Art Marketing Online Art Blog
Art & Healing - a personal note
by art_marketing , March 18, 2008—12:00 AM
People often wonder how I found my way to art with a background in science and technology and not a lick of talent when it comes to traditional artistic ability. Oh, I claim creativity in the garden or figuring out how to create new business opportunities where others can't see the forest for the trees....but often artists look at me and go huh? I rarely offer a personal point of view as my upbringing was.....always stay at arms length...remain professional...you are founder of ArtId but not artist yourself. However, I found a treasure today!
I found a note tucked into a book that belonged to my maternal grandmother. The note was written by her sister. My grandmother was very ill most of her life. She was by profession a nurse in the 1920's but had a love of art and wasn't too shabby an artist (image is a pen & ink drawing she did in 1916 at the age of 17). At the age of 17, she was stricken with rheumatic fever and spent an entire year in bed....which is when she began to paint! This note was written towards the latter years of my grandmother's life and is a snap shot of her sister's memories of my grandmother and all that she suffered throughout her life...
"Do you want to hear a story? About a girl with tremendous courage! If I hadn't had first hand experience with the whole story, I'd find it hard to believe.
It started many, many years ago, with rheumatic fever although at that time it wasn't recognized as such . The doctors said she had a heart murmur. Later in her early twenties while on her way to visit me, she was stricken with spinal meningitis. This long before the miracle drugs. After two long and shocking months in the hospital, most of it spent in rigid paralysis, an abscess behind her right eye -- the right arm rigid, she was able to leave in a wheel chair. Then came hard & painful jobs, exercising the arm, breaking up the adhesions, working with eye specialists to correct her vision left weak by the abscess. Determined and forceful, she worked hard and slowly regained some strength. However, the effort imposed tremendous strain on a heart already weakened by rheumatic fever. The next twenty years were spent fighting a losing battle: loss of breath, increasing paralysis, oxygen levels, massage sitting in a chair, unable to lie down, visits to doctors, clinics, specialists. One learned not to ask how she was feeling; one just assumed she was doing very well indeed.
And then, two brave and wonderful doctors began operating on hearts. Weak and so desperately ill, we went to Boston, where she underwent heart surgery. Two days later, she suffered additional pain in having again adhesions in arm & back broken. Then began the long and slow battle to rehabilitate a body wasted & wracked by disease. At this time, she took up painting, five minutes today, maybe ten tomorrow. Oddly, the paintings were full of golden light, sunshine.
Now, this should be the end of this story, but alas there is another chapter. Three years ago, she was operated on for breast cancer, a radical and extensive operation. Today, despite increasing need for digitalis, a most painful arthritic condition, she studies & paints & when her strength permits, she goes to school. Somehow, she has no time to feel sorry for herself. To wonder why so many evil things have come her way. Yesterday, she told me she is studying celestial navigation!"
My grandmother was the 100th heart patient in this country at Brigham & Women's hospital in Boston. Art was her method of healing and she taught me what true character was and the meaning of strength. I will forever be grateful to my grandmother, Babs, and her ability to live beyond her pain and open my mind to the beauty of art.
COMMENTS
04/11/2008 * 14:12:48
Hi Betsy
What an inspiring story but one not new to me. I used my ability as an artist to help myself heal from abuse, first without consciously doing that and then deliberately. Now I am an expressive arts therapist as well as an artist and crisis counselor. I just finished an acrylic painting workshop for people with various types of mental illness. It is a privilege and honor to be with people who are so eager to express themselves and who heal themselves with art. Your blog helped me decide to use artid.com as a venue for my own work and I will be signing up soon.
03/26/2008 * 13:30:12
Great story Bets. I often need to be reminded what art can mean to those, like your grandmother, who need to both seek and express their faith in a beautiful world. Van Gogh was of course the example we know best.
I have led a lucky life, but even I can feel a connection. I practice my art as a wonderful way of being in the world: with portraiture, a way for a very private person to be with another individual, and with landscape, a way to be in nature with heightened sensitivity and awareness. I need to remember that for many it is more than just a choice made freely and joyfully.
Peter
03/21/2008 * 18:43:53
What a wonderful story. I have experienced the power of Art in our lives, both personally...I am disabled, and with others.
The story of J. D. is one. At the age of 84 she had a stroke, and could no longer "fend" for herself. So she was enrolled in a wonderful nursing home. Many many years ago, she had painted in oil. When I began seeing her...I call her my girlfriend...she was dispirited and ready to give up. I had heard that she used to be a painter. So I went to see her with a table easle, and all the materials she needed to oil paint...and we started painting once a week. The first couple weeks, it was pretty difficult for her...I had to hold her arm...she was just so weak and confused. But even in those early days, we made beautiful art together...she has a wonderful sense of color. Now after several months, she is painting on her own again and even sold a piece. She is still not physically well, but her spirit is seemingly renewed. Just another example of the awesome power Art can have in our lives. I am writing this in the hope that other Artists might think this a good idea, and share their gift in this way. I'm certainly hopeful that when I am old and failing, someone will do the same for me. Someone who knows that all painters, no matter how old or feeble, still want to and love to paint.
Thanks for Blogging Betsy
( homepage )
03/19/2008 * 11:03:39
To make a mark on paper or canvas so as to escape a painful world and seek another realm through color and texture, to communicate in a quiet or strident voice via our paints and fabrics -- isn't this a marvelous aspect of humanity? No wonder that art historian Kenneth Clark stated that civilizations will be remembered not for the wars or politics, but rather for their art and architecture, literature, music, poetry, theater and dance.
Thank you, Betsy!
Kelly
Lisa Pastille
04/22/2008 * 16:24:19
Well... that was my cry for the day! Wow, Betsy, what a story and how spiritually inspiring. I knew you had art in your background. Very beautifully written.
Yes, I, too, like so many others have dwelt in the state of art, whichever form that may take in my life, seeking its consoling embrace and basking in its infinite healing power. It's always been there thru good times and bad and somehow has ushered me through some of the toughest events that life can throw our way.
Your aunt is a testament to a spirit that is determined to explore the outer limits of her inner life in spite of her ailing body. Now that's a woman who's made the most of her life. Blessings to her!