The final selection of artwork is called “Escape.”
be executed without planned intent, and therefore a way for me to dream.
Although it is likely that a person with MS will have a bout of depression at some point during their illness, a recent study has shown that most individuals achieve a positive sense of self-worth that continues throughout life. Even so, serious clinical depression is real, and can be a side effect of some MS medications. Some studies have suggested that depression in MS might be directly related to damage within certain parts of the brain. Only a physician can assess serious (or clinical) depression and may recommend antidepressant medication and/or psychotherapy. If a person with MS also has a personal or family history of depression, they should consult with their physician about an appropriate treatment. Creating artwork as a form of self-hypnosis or psychotherapy may be an effective way of alleviating certain types of depressive symptoms, but should only be explored under the professional guidance of a trained therapist. Today, Brett tells us that he’s always trying to follow God’s plan for his life. He’s still exploring three ideas that have helped him manage his MS in a positive way since he was diagnosed in 1997—simply having faith, staying creative, and finding true companionship with friends and helper animals as the case may be.
Brett moved back to his childhood home in Allentown several years ago, and with the help of his family has converted his garage into his “Broken Art Studio” where he works with other local artists in town. “I’m blessed with a wonderful family and an exciting group of friends. With regard to seeing the CURE for MS, anything is possible!”
Visit Brett, Sophia & their friends at: http://www.BrokenArtGallery.com
If you would like to learn more about the National MS Society or Dr. Weber’s support classes on the healing art of creativity please contact BrokenArtGallery33@hotmail.com.
* Dr. Brett Curtis Weber, an artist and neuroscientist currently living in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a member of the National Arts Program and National Multiple Sclerosis Society. His work is shown in galleries internationally, and can be seen on Bro-kenArtGallery.com which hosts over 300 artists worldwide who support the fight against MS. Dr. Weber has also been a member of the board of directors of the Da Vinci Art Alliance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and works towards expanding the creative and healing potential of all human beings through art.
“We can escape the commonplace only by manipulating it, controlling it, thrusting it into our dreams, or surrendering it to the free play of our subjectivity.”
- Raoul Vaneigem (b. 1934- )
“One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one’s own ever-shifting desires.”
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
3) I understand the painting “Escape” as a conversation I continue to have with the unconscious part of myself through wakeful dreams--it is about finding an escape from the disease MS. Much like seeing the ocean and clouds from a hijacked airplane, “Escape” addresses the questions that I believe most people with MS ask themselves “How can I escape?” “Why is my body attacking itself?” “Does some part of me know the answer?” and “Can I regain control?” I named this painting “Escape” after a quotation by Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the renowned physicist and man of the 20th Century. In addition, each separate painting within the three paneled “Escape” carries it’s own name from left to right “Dreams,” “Report,” “Disease” each taken from a separate quotation by Julie Cameron, William Shakespeare, and Hilaire Belloc respectively.
Art can be stimulating to both eye and mind, and can provide us with an opportunity to heal ourselves and others. In a drawing Leonardo da Vinci executes a masterful diagram with an engineer’s precision of his legendary flying machine. Unfortunately, many people with MS lose their ability to do the very fine hand-eye coordination required in representational art and may stop doing art in frustration, but abstract art does not place as high a barrier to disabled people with limited hand-eye motor control and provides the same therapeutic benefits. Leonardo da Vinci once referred to art as being “the Queen of all sciences.” --a Queen who offers not simply an alternative approach to obtaining knowledge, but also a way of sharing that knowledge with the world. Although MS has affected my hands to some degree, I choose to do abstract art not because of my reduced dexterity, but because abstraction is the only style of art that can