blind art – A Value Creating Life

Healing Art

May 29, 2015 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

I have wondered if art has an effect on healing of minds, not just bodies. Yesterday, I went to an art show where six artists of different disciplines were placed in dementia care settings and looked at the different arts they produced- ranging from poetry to paintings. In one of the comments, the writer wondered whether the quality or the content of the art work was less important than the fact that it was being made at all. Was the art condescending in its presentation? David Clegg, artist and founder of the Trebus project, which documents the lives of dementia patients, says “I have been around a few care homes now and the level of individual care or therapy is horrendous – bingo or painting. I am not anti art therapy, but it’s a long time since I have seen anything that was accessible, enjoyable and relevant. There isn’t much fun in care homes.”

According to Karen Haller, a creative consultant, art per se, does not heal- it is the act of producing the art that heals. I agree. In my opinion, creation of the art is more important on the person doing it rather than on the viewer. David Clegg says, “I got a lot of very good responses from families who said they saw their relatives change before their eyes. One woman said she got her mum back for a while. I think what we’ve got reveals something really true and honest about the sad, funny, chaotic interior world of people with dementia and mental illness, which is a bit uncomfortable but I think really important. One of the disturbing and distinctive features of dementia is that people undergo personality changes – they are not the mums and dads that their children knew. One old lady developed a taste for Motörhead.”

At another event, I heard from Japanese artists who are working with the victims of the March 2011 Tsunami and the subsequent even more catastrophic nuclear disaster at Fukushima about how art is being used as form of expression of sorrow and participation. This made me think quite deeply about I had previously viewed art made by others- particularly those with less physical ability than others. Of course, there are savants, like Stephen Wiltshire, an artist who draws and paints detailed cityscapes, and is autistic. Coincidentally, I was sent a link today to a programme made by an architect who had explored a city (Portland in the USA) entirely through sounds. I wondered then if that was the way, the city sounds like to blind people, rather than sighted people who only view the city and never hear anything, especially with ears plugged to music or mobile phones. So in fact, people with mental or physical disabilities can teach us more about the physical environment than we care to know.

I reflected on how I ‘superior’ or complete I have felt in the past to people with less physical abilities than myself and consequently, learnt less about the world and about myself. It was certainly a humbling experience for me this week. I have learnt not only to respect others’ art and expression but also appreciate my own work and myself (something that I, in the past, had found difficult). This is holistic healing. The Trebus Project was named in honour of Edmund Trebus, a Polish war veteran, who filled his house with things thest of the world had decided were rubbish, convinced that in time a use would be found for them. Our minds with all their experiences, feelings and emotions are also a great storehouse for our art and consequently through those, we can heal ourselves- both mind and body.

my first art exhibition

May 15, 2015 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

This week, my first ever art show opened. It may have been something vaguely I wanted to do in life but I really hadn’t thought much about it, except that it was ‘impossible’. Then I heard an inspiring talk given by a blind artist ( see my previous post on Annie Fennymore) and realised how actually I ‘understood’ her and her techniques for painting. I got talking to the person who organised this show and suddenly she turned to me and said, ‘Why don’t you exhibit your work too? We have a three month vacant slot here.’ I was deeply reluctant at first. My reaction was- ‘what if people don’t like it? what if people laugh at the work? what if people don’t get it?’ etc etc.

I was full of fear. But having thought about how much I was going to regret not taking this opportunity, I said yes eventually. Then I also decided to paint new work and re-worked some of the originals. I realised I had changed- I had taken on fear and won. Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” You can always learn from mistakes, but what if you’ve actually never made a mistake (as if that is possible!)? Life is all about making mistakes, learning from them.

It was hard work but I thoroughly enjoyed painting again. I didn’t try to please anyone- just painted to please myself and thought about what I would like looking at. Having now done this, I am in a daze- people have written so many kind words about my work. One said, “I have just been to have a look and the art looks amazing. You are very talented!”

Many people helped out, working on Saturday at 8-00 am working solidly for four hours to hang the pictures- none of them got paid to do this (although I certainly will send something to them). Someone who helped out with the hanging commented,”Just to let you all know that the pictures are all hung safely and, personally, think the corridor looks great…..several people have already admired them…..”

What can I say, I am speechless with gratitude! If my art moves and inspires people, even though technically it might not be amazing- it is perfect for me and them. It is my gift to the world. By taking on fear and leaving aside regrets, we can only become more creative and live true to our hearts. It doesn’t matter if I get any more compliments or not, or even if I get some nasty comments- I have won! So if you still thinking about something that you have never done, go for it now!

PS-writing this blog for the last three years also helped me to overcome my fears!

Re-working the old

April 25, 2015 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

Sometimes, when you look at something you’ve created and it appears perfectly fine and then later, other things happen to come along that say the work needs something more- that is alright! During my recent visit to look after my sick and elderly parents, I found many newspapers that reading now, suggested something darker was happening then- things that would be unacceptable now. So upon return, I decided to use those historical references to my painting of the city of Jaisalmer in North India which I had made in January 2009. I decided it was perfectly fine to revisit memories and through my art, to be exorcised of that past. Although upon first glance the painting glitters and there are flags reminiscent of festivities and brightness, but when one looks carefully at the newspaper cuttings, darker images emerge out of the surface.

Here is a reminder of the painting looked like for almost five years before-

I know I can’t take it back to where it was and now it reads differently, so I have to accept it is now where I am. Art is an expression of one’s life and one can’t be too precious about it. This work is also a representation of my eye problems because now my art has to be more tactile and contrasting. Have you done something like this?

Painting from memory

April 11, 2015 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

I have been away for nearly a month to see my family- my parents are both disabled and my father is blind. Apart from the time spent in sorting out their problems, I have had time to reflect on my work, my art and what I had forgotten. I found many things from my childhood, including diaries. Since a young age, I have been collecting stuff- all sort of things but mainly magazine or newspaper cuttings. As a child, I used to love pasting these and making sense of the what the drawing looked like, i.e. I didn’t start with an agenda but waited to see what would happen (Louis Kahn, the architect apparently used to ask the brick what the brick wanted to be). Somehow I had forgotten this childish habit which I had naturally long before I had heard of Louis Kahn or any artist. Then I saw the work of Jasper Johns as a 12 year old- it left an indelible impression on me. Again, I forgot about him and the electrifying effect that his work had on me.

Sorting out the stuff at my parent’s house, brought back all these memories and inspirations of my childhood that I had pushed aside. Upon return, I have started painting again and what a joy it is! Due to my own eye problems, I realised I painted in a certain way. While I spend a lot of time thinking about the work and composing it (without too much thought towards what it might become), once I have decided, I paint quickly and deliberately. I may come back sometimes to a painting and put on some little touches but most of the time, not. I like to paint on found materials- card, masonite board, old pictures that people have put out as trash. I like layering different materials- paper, tape and objects; and laying on thick paint with textures, so that the surface is very tactile as well as vibrant. This particular painting is about events of 1984. Again, I did not start it that way, I stuck some tickets, paper and magazine cuttings, a map and other stuff I found and then I realised I had created a story about 1984. Someone saw it and remarked they liked it, even though I did not tell them what the painting was about. I think art does not need to be explained too much- the viewer has to find an empathy and meaning in it themselves otherwise it does not connect. Thank you, Jasper Johns and Louis Kahn!

acceptance and art

February 5, 2015 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

I was very fortunate yesterday to hear Annie Fennymore speaking about her process of creating art. Annie gradually went blind as a young woman until she lost her sight completely in her forties. At the age of 49, she lost her grand daughter which turned to be the last straw but also proved to be the start of her career as an artist. Her husband gave her some quick drying DIY putty and using the long ‘ropes’ made with putty, she created her first painting which she is holding in the above photograph. This painting of a cottage is very simple, almost childlike-but for her this was a huge step forward. In the years following, she developed her style to a mature style of abstract colourful paintings that she says reveal her passion and love for life. She has exhibited all over the UK and has won awards including a commendation for Helen Keeler International awards. A selection of her works are exhibited at the moment at the Moorfields eye hospital in London where I am am outpatient too, with my eye problems. Do go and visit if you can.

Initially Annie depended on her memory for colours and shapes. Today she uses a number of electronic aids (colour identifiers) for the blind all of which have the software that converts all text into speech. These gadgets enable her to label her tubes of paint using a system which tells her the colour of the paint or the surface. She uses her finger tips to ‘paint’ on her colours after realising the painting in her head. Using ‘glue tack’ she outlines her painting just as someone would use a pencil and then she colours it in. Annie jokes that her adorable guide dog, Amber, often emerges out of her studios covered in paint! The drawing on the right is of Amber. Annie uses putty, PVA, paper and even toilet paper to create textures on her paintings. The painting on the left was made on driftwood.

I have written about ‘blind art’ before but Annie made me realise something very deep about being an artist. She said that she accepted her situation, she did not fight it. Instead she funnelled that energy into creativity. Now, I have spent a lot of my life fighting for things, fighting on behalf of other people. As I grow older and with increasing ill health, I see that sadly that energy could have been spent creatively instead. However, it is never too late to learn. Today, with great humbleness, I accept many of the situations I find myself and have decided to move on, concentrating instead on revealing my creativity and following my heart. Thank you, Annie!

http://www.blindalleyart.co.uk/index.html