A Brain Experiencing Dementia

I watched a really fascinating short documentary recently about art therapy with dementia sufferers. I am training to become a clinical arts therapist and seeing how art works with various demographics is always really cool.

The Brain Suffering with Dementia.jpg

'A Brain Experiencing Dementia' 2017 original

This short quote is taken directly from the article and video: “Dementia is a terrible disorder,” says Associate Professor Olivier Piguet from Neuroscience Research Australia.

“There is a progressive loss of nerve cells and at the moment there is nothing to stop this process.

“If we look at the analogy of an orchestra, the frontal lobes being the conductor, your conductor is becoming less efficient. Part of the orchestra is starting to play different tunes.”

This analogy of a brain being affected by dementia really captured my imagination. 

Here, I have created the confused and nonsensical conductor (or the frontal lobe, which is the yellow part of the brain perched on his shower cap) who is sending his musicians (the rest of the brain) either to sleep or causing them to play awfully out of tune with each other. 

Dementia is a horrible disease to experience but this analogy gives us some basic understanding of what the brain is actually doing. And it's wonderful that art can put a pause on or alleviate some of the distress that this disease creates. 

Watch the full video here 

 

Click for poster print of this image 

The Point Of It All O'Clock

There's some writing I'm a big fan of. By a dude called Isaiah. So, according to the Christian Bible, the prophet Isaiah (who wrote these verses) lived and predicted things around 739–681 BC. 

Which is nothing unusual, except he's totally telling us details about the life of a person who doesn't exist for another good 600+  years. WHAT! When i first read these things I thought yeah, cool, he's telling us about Jesus, cool, another verse. (sometimes I find it hard to totally grasp the depth and context of every verse i read). BUT. IT HADN'T HAPPENED YET! Mind blowing.

So this drawing contains some metaphors and imagery coz it popped into my head after reading Isaiah. I'm proud of making this, so let me break it all down for you. 

To the left there are three leaves connected in one strange tree; these leaves represent God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Without these, nothing means anything in particular, and nothing would exist. So the tree has legs, because in God (as a Tree) we move and breathe and have our existence. Also, he's not fixed to any particular time in history, he runs through time with those tree-legs and meets us HERE (2017).

There is another tree there; this one is mighty and is cracking through the background. It has eyes; because I've drawn this tree to represent Isaiah the prophet and the future knowledge he had of Jesus. The eyes see back to the past, to his present time and the wisdom he imparted to his contemporaries, and the future, to Jesus and all the things he would fulfil. 

There is a clock that signifies only one time; the verse Isaiah 9:6-7 (all other numbers fall away, and time is irrelevant). This particular part of the drawing is what I believe everything is about. It's the point of me, the point of you, the reason for the existence of the world, and everything that ever was:

“Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (NIV version)”
“This is a different translation:

”For a child has been born—for us!
    the gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over
    the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
    Strong God,
Eternal Father,
    Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
    and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
He’ll rule from the historic David throne
    over that promised kingdom.
He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing
    and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living,
    beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
    will do all this.” MSG version”
Whatever you think about Jesus, whatever you think of the Bible, whether you think it's irrelevant today or just rubbish...

...Isn't it kind of rad that all these predictions came true (there are so many more- look it up). It just totally captures my attention and imagination; the intriguing mystery of how it all came together. 

 

 

Mural Making

Hey Friends!

I was commissioned recently to makeover the waiting room for Evolve Therapeutic Services in Logan. 

My design plan was an enchanted forest-y theme that would be suitable for young children as well as youth up to 18 years old. It also needed to suit both males and females.

I decided this theme would suit a range of ages, bring some colour into the waiting room and inspire the imagination. I had such a fun time doing this- I am not primarily a painter, so it challenged me and also thrilled me to see the progress. Singing along to the radio, trying to get minimal paint on my docs (didn't really work, they got painted), getting totally absorbed in colour and the process...I can't think of many other jobs that are more fun than that.

AND I'd love to take on more gigs like this that push me to learn and challenge myself. If you need a wall that needs brightening up, shoot me a message!