T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshalltown Community College Volleyball Coach and Director of Student Engagement Chris Brees stands next to some of the work on display with his new exhibit, “Our Pain is Never Wasted,” which opened on Wednesday at the Ray Frederick Gallery.

Like so many others who were cooped up during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chris Brees reconnected with one of his passions. In his case, it was art.

Brees, the director of student engagement and head volleyball coach at Marshalltown Community College (MCC), held an open house for his new exhibit in the Ray Frederick Gallery titled “Our Pain is Never Wasted” on Wednesday afternoon, featuring photography, graphite and pastel sketches and even umbrellas with his photos on them. He said it will serve as a companion piece to his previous exhibit, “Attic of My Disposition,” which opened back in 2020 during the pandemic.

Brees studied art as a college student and earned a BFA in the subject from Clarke University in Dubuque, where he also played volleyball. Although he worked a few jobs tangentially related to his major after graduation — placing numbers on the pages of textbooks for McGraw Hill and doing some page design work for his cousin who served as the art director of a magazine owned by the Meredith Corporation — neither excited him much or gave an opportunity to fully express himself creatively.

Instead, he followed his other passion, volleyball, becoming a college coach and working in student personnel before landing at MCC 12 years ago. When COVID hit, he joked that he had to decide between either watching television all day or pursuing something more productive, and he opted for the latter option.

Last September, Brees moved to a farmhouse near Garwin, and he said that atmosphere and solitude inspired much of his work, which includes black and white photographs of Tama County’s pristine rural landscapes. He’s become so passionate about his art that he joked about finding himself losing track of time and still being awake at 3 a.m. working on it.

“I love it. I just put my music on and draw,” he said.

The title itself is a rather provocative one, and while he said he wanted the work to be somewhat conceptual and open to interpretation, he did elaborate a bit on it.

“A lot of things in your life happen. They can be good or worse, you know. I just look at students I’ve worked with — bullied, divorces — and you’re asking at that time, you’re like ‘I can’t go through anymore.’ But I just remember when I was a kid and I went through some things. I would grow so fast I thought I was dying. My growing pains, I would pass out and stuff, and I thought ‘I can’t handle anymore,'” Brees said. “I just remember having a conversation that he doesn’t give you more than you can handle and you’re gonna come out on the other side stronger. So I just think, like, things happen in your life, for better or for worse. You move through it, and so this is kind of the other side of COVID for me. I feel like I learned some things about me again.”

“Our Pain is Never Wasted” will be open to the public on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. He also plans to hold a private show this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.