A grand opening reception took place at the Anita S. Wooten Gallery on Thursday evening for local Orlando artist Helaine Schneider’s new art exhibit: Everyone’s Talking, No one is Listening.

Visitors were able to help themselves to food and beverages while soft piano music set a casual ambiance. Those who went were able to view Schneider’s gallery before her speech, which took place an hour after the reception started.

“Even though Helaine’s work examines reality, it is not realistic. It is humanistic in its nature,” said Camilo Velasquez, Assistant Professor of Art and Gallery Director said. “She creates work that portrays actual character’s, not merely superficial character traits of people. Her interest lies in representing the individual with his or her own humanity.”

Schneider’s exhibit strictly consists of ceramic sculptures, and many of them have a voice recording incorporated within the piece. This artistic idea, Schneider told the crowd,  was first brought up when Schneider was having a bad day and decided to go to the grocery store. The grocery clerk asked her if she found all her items easily and Schneider responded with a positively, despite feeling so terrible inside. That moment made her question if the clerk knew she was feeling terrible, and wonder how the clerk’s day was going. It started to make Schneider think about this inner world that we, as people, have in which inspired the main origin of the speaking aspect of the exhibit.

“There is one thing that I would like everyone to walk away from after the show is to just remember, even within the next day or two when you’re walking through your life to think about what is really going on with people,” Helaine Schneider said. “To not just take them at that surface first impression, but to think about how similar they are to you inside.”