In March, we asked artists among United Spinal Association’s membership to send us samples of their work along with statements about what effect, if any, their spinal cord injury or disorder has had on their art. We think you will be as impressed as we were by the diversity of real talent among your fellow members on exhibit after the jump.
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Janice M. Peroni
Richland, New Jersey
I am an artist, photographer and illustrator. I use my environment throughout the seasons to work my creative concepts.
In painting I become an intricate part of my concept. My surroundings disappear, leaving me with colors that explode from the palette. Doing this helps me move through my idea as a viewer would. I enjoy the richness and joy of painting. I experiment with different mediums to continually practice my art.
I have been blessed with numerous awards and have art in collections throughout the United States. Featured highlights of my résumé include being selected to design the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation holiday greeting cards for 2002 and 2003. In 2005 an original watercolor was made into an Easter Seal stamp.
My objective is to express my feelings through unique subjects and scenes. I want my viewers to spark a special memory or go on a visual journey. Creativity is a gift from God and my gift in return is to share this with others.
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Helene Skora
Redford, Michigan
I have primary progressive MS and it has attacked my hands as well as my legs. I was a graphic designer and an art teacher. I used to work primarily in pen and ink but also enjoyed doing printmaking. Since this disease has greatly affected the use of my hands I now do all my creating on the computer using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I enjoy making personal cards for friends.
“Caged Flamingo” (left) is a work I made on the computer.
Michael Monaco
Lincoln, New Jersey
Michael Monaco, who became a quadriplegic in 1979 as a result of a car accident, learned to paint with his mouth several years later. Monaco says he always enjoyed art in school but never realized he had true artistic talent until after he became injured. He works for an international organization called Mouth and Foot Artist Association www.mfpausa.com. This company hires disabled artists and reproduces their work into stationery, greeting cards, calendars, etc. This is how Monaco, among several other artists worldwide, earns a living.
Monaco prefers to use vibrant hues to enhance the beauty in his paintings. He has also mastered the difficult tasks of shadowing, depth and shading which give his artwork a strong realistic appearance.
Nancy Alter
Ambler, Pennsylvania
Most of my art career, I have worked as a painter predominantly in large abstract acrylics on canvas. Recently retired, I now have time to explore other forms of expression. I began studying print making while continuing work in acrylic painting. I found the collagraph to be an exciting process and very different from that of painting. First being inspired by the found objects to build the plate, creating the collage composition for the plate, applying the color, and then the print’s birth! I found that my paintings fed into my prints and then my prints allowed me to propel to a new level of painting. I continue to work in parallel.
My recent work focuses on my road trips out West during which I was inspired by extended stays in our national parks. These works explore the earth’s astoundingly broad palette and ancient geological patterns. My recent work is dedicated to expressing these emerging and ever-changing colorful patterns in parallel works of acrylic on canvas and collagraph prints. Now diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), I continue to focus on nature but I am now thoroughly aware of biological patterns being repeated between the human form and the natural landscape. It has become a very intimate experience.
Bruce McGhie
East Haddam, Connecticut
I have always had a passion for making images, drawing since my early childhood. My life’s work consists of photographs reflecting several themes, plus drawings and watercolors. I am basically self-taught in the three mediums that I have worked in, but I have studied (when I had the time) at the Art Students League in New York and at Yale University. I have exhibited and sold pieces of my work.
As a retired consultant in financial public affairs, I now have more time to pursue my creative interests. I am also a writer, service-connected disabled veteran, I have been a C-7 quadriplegic for 52 years and have been a life member of Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) since the 1950’s, orginally attached to Eastern Paralyzed Veterans of America (EPVA) now United Spinal Association.
Watercolor: Tension on the Savannah
Jeanne Coppola
Cleveland, Ohio
I have an Associates of Arts Degree from Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, Ohio, where I studied graphic design. My lifelong dream was to be a graphic artist, so I returned to college at 50-something to take computer classes and learn to manipulate graphic images. My focus is to assemble a portfolio and start my own design company. Since my spine is affected by degeneration, causing stenosis in my cervical and lumbar regions and affecting my mobility, being able to work at home is a desire and a necessity.
Inner Wisdom is a computer-generated image resulting from an original scanned photograph of myself. I won a 1st Place Illustration award for this piece in a student-juried art show. The repeated patterns and multiple use of color reflect the many moods and emotions that everyone faces in their daily lives. I also tried to create an expression of the knowledge and understanding that is slowly gained throughout life, with the use of repeated patterns. These patterns represent how prayer and ritual reinforce our ideas and understanding and give us wisdom.
