have a second home. That exhibit featured Ryan’s art and the work of another young man who died after battling bipolar. Given its success, the Sangs said they decided to do a full show in Chicago, which will open with a fundraising party the first night and then be free to the public June 1 and 2. Ryan’s work also will be featured in the upcoming exhibit.

Funds generated from the exhibit will go toward the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program, which educates high school teachers in the city and suburbs about warning signs of mental illness in their students, said Joyce Sang. The teachers also are trained on how to pass along what they’ve learned to their students, so they can notice signs in themselves and their friends and know where to go for help, she said.

The artists selected for the exhibit, who signed affidavits saying they have bipolar, have donated their pieces to the foundation, the Sangs said. The hope is that the exhibit can eventually travel the country to further educate the public on the disorder that ultimately took their only child.

Joyce Sang said the upcoming show will battle the stigma of mental illness by demonstrating that Ryan and others are more than their bipolar. At the time of his death, Ryan had recently become engaged, worked for their family business and was a musician who was scoring the music for a film.

Ryan Licht Sang Foundation Shredded paper with metallic ink on wood by Ryan Licht Sang. Shredded paper with metallic ink on wood by Ryan Licht Sang. (Ryan Licht Sang Foundation)

“We don’t want these people to be identified by their illness. This is only part of them,” Joyce Sang said. “We want to show the creativity. This is beautiful work.”

The Sangs started the foundation — which mostly funds research to develop a test for the disorder — not long after Ryan died in 2004 at age 24. Unbeknownst to his parents, Ryan went off his medication, entered a manic period and could not sleep, they said.

“He was exhausted and reached for a street drug, and he never woke up,” said Dusty Sang. “He never expected that to happen. He just wanted to sleep.”

Afterward, his parents found his medication in pharmacy bags, still stapled shut.

Another Chicago artist featured in the show, Victoria Loeb, said that while she knows firsthand the devastation the illness can cause, in some ways she also sees her bipolar disorder as “a gift.”

“It gives me a different take on art,” she said. “It makes me who I am.”

Loeb, who was diagnosed in her early 20s, said she has learned how to keep episodes triggered by bipolar at bay and lead a meaningful life as a mother and artist.

Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune Using a heat gun, Kelly Mathews works on a piece of art with paint and beeswax in her basement studio. Using a heat gun, Kelly Mathews works on a piece of art with paint and beeswax in her basement studio. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Growing up in Argentina, Loeb, now 38, learned of the illness at a young age because her father also had it. She recalls him spending large sums in one night, and taking her on impromptu camping trips — all a result of manic episodes.

Loeb said her grandmother also had bipolar and ultimately took her own life. Because of the family history, Loeb said, she recognized symptoms of the illness in herself and got help. She also said that because she lost her grandmother, she treats the disease with “respect” by sticking to her medication. Loeb said she was drawn to the exhibit because it can reduce the stigma of mental illness.