Creating Art as a Healing Modality

In this article you’ll meet extraordinary artists who have faced enormously difficult challenges. As you will see, their remarkable art, lives and statements provide hope, comfort, and inspiration for us. We can learn from them how to also prevail and thrive through the healing power of art and having the right attitude.

“The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS” is an initiative of Manhattan Arts International, based in NYC, NY. We believe art has the power to heal, inspire, provoke, challenge and offer hope. We raise awareness about how art is a positive catalyst for enhancing the well-being of individuals, society and the environment. We accomplish our goals through an inspirational online art gallery, articles and online art exhibitions.

Some of the artists shown here were featured in our “Spirit of Resilience” exhibition in 2022 and we expect to add more artists.

Tommy B. McDonell

Tommy shared this statement: “MS began at 43 and MS took over me at 63. Pain was tolerable but not my cognitive decline. Painting with alcohol inks, mixed media, encaustics helped me cope. I learned not only the values of light and dark but also the value of my art. I am a piece of abstract art; I have become myself.”

She adds, “Moving from NYC to NC was (and is) difficult for me. My life has greatly changed due to my MS, which now affects how I think and how I process information. Art has given me a way to be almost who I was in NYC: excited, verbal, with many, oh so many, viewpoints!”

The multi-talented artist exudes, “I have never met an art medium that I didn’t want to try. I’ve worked in watercolors, alcohol inks, acrylics, oils, encaustics, pastels and more. It wasn’t until I began to combine them with mediums such as tar gel, or glass beads that I really developed my own style.”

Tommy also donates her artwork to many groups including: Neuse River Golden Retriever Rescue, A Stroke of Patriotism, and others.

Visit Tommy McDonell’s website leap4artnyc.com

Andrea Pascual

Transcendence, pastel on paper, 20” x 16”

Andrea is skilled in several mediums which include oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, inks, collage and mixed media. Andrea shared this statement about “Transcendence”: “This soaring figure represents the enduring spirit of survival after a terrible tragedy. I created this pastel during a difficult personal experience and the kindred spirit and sentiments we shared.”

When asked for more information about how she has dealt with resilience in her life the artist shared this poignant statement, “We met in an art class and became inseparable soon thereafter. He died suddenly in my arms four years later. My spirit withered, and my heart soured. I continued in the same life drawing class for several more years, struggling to find my way out of grief. My art began to evolve. I reached into my models and their shared sensibilities. When storms formed and tears fell, I cried as well. When stars shone and smiles appeared, I brightened. As the pain subsided, my drawings became alive and able to feel, smell and hear the spirit of the forms. Lights mixed with darks, and vibrant colors returned. I was once again vulnerable to the vagaries of life. This openness is the sustenance of creative experience.”

Visit Andrea Pascual’s website andreapascual.com

Cyndy Baran

Tangled Up in Blue, acrylic on cradled board 30″ x 40″

Cyndy Baran’s “Tangled Up in Blue” was included in “The Spirit of Resilience” exhibition for her outstanding abstract works of art. Then we learned that Cyndy was nearly killed in a horrendous car accident that took the lives of two young men. She explains, “If it weren’t for that one little inch between me and the out-of-control city bus careening towards my car, I would have been trapped in that tangled pile of metal under the belly of the bus.”

When Cyndy submitted her entries to “The Spirit of Resilience” exhibition she wrote: “I had a successful career as a business professional, but after a near death experience, I decided to leave my day job and pursue my passion.” This major life-changing event led Cyndy to leave her 25+ year business career. “I began my studies at Watkins College of Art & Design in Nashville TN, graduating with an AFA in 2002. I’ve been making art ever since.”

She tells us, “I believe the body intuitively knows what it needs. If you listen to that voice, it will take you where you need to be; for me, it is making Art.” About her artistic process she adds, “By creating calm among the chaos of life, I am able to hear my own voice, and thus, have empathy for the voices of those around me.”

Visit Cyndy Baran’s website cyndybaranstudio.com

Dr. Shanali Perera

Dr. Shanali Perera is a digital artist from the U.K. who expressed her interest in sharing her story with The Healing Power of ART community.

She states, “I am based in Manchester, UK and currently a patient under the care of Rheumatology services at the Manchester Royal infirmary. I use digital applications for artwork to cope with pain, illness experience and adjust to living with vasculitis, a long-term illness. Prior to ill health retirement, I was a Rheumatology specialist trainee doctor and this has indeed been a transformative experience both personally and professionally.”

Through her digital art, she aims “to engage interest and generate wider awareness on the use of creative expression as a tool to face some of the functional limitations and challenges imposed by chronic illnesses by sharing my personal experience with creativity and digital art as both a medic and a patient. I am keen to tell others of my experiences as they might benefit from incorporating art or similar ways into their own healing.”

She adds, “People with certain disorders not only have to deal with the general disability of the chronic illness, but also the physical limitation of expressing the “art” that is in their mind.”

You can read her complete article she wrote on our website: “My Experience With Digital Art in Pain and Illness Management”.

Visit her website shanaliperera.wixsite.com/digitalart

More to Read

Creating Art From A Bed: Corrina Thurston is a professional wildlife artist specializing in detailed, vibrant colored pencil drawings. In this inspirational article she shares her story about how drawing helped her gain a new perspective on life. After becoming chronically ill and having to medically withdraw from college she taught herself how to draw from her bed.

Read the article on our website: Corrina Thurston Transforms Her Life Through Drawing

Visit our online gallery of artist members