Draw We Must 4: the saga of Mrs. Bobbie B

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graFXmachiniac's avatar
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4 March 2017
Mrs. Bobbie (Roberta) B is the oldest of my students.  I conduct "Learning to Draw (again)" sessions at Assisted Living facilities here in Portland, Bobbie attends every week without fail.
Bobbie was an accomplished artist (drawing and painting) until a few years ago when she suffered a stroke that resulted in not being able to use much of her right side, including her hand.  Bobbie was right handed, which meant the end of her doing art work:  a terrible fate.  As a consequence of her misfortune she became something of a recluse, rarely venturing out of her apartment and never attending any of the activities in her building (there's an activity of some sort scheduled 4 to 6 times a day).  When some of her friends saw my drawings and attended my first "class" session they prevailed upon Bobbie to attend -- and she's been in every session since day one.
Bobbie is now learning to use her left hand for drawing.  I have developed a series of practice exercises for novice artists, irrespective of age -- with some particular emphasis on people who share Bobbie's problem (approximately 400,000 people a year in the US suffer a stroke which paralyzes what had been their dominant hand).
The passion for drawing (art in a larger context) is very strong in humans, we seem compelled to want to make marks (decoration):  drawing, painting, make-up and tattoos on ourselves, etc.
The art which Bobbie now does is inspiring, perhaps not great art by the same criteria we use to select pieces for a gallery show or museum, but rather for her passion and evidence of the indomitable human spirit to create works of art.
© 2017 - 2024 graFXmachiniac
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Dee-Shadowhawk9973's avatar
This is truly an inspirational story!