An Interview with TOBI ZAUSNER: Extraordinary Painter, Psychologist, Writer

Tobi, you began making art at a very young age. Do you remember some of your first experiences? Your first paintings?

I began making art in earnest when I was about three and a half years old. I don’t remember the pieces of art I produced but what I do remember is the process, the thrill of focusing on something and watching it change before my eyes. Each piece of art was its own world that would emerge as I created it. This wonderful feeling has stayed with me today.

Often exceptional talent generates acclaim. What awards, prizes and other notable distinctions have you received for your art? Which are particularly special to you and why?

Like many people I have won prizes but I think the greatest prize is within. It is the feeling of accomplishment that comes with creating a work of art or writing an article on psychology that I believe communicates its message to others and comes up to a standard that gives me joy. We are all capable of doing something that brings us great satisfaction and this happiness with accomplishment is a prize available to everyone.

Over the years as an artist and then as a psychologist, you became interested in artists who continued to be creative despite difficult obstacles. In your book, When Walls Become Doorways: Creativity and the Transforming Illness, you profile many of these amazing artists. Can you talk about your personal impetus for writing this book and the value for everyone?

The impetus for writing When Walls Become Doorways was my personal experience with major illnesses that became turning points in my life. When I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1989 my doctor did not expect me to survive but I did and my life transformed. After this illness, in addition to being an artist I also became a psychologist. In the 1970’s I was sick for seven years as a result of being poisoned by an insecticide. Yet it was during this period that my mature style of painting emerged and I began to show my work professionally. Having had this happen to me, I became sensitive to the same dynamic in others. In When Walls Become Doorways I feature artists, who have vision problems, hearing loss, cancer, neurological illnesses, and disabling accidents among other conditions, yet all of these artists transformed their work and their lives. What is initially viewed as a tragedy can instead become an opportunity.

You became involved in psychology research in graduate school and then received a doctorate combining art and psychology. How did this happen and what are you investigating?

I actually believe I got a doctorate by accident because I had no concept of getting a PhD when I started graduate school. My intended goal was to get a Masters in art. Then I started taking classes in the psychology department and a whole new way of thinking became available. One course in particular on the psychology of art changed my life and defined my path by combining psychology and art. My work in psychology focuses on the creative process. I have investigated how creativity can be used as a tool for resilience, helping us to bounce back from difficulties, and now I am researching the altered states of consciousness that can occur during times of creativity. These states are not related to any drugs but occur as part of the rapture of creating something new.

To be dedicated as an artist and as a psychologist is very demanding life work. How do you balance that?

Art and psychology balance each other and in doing so they balance me. I have always had a very demanding life and work is the fire that runs through my veins. It is a life force and it is a road that I can never really predict no matter how hard I try. So in response I just keep going.

Now at 70, what are your expectations, visions, dreams?

I want to keep working. Artists die with their boots on and I also have no plans to retire as a psychologist. About expectations - we can expect what we want but what we most often receive is the unexpected and this unexpected result, this unplanned for harvest, this undreamt of situation is often greater, more interesting, more challenging and more transformational than having one’s previously intended plans and dreams come true. It is the dreams you didn’t realize you could dream that take you down paths you never imagined you would be able to travel.

 

 

Disclaimer: Tobi Zausner is my sister.

WHEN WALLS BECOME DOORWAYS....

Just when we’re sailing along in our lives, up pops a roadblock. So we experience frustration, mount the hurdle and resume the normalcy of our life. Yet, many people face roadblocks that are so enormous and life changing that it is only because of their compelling creative spirit that they go on.

My sister, Dr. Tobi Zausner, writes about creativity, artists, and inner strength in her book WHEN WALLS BECOME DOORWAYS ((http://astore.amazon.com/caringcrafts-20/detail/0307238083/104-6646567-9699112). Tobi says: “When we look at the influence of physical illness on creativity we often find that instead of stopping artists, physical difficulties transform them, enhancing both their life and their work.” Her book is based on years of research and from an experience with ovarian cancer in 1989. “I was not expected to last the year,” she says, “yet I survived and my life transformed for the better.”

In looking at the lives of other artists in her book, Tobi shows a similar pattern of illness and personal growth across cultures and throughout the centuries. All of these artists used their creativity to combat the effects of physical difficulties and made the world a better place because of their work. The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo became a painter after being severely injured in a traffic accident. A farm accident changed the life of the Native American Frank Day, who discovered his gift for painting while recovering in the hospital. It was dyslexia that influenced the Italian Leonardo da Vinci to be an artist and he became one of the greatest of all time. The American artist Dorothea Lange had polio in childhood, yet she turned her suffering into compassion for others and shows that caring and compassion in her photographs. After severe hepatitis, the Japanese artist Itchiku Kubota found a new way of working and is now one of the leading kimono painters in the world.

Even physical conditions that would seem to impede a career can turn out to be enhancements. The Dutch artist Rembrandt was color blind but used his great ability to see light and shade to give enormous power to his work. The African-American artist Henry Ossawa Turner became a painter after an illness in childhood and the Chinese-American artist Raymond Hu, who has Downs syndrome, does work that combines Eastern and Western techniques. The French artist Henri Matisse was a young lawyer until the long convalescence from an appendectomy turned him to painting as a way to past the time. Later at the age of seventy, his doctors thought he would die after an operation for intestinal cancer went very badly. Yet Matisse lived another thirteen years and did some of the best work of his life while sitting in a wheelchair. “Whether you can or not, you hold on” insists Matisse and “when you’re out of will power you call on stubbornness.” He believes that what we think is our weakness can turn out to be our greatest strength.

So how can we learn to create and embrace doorways when faced with what appears to be impenetrable walls in our lives? In researching biographies of artists for her book, Tobi found that they shared these qualities:
• Hardiness – the strength that helps us thrive despite obstacles,
• Resilience – ability to bounce back after difficulties and adapt to new circumstances,
• Self-efficacy – our belief that the things we do make a difference,
• Mastery – success in performing tasks or in the outcome of a situation,
• Perseverance – the determination to keep going,
• The ability to handle stress – and in a very long life there can be a great deal of stress,
• A focus on work and the urge to create,
• And they are all looking toward the future No matter how old they are, these artists insist their best work is still to come.

As Tobi says, “Everyone has the capacity to grow and change. It comes from the great well of inner strength that we possess and can access in times of need. We are all not only stronger than we think we are but stronger than we can even imagine.”