Meet New Artist Shana Stern | Artist with MS Selling Artwork Across the Country
Artist Statement below by ArtLifting artist Shana Stern
“Bent over canvas, covered in paint, I feel no pain or worries. I still get to tell stories — using paint, I still dance — using my fingers.”
“I used to be a writer, but after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1999, my whole life and body drastically changed. Now my eyes and hands don’t work the way I want them to. I have days I can barely read.
I used to be a dancer, but now my foot won’t let me carry out the movements I see in my head.
After my second ankle surgery in one year, I found myself stuck home, not able to do much at all. I felt isolated, defeated and purposeless. But the creative urge became overwhelming. I tried my hand at painting, but being unable to hold the brush only led to teary bouts of frustration. Then one day, I sat on the floor, balanced the canvas on my toes, and created my own, unique way of painting — using my fingers and knuckles — on top of the canvas, but also from underneath.
A technique no one else does.
I do not use any brushes or other instruments on my paintings once the paint hits the canvas.
Always having been strongly moved and controlled by music, I see entire choreographed, costumed and lit dances when a song attaches itself in my head. I then listen to nothing but that one song for weeks, from the mixing of the paints until the final application of varnish. I listen only to that song and the result of this seems to bring out a visceral fluidity of emotion of each piece.
Attempting to control the uncontrollable, and to make something beautiful out of the chaos which ensues when I paint with my hands, is my way of fighting back against the daily uncontrollable issues I have with my health.
Each painting is named after the song which inspired it. I encourage you to listen to the songs as you take a second and third look at each one to see if they stir in you the same emotions — the loss, the unpredictability and the beauty of life in each one that I feel.
When I am sitting on the floor, bent over a painting, covered in paint and creating unusual and unexpected textures and otherworldly effects, I get tremendous joy from creating paintings which seem to shift and move. Through my art, I can now tell stories with paint; I can once again dance with my hands.
I love how art is like a universally understood language, much like math is. One you don’t need to learn in order to understand and appreciate it. You can plop a painting/drawing/sculpture in front of anyone, from any country in the world, and it will trigger emotions and thoughts in them all. No one will feel exactly the same way as any other human being does about a piece of art. It may trigger happiness, anger, a sense of peace or awe or even a feeling of boredom. But it will trigger something — which to me, is very powerful. And everyone gets to decide for themselves what they find beautiful or attractive — there’s no “standard of beauty” when it comes to art. There’s only what each individual experiences from looking at a piece of art.
ArtLifting offers a way for people struggling with disabilities and homelessness to feel valuable again, to feel appreciated and by creating new opportunities, we are then able to live better & more fulfilling lives. ArtLifting is creating perception shifts and awareness of people struggling with these issues, humanizing us. The value of which can not be emphasized enough in my humble opinion. Who wouldn’t want to become a part of something like that?!”
Shana Stern’s current collection with ArtLifting may be found here.
