For this event, Joyce spoke about the challenges of being an artist when one has a physical disability, especially in the artist’s older age. She mentioned for example, that one could make adaptations such as using a thicker paintbrush if one needed it. Or, if an artist had Parkinson’s disease and their hands shook, they could create completely different art, and it would come out abstract, instead of how it usually did.
Joyce also spoke about many different artists with physical disabilities and how they were still able to make art.
Lee Krasner
Lee had a brain hemorrhage in 1962, and later arthritis. She used the working fingers on her right hand to guide her left hand so she could still paint. She also made collages of her already-made paintings and drawings. She was an “action painter,” meaning she used her entire body when she painted; she even figured out how to do this in her later years.
Edgar Degas
Degas was an impressionist painter who had visual impairments. A lot of his subjects were about sight. Artist Mary Cassatt also suffered visual impairment.
Frida Kahlo
Kahlo had a bus accident at the age of 18 and as a result, needed a metal rod in her spine. She painted many self-portraits from her bed. This period in her life is actually when she realized her talent and love for art.
Claude Monet
Monet was an impressionist who painted light and color. He painted the same objects in different light on purpose. He then loses his ability to see color and light because of cataracts. The surgery was very new at the time, so he was afraid to have it done, but later he did have it done in one eye. Before the surgery, the paintings came out more abstract and darker. He also suffered from depression as a result of losing his son and second wife. After the surgery, Monet painted the famous water lilies in his later years.
Chuck Close
Chuck Close was famous for creating faces that look realistic from far away. He had an aneurism in his spine and lost mobility of most of his body. Also, from boyhood, he couldn’t recognize faces.
Matthew Raynor
Raynor suffered a horrific diving accident that left him as a quadriplegic and paralyzed from the chest down. He couldn’t move 85% of his body, was in the hospital for 3 months, had to move back in with his mother in his 20s and needed her help to pretty much do everything. After he recovered, he discovered an old hobby – photography – and figured out how to do it with a drone, which gave his life direction and purpose again. You can visit him at www.matthewraynor.com.
Joyce told us about a movie called Imber’s Left Hand, about an artist named Jon Imber who had ALS and had to learn how to paint with his left hand.
I am looking forward to attending next week’s art talk!
Michelle’s Bookish Life 