Muttvile Canine HeartSong Project

Ehibition opens
Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Muttville
750 Florida Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

An Installation by Ken Gorczyca, DVM
Muttville Senior Dog Rescue
750 Florida Street, San Francisco

Canine Heart Songs is a visual and musical installation honoring the inner lives of dogs and their people—those who have died and those who are still living.

The exhibition features four original acrylic paintings (24” × 24”), each paired with a Heart Song: a short, personalized musical composition created from the dog’s love story. Together, painting and song form a portrait beyond likeness—an experience of presence, memory, and love.

Each Heart Song is created using Suno—an AI-assisted music platform—guided by memory, listening, and love.

Visitors are invited to listen quietly using headphones and the QR codes beneath each painting, allowing each dog’s song to be heard privately and at their own pace.

The Paintings & Heart Songs

Acorn
Pomeranian folk dancer.

Acorn’s portrait reflects steadiness, curiosity, and a quiet wisdom. Her Heart Song moves with the cadence of folk dance—earthy, playful, and rooted in companionship.

Mimi
Cha-cha of joy.

Mimi’s painting celebrates brightness, play, and charm. Her Heart Song dances lightly, full of rhythm and delight, echoing a spirit that brought joy into everyday life.

Chiquita
Swing dancer.

Chiquita’s portrait honors gentleness and vitality. Her Heart Song swings with warmth and lift, carrying the pulse of a long, faithful life shaped by love and companionship.

Teddy
Tango of devotion.

Teddy’s portrait holds warmth and reassurance. His Heart Song moves slowly and deliberately, a tango of closeness and trust, reflecting deep loyalty and shared understanding.

About the Heart Songs

Each Heart Song begins with listening—gathering memories, gestures, and relationships—and is shaped into music as an act of remembrance. The songs are not meant to explain grief, but to hold it gently, allowing love to continue in another form.

This work grows out of my dual life as a veterinary death doula and artist, and my belief that animals deserve ceremony, voice, and artistic presence.

Vernissage – a private showing

portraits of Gaia

Saturday, October 8, 2022
12 – 4 pm

Hunter & Gather Gallery
110S Irving Street
San Francisco, CA

Ken’s first solo show is scheduled at the Natural History Institute Art Gallery in Prescott, Arizona.
Naturalhistoryinstitute.org/art-gallery

portraits of Gaia

OCtober 28, 2022-January 13, 2023

• Exhibit Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 10am-5pm and Saturday, 11am-4pm
• Opening Reception and 4th Friday Art Walk: October 28, 2022 5-7:30pm
• Artist Talk: Thursday, November 10, 7pm “Portraits of Gaia: A Veterinary Artist Perspective”
• Artist Field Experience: Saturday, November 12, 8:30am – 2pm. “Images from the Source: A Shared Experience.: Join artist Ken Gorczyca and NIH Program Director Jessie Rack in a a field workshop that explores the natural world through ecology, meditation, and creativity. Cost $40

Visit this web page for more information

naturalhistoryinstitute.org/event

126 N Maina St., Prescott, AZ

(928) 863-3232 | in**@*********************te.org

As an artist, meteorologist and veterinarian, I consider the Earth, or Gaia, as a living creature. This exhibition will consists of portraiture of the Earth’s wilderness with a focus on nature scenes and animals that mirror her spirit, mood and emotions. Thick paint and motion using brush, knife and natural objects capture moments of serenity, shadow, color and passion. This exhibition will include plein-air paintings that tell stories of depth and distance. There will be inclusion of stories of using wilderness as a rite of passage through vision fasts. National parks and endangered species will be included in this show.