Artists of The Living Museum
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Pablo Picasso
JOHN TURSI –
“I have a book of artwork in my head. When I sit and work, I often just copy it out of my mind exactly the way they it appears in my head.“
DREW MULFALL –
“For years my illness kept me down. Since I’ve been brave enough to step away from realism and paint from the rapid slide show in my head, I’m free from the mazes. I believe I’ve just dipped my toe in the ocean. When I paint these images, I make them real. I can touch them. I make my dreams real. By making my dreams come true through art, I make my dreams come true.”
CHRISTINA CONSTANTINE –
“The joyful process of creating artwork has been a healing practice in anxious times, a surrender to peace in challenging times. Being immersed in the beauty of color is life-affirming and feels like the truth…As Dostoevsky writes ‘Beauty will save the world.’”
STEVE SPAGNOLI –
“Art has always been my refuge. I began it as therapy, and it became a narrative, it became a story. I wanted to convey the experience as much as possible, but I didn’t want to scare people away. The content of my work is ‘infused’ with ideas from my living with physical and emotional disability to create an abstract style that hides the pain in aesthetically pleasing images.”
JAMES KUSEL –
“At 16 I started hitting the trains. I was a troubled kid – almost always alone – and graffiti gave me something to live for at the time…and a sense of belonging. I was passionate about it. I wrote Aero.”
ALAN STURM –
“I recall the meaningful and impressionable moment when I saw others’ responses to my artwork for the first time at The Living Museum in New York, this was the beginning of art taking a central role in my life.”
FRANK BOCCIO –
“Really sticking with art-making and finding yourself through this process is an incredible journey and an opportunity.”
PAULA BROOKS –
“In the Living Museum I had a lot of time, so I decided to use big canvasses. I would do Disney characters, then I matured into Greek mythology types of figures, flowers, butterflies, gardens, full of vibrant colors. My work kept improving. People would come into my studio and say, ‘Oh wow, this is amazing! Keep it up.’ I put a lot of work into this, and it made me happy.”
DIANE MATERRESE –
“I am an artist and former singer. I got into too much trouble in the music business so I turned to art. I work in a modern style and some of my work is spiritual. I am self taught. Dr. Marton and The Living Museum encouraged and inspired my creativity, and today I am happy doing art. “
ISSA IBRAHIM –
“At my worst and most desperate I called out to God, and he came to me.
You don’t have to believe me.”
More Information
NYLA (PAULA) ISAAC –
SHANE BROWN –
ROB CHIN –
“I’m inspired by looking through past masters’ art books. When I see what’s possible – I can go on from there– to create images I want the world to see.”
BERNARD YOUNGBLOOD –
ERNIE CHOI –
JULIE MILLER –
“Creativity is contagious, pass it on”
-Albert Einstein