When, in our March issue, we asked readers of Action to send us their art, I had no idea what sort of response we would get. I certainly did not expect our invitation to elicit the amazing variety and quality of artwork we did receive. I am very grateful that the six individuals you will find represented in our gallery acted on our request. They have each, in their own unique way, elevated the visual and spiritual quality of this issue.
What interests me most about our artists’ submissions was the thoughtfulness of the statements that accompanied them. Art is self-expression, and what that means for people with disabilities is that feelings and ideas about disability very often come alive under the brush-or in whatever medium an artist of the 21st century employs. The most common theme among them seems to me to be freedom. Some, like foot and mouth painter Michael Monaco explode brilliant colors across their canvases; some, like Harriet Sanderson, turn the accoutrements of disability literally upside-down to find in them a beauty that tends to go unnoticed. Others use symbols, like Helene Skora’s whimsical uncaged flamingo. And these themes also reverberate in other arts like dance and music, as other stories in this issue demonstrate.
I hope the artist in you will be set free by this issue. And let me remind the children among our readers that United Spinal invites you to express yourself with our own flamingo Wade, mascot of the North American Spinal Cord Injury Conference and Disability Expo. Prizes will be awarded to young artists in three age groups, and a grand prize winner will receive, in addition to a goodie basket of fun stuff, three free nights at any Microtel Inn in the country. For details, visit www.unitedspinal.org/images/wade_contest_action.jpg.
Christofer D. Pierson
Managing Editor
