It hung on a bedroom wall before her then-husband took a knife to it. Then he put his hands to her neck, nearly strangling her to death.

Now her art helps others understand the emotions associated with domestic violence.

Major, 41, showed off her works during the "Portrait of Violence" art show at the Durham Crisis Response Center on Wednesday. More than 30 people viewed the Hickory art teacher's works. Some were damaged by her now estranged husband; others she created to help cope with the abuse.

The show was the second of four events the center is hosting for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

There have been six domestic homicides in Durham this year, including a man accused of shooting his ex-wife's current husband and a son accused of killing his father. Outside city limits, a man has been charged with choking his stepdaughter to death before burning her. Durham County had five domestic homicides in 2008 -- four in the city and one in the county -- and four within city limits in 2007.

Domestic violence crimes reported between January and June have remained about the same over the past two years, with 121 incidents in 2007 and 111 in 2008, according to Durham police. The majority were aggravated assaults, which averaged about 104 occurrences over the past three years. Aggravated assaults include stabbings and shootings.

Domestic incidents made up 14 percent of the city's violent crime incidents during the time frame.

Some involve women like Major, who didn't recognize the warning signs until it was almost too late. Her husband was manipulative and controlling before their marriage in 2007, but she didn't see that as being abusive.

She used to think abuse was only physical. He became that way while she was pregnant, she said. Major's husband choked her in August 2008, five months after their daughter was born. She left, but he persuaded her to come back.

"When I got home I found 94 paintings butchered with a butcher knife," she said.

Then he choked her again, this time into unconsciousness. He was eventually arrested and convicted of assault by strangulation.

On Wednesday, Major showed works that included "Terror (He Wore a Yellow Shirt)" about the last color she saw before slipping into unconsciousness; "Torn" about deciding whether to leave or stay; and "Through Your Eyes," a self-portrait covered with the demeaning words he used to call her.

"I was able to get the pain and the bitterness and the brokenness inside me to come out and I've been able to put it on a canvas," she said. "I've found healing for myself through my artwork."

Finding an outlet for one's emotions is key toward recovering from domestic abuse, said Aurelia Sands Belle, the crisis center's executive director. The concept is the focus of the center's activities this month.

"The things that are not said are the things that eat at you, that push you in the negative ways of handling your anger," she said.

It can take 10 abusive incidents before a woman decides to leave, she said. Leaving is often the most dangerous time for a victim because that's when an abuser may attempt to carry out his death threat, which is what happened to Major.

Major has turned her advocacy into an organization, Be A Voice Arts, to teach others about domestic violence and how to heal through artwork.

"All of these portraits, they put a face to the word 'victim'," she said. "That just hearing about it in the newspaper or on television, it can't do that. But seeing artwork can make an impact on defining what the word victim is."