BETHEL — Patricia Singer is a visual artist and healing arts practitioner, a Newtown resident, and a survivor.

Ms Singer’s art will be celebrated through late November in “Collage Alchemy: Patricia Singer’s A Healing Journey,” a one-artist exhibition at La Zingara Restaurant.

An opening reception is planned for Wednesday, September 19, from 5:30 to 8 pm, at the restaurant, 8 PT Barnum Square in Bethel.

The exhibition will then remain on view until November 25. The public can visit any time the restaurant is open.

Ms Singer has been practicing classical acupuncture, Zen shiatsu, and energy healing for more than 35 years.

In May 2014, she experienced a seizure and subsequently learned she had a brain tumor that required immediate attention.

“This propelled me onto a healing journey that involved confronting hidden aspects of myself,” the artist shares on her website (patsinger.com). “Dealing with the reality of the tumor threw me off a cliff and had me spinning as I took a giant leap into that mysterious abyss.”

Following brain surgery, Ms Singer was unable to work for three months. It was during that time that she began working with collage as an expressive art medium, incorporating tools and skills she had learned during her healing arts training.

“Using it mainly as a ‘vision board’ tool,” she also shares on her website, the artist was able “to create a focus in my life.”

“Collage Alchemy” describes the process she employed with collage and her medium, one that enabled insight and healing, according to the artist.

“Alchemy is the process of transforming a metal, such as lead, into ‘gold,’” Ms Singer explains. “The ancient alchemists put base metals into a container, fired it up, and buried it for a period of time until it was ‘cooked’ and transformed into gold.

“Symbolically, alchemy is the process of taking a pattern or an attitude or an emotion, and through insight, often kicking and screaming episodes of resistance to change, having life step in and offer the opportunity of transforming that pattern, attitude, or emotion from its unconscious state — the lead — into one of consciousness, awareness, and change — the gold,” Ms Singer said.

Full of totemic and symbolic imagery, Ms Singer’s complex collages bring the viewer into that exploration and invite participation, as each observer finds resonance in their own life journey.

The collages in Ms Singer’s collection each measure 11 by 14 inches. They are photographed and then printed on archival watercolor paper using archival inks.

The exhibition is being presented by Bethel Arts On View (bethelartsct.org) and the host restaurant. La Zingara is open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 11 am to 3 pm and 5 to 10 pm; Friday and Saturday, 11 am to 3 pm and 5 to 11 pm; and Sunday, 11 am to 3 pm and 4 to 9 pm.