An Interview with TIM LEFENS: Painter, Art Activist

Tim Lefens has opened a new world for the severely physically challenged. As Founder and Executive Director of A.R.T.(Artistic Realization Technologies), he has pioneered new ways for this population to express themselves creatively through art. He has cognitively freed them and watched their self-esteem and sense of purpose blossom.  Tim’s own book, Flying Colors, is a testament to the power of his work. At 57, Tim has been blind for years but his passion and dedication to the A.R.T. mission remains at full throttle.

I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to talk with him.

Before you started A.R.T, you were actively involved in your own art as a painter. Did you have formal education and/or training in Art? Can you talk about your art now?

Yes, I went to art school and had a long string of great mentors including artists Roy Lichtenstein and Walter Darby Bannard as well as the renowned art critic Clement Greenberg . These were professionals who adopted me and helped tune in my understanding of art.

I won the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award for Painting and continue to paint. My shows have been in the New York Brooke Alexander and Farah Damji galleries as well as in New Jersey galleries. Current work can be seen on my website.

I’ve almost always been close to monochrome even when I had 20/20 vision. Also I have never really been into color but more focused on drawing and tactility. By just using your hands and imagination, you can feel the shape of the painting and know where you’re placing the built up paint. When it comes time to add color, I simply talk to someone to get the color I want.

What areas of the creative process does A.R.T. address? How are the components designed?

There is Painting, Sculpture, Music Composition, and Photography. The A.R.T. artists are in wheelchairs; often quadriplegic with limited speech so they need mechanisms that can adjust to them. In the painting program, they will wear headbands with a laser in the front. They direct the laser to a wall area where they can then select the brush size and color paint and a "tracker", (an able bodied assistant) facilitates their choice on the canvas at their direction which is again laser driven. In this way, painting is the least technical area because it only uses a laser; it’s a core basic program and the not expensive. The Music program works with our light actuated synthesizer with light sensitive diodes and costs thousands of dollars.

By interacting directly with an A.R.T. artist, I get ideas of how things should be done technically; for example, how the sculpture should move, how they can select the music notes. And I think about how that can be done with power. I have been fortunate to find engineers who have offered their services at very modest fees and have been able to develop the device. There are no patents for these devices; there are only prototypes and they have never been replicated.

Your A.R.T program involves recruiting physically challenged people to participate in the creative process, seeking financial sponsorships, and harnessing technology. Where are the greatest challenges?

After about 17 years of being on the road, our biggest challenge is in the perception of the able bodied. We manage to get some funding to keep going and have solved the problems of the population we are serving. However our challenge is not the quadriplegic non-verbal people; the challenge is how they are seen by the able bodied. So we are always working on this. If the physically challenged are thought of as incapable, then they are treated as incapable and there is no way out.

Who are your funders?
My funders include
the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which gave us both their Community Health Leadership and President's awards
The Kessler Foundation
The New York Community Trust
Johnson and Johnson
Morgan Stanley
Verizon
Princeton University
The Llura Gund Foundation and
The National Endowment for the Arts


Your book, Flying Colors, talks about your personal and professional journey with A.R.T. It's quite extraordinary.

I was fortunate to have success with it; the book has now been translated in Chinese.

The A.R.T. program is now running in multiple locations around the country. Can you talk about that?

There are about 27 fully functional satellites including the UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Once we saw the breakthrough in 1994 and how easy it works and profoundly effective; we had a goal to be global. Our first trip was to California and then we went to New Mexico, Florida, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio. We will go anywhere we can. Some of these states have multiple sites. For example, in Florida, we have 7 sites, in Pennsylvania there are 2, Ohio has 1; each state is different.
We want the people running the sites to bond with us so we can provide guidance. Those who have realized that benefit have succeeded big time especially since talking to us does not cost them.

The sites sell paintings to help fund their programs but they also need grants. For exhibitions, I urge them to aim high; to have a show in a museum rather than a café. Art shows tend to move people who have the capacity to fund and successful examples are Little Rock, Arkansas and Jacksonville Florida which are selling hundreds of paintings. At both sites, we are in touch weekly.

For new sites, they find us or we find them. Then we assess their situation; they need a minimum of 5 people to launch the A.R.T. program. After months of pre education, once they’re ready we fly out. Then after we do the workshops on site, it is not unusual to hear the staff sobbing and leaving the room because they have been working with these people forever and now all of a sudden they’re alive. It’s very intense.

In A.R.T. exhibitions, some artists sell their work for substantial sums of money. How are they priced and do you court collectors

Pricing is tricky and basically it is what the market will bear. A high selling mark is about $2400. Our collectors include a former governor and other serious buyers. One collector, a marine supply company, has purchased over 70 paintings from our Jacksonville site to fill offices at corporate headquarters. Then once they were filled, they started shipping art pieces to their sister headquarters in the Netherlands. Now they are moving to Houston so we hope to open that market.


You have suffered with a vision problem and are now totally blind. This must be an extraordinary challenge for you to manage your work. How long had it been progressing and how do you manage A.R.T?

They don’t really know what the condition is but have labeled it retinitis pigmentosa. I was diagnosed in 1988 and had no visual aids. However, the miracle was the talking computer because I wrote the entire Flying Colors book without a computer screen. Window Eyes was the software I used to write; it was very fast and the editor did not change one word.

I do not accommodate or embrace my condition. I do not deny that I am blind but I do deny its presence. I also work in an absorption mode which is when you have something so fascinating in your life that it displaces thoughts of having a disability. So my approach is a unique combination of denial and absorption.

In a perfect world, what would you imagine for A.R.T ?

That A.R.T will be universally accepted and embraced. That we give the population that we work with and love not only respect, joy and freedom but it also wake up the able bodied. Everyone would realize that you cannot judge a person from the outside. Period.

To contact Tim and/or donate, please click here

THREE CREATIVE OCTOGENARIANS MAKE FASHION HISTORY

Hot pants. Bell bottoms. Mini skirts. Long skirts. Hand knits. Flat knits. Real fur. Faux fur. The fashion world is always changing. It starts with runway models strutting down the walk with very expensive clothes cut for their very thin bodies. It is fashion as art, not fashion as wearables for the masses. Still there is a trickle down factor when these pieces are economically replicated or “knocked off” (as the garment trade refers to them) and sold in a range of sizes to women eagerly waiting for their inner fashionista to be sated.

But there is also a writhing pulse of extraordinary fashion right on the street. New York City streets, that is. Bill Cunningham built his career capturing the wild and wonderful, the sublime and the ridiculous; people in their everyday lives wearing the extraordinary. His blue eyes are trained to spot the exceptional and he quickly shoots the photos that are later posted in the Style section of the New York Times. At 82 years old, he weaves his way in and out of traffic, bicycling around Manhattan to galas, events, fashion shows and parties. However he is notably positioned at the corner of 57th Street and 5th Avenue watching and snapping candid yet legendary photos that are visual statements of both fashion bravado and wearable art. “It isn’t what I think, it’s what I see,” Mr. Cunningham says.“I let the street speak to me. You’ve got to stay on the street and let the street tell you what it is.”

Just released, Bill Cunningham New York is a brilliant 88 minute documentary that captures the essence of Bill’s stunning and singular career. Directed by Richard Press, it is a unique gift to those who wish to relish the success of eccentricity and talent.

It takes a combination of artful passion and courage to create fashion as a visual expression without attention to the buying audience. Fashion companies approach it in reverse. But Roberto Capucci is a brilliant and talented renegade and, at age 82, he has sustained his vision his way to achieve enormous success.

The first US compilation of his work featuring over 80 pieces as well as drawings is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and titled Roberto Capucci: Art Into Fashion. Capucci synergizes fabric, form, color and texture to sculpt the body silhouette. With an artist’s vision and an architect’s mind, he folds, layers and pleats fabric to create magical unforgettable dress forms. In fact, a woman choosing to purchase a piece from his collection (there is no duplication or alterations), must fit into it and realize that, when worn, she is a secondary element to her three dimensional fabric art The movement generated by wearing a Capucci enhances its allure in space; all rotations spin different views as it gracefully moves and turns with the wearer. Although he also designs daywear as well as accessories such as shoes and perfume, it was his museum quality costumes that have won him the Medal of Gold of Venice at age 26 and led to designing one-of-a-kind dresses for the most influential and affluent Europeans as well as American movie stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Gloria Swanson. "Having been a student of fine arts I perhaps ended up in fashion by mistake," says Capucci. "My dresses belong more to the art world than the world of fashion, but this has been my destiny."

Sometimes we can change our destiny. Judith Leiber was living in Nazi occupied Budapest and instead of being exterminated because she was Jewish, she became a survivor by escaping with her family to Switzerland.

Right after the war, she met and married an American soldier, Gerson Leiber, and they moved to the United States in 1948. After working for various handbag companies, she started her own business in 1963 with Gerson’s help. Now her spectacular handbags are one of the most sought after luxury brands and an elite status symbol owned by royalty, celebrities and First Ladies. Beverly Sills, the opera singer, was known to have a collection of almost 200 of Leiber purses. All of these artful handbags are meticulously crafted and beautifully styled. Leiber is well known for her minaudieres, which are usually covered in crystals and some with an animal theme can cost in excess of $5000. Recognized for her iconic work with numerous awards, she remarks “I was the first woman to receive a Coty Award, and it was the first time it had been given to anyone for a handbag.” Her unique purse designs are on permanent display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. And in their own Leiber Collection Museum in East Hampton, established in 2005, which showcases hundreds of her handbags in addition to her husband’s art and their unique collection of Chinese porcelains.

In 1993, Judith sold her business to a London based company. She says “Half the success of a business is luck, and the other half is talent, and I managed to put that together, so we were very fortunate.” Now at age 89, she owns about 900 of her own bags although she created approximately 3500 different styles and says “We would love to have them all”.

All three of these talented octogenarians have sustained a long career in making fashion interesting and important. Their legacy lies in their devotion to their art form, their approach to making their work accessible and their vision that propels them forward so fashion history can be captured again and again.

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.

Coco Chanel

HAPPINESS, CREATIVITY AND THE OLDER ADULT

Happiness is big business. Hundreds of thousands of books in print, billions of dollars spent in pills and psychotherapy visits, and yet it remains temporary and for some elusive. Mental health is based on responding appropriately to experiences and, with life’s ups and downs, no sane person can be happy one hundred percent of the time. So we fluctuate. We are happy, and then we are unhappy and then find happiness again. We desire euphoria even though it does not have the stability of an inanimate object or the permanence of a tattoo.

Happiness research provides surprising data. Harvard Psychologist Dan Gilbert says a year after a person wins the lottery and a year after a person becomes paraplegic and loses functions of his/her legs, their happiness quota is the same. Remarkable. He says research has shown that most traumatic events longer than 3 months past will lose their impact and duration with a person. Gilbert theorizes that it is our being able to synthesize happiness and that we adjust to create happiness. For example, in his article, Aging Artists on the Creativity of Their Old Age, Dr. Martin Lindauer quotes a female artist in her 60s: “I can no longer make very large projects, but making things can be rewarding also. My energy has diminished somewhat, and a lot of time has been lost recovering from surgery, but I have never stopped working. I have a compulsion to make things of my own design. I am fortunate in that my mind seems to be in tact.” This woman uses her positive attitude consistently by recognizing the problem, creating positive acceptance (synthesizing happiness) and moving forward with gratitude. It also exemplifies her flexible and resilient approach to living.

So we have opportunity to be happy through a genuine experience (eg. winning the lottery) or a synthetically adjusted experience. However happiness comes to you, numerous studies have shown that those who profess to be happy tend to be optimistic, unencumbered by failure or the unknown, more social and experience greater control of their lives. When you are feeling good, life is easier and more fun; the sun is always shining. It’s easier to tackle projects and anticipate success because failure and fear are not on your dashboard. To explore and discover, to socialize with others, and to be the positive rudder in your life, is empowering and enabling. We view life through a different lens.

Psychologist Adam Anderson’s studies have shown the value of being happy in our approach to processing information around us "With positive mood, you actually get more access to things you would normally ignore," he says. "Instead of looking through a porthole, you have a landscape or panoramic view of the world."

This is excellent fodder for creativity which requires unique thinking to incorporate sometimes disparate elements for an optimal solution. When you are feeling upbeat you can embrace your world, respond positively to elements and are therefore more open and flexible to integrating them. The creative experience provides challenge as well as satisfaction and often a sense of exhilaration. You are the owner, the maker, the problem solver.

Susanne Matthiesen, M.B.A writes about Virginia Hall, an older artist who responds to Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice: "Do something every day that scares you." : A professional artist since her retirement, Hall continues to find exhilaration in the "scary" places of art. "I don't know of a better way to achieve a scary moment than to engage the creative process," she says.

Hall compares life to her artwork metaphysically. "It's somewhat of an illusion to think that you're making something. Oh, yes, you can paint a canvas or form a piece of clay. Ultimately, you're seeking a discovery," she says. "The point isn't the experience itself, but how it affects your sense of well-being and self-expression. Look within and around yourself."

Creativity is an integral part of aging well; it facilitates wellness through enhanced self esteem and socialization. Amy Gorman, author of Aging Artfully has profiled artists from 85 years to 107 years old and says “The women artists demonstrate for Boomers and the rest of us, that there are ways to promote healthy aging through a positive attitude.”

A positive attitude and a happy disposition are important in responding to the inherent hurdles of healthy aging. It is an active tool to combat everyday stress that can lead to depression and illness. Instead of seeing problems, contented people often perceive them as challenges to approach and overcome. Creativity is a tool that can fuel happiness and ward off depression. A study co-sponsored by George Washington University and the National Endowments for the Arts found that adults aged 65 and over who were continuously participating in arts programs were documented to have fewer doctors’ visits, require less medication and were less apt to be depressed.

We cannot simply turn on and off the happiness switch inside ourselves but we can strive to find happiness in our lives as much as possible. It feels great, promotes our creative thinking and benefits our health. The old adage “Don’t worry, be happy” is a great mantra for us all.

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This article was originally published in the November-December 2010 issue of Aging Today, the bimonthly newspaper of the American Society on Aging, San Francisco, Calif.

Artful Movement

What is solitary but not creative has health benefits but not fun benefits? The answer: exercise. Although it’s important to our health and many people have developed great walking, jogging, or gym routines, it is not an expressive outlet. But what if there were alternative exercise approaches that were captured with imagination? What if it engaged you intellectually and creatively?

Conductorcise is a “workout for the mind, body and soul”. For decades, Maestro David Dworkin, now in his 70s, led orchestras here and abroad and also taught hundreds of gifted young people. Realizing that after conducting he was sweating from the intensity of his movements, Dworkin developed an opportunity for seniors to have a similar experience. Participants in his Conductorcise programs enhance their listening skills, learn about composers and are taught how to use a baton. And when the music plays, Dworkin begins. He guides them to actively orchestrate with arms and batons whipping the air, torsos twisting, legs bending and sweat pouring. The exercise is exhilarating; an intellectual process played with a physical presence.

If you prefer to think and interact, you can do so with the performers of Second Circle Improv Players a group which artfully use their bodies to spontaneously portray issues and actions with words and physicality while utilizing their repertoire of improv games. They are a diverse, intergenerational group that explores social issues and breaks down stereotypes as they demonstrate “a unique blend of interactive role-play and improvisational theater techniques”. A particularly physical game, for example, is Machines. When an audience suggests a machine, such as a washing machine, it’s played out on stage. An actor starts with a sound and motion, and other actors progressively join to physically layer themselves coordinating their movements and sounds to create a total machine in motion. It’s mesmerizing. Audience participation is an integral part of the experience to engage the performers to portray topics such as retirement, positive aging, conflict resolution, cultural diversity, communication, and more. In fact, the group encourages members in the audience to join in some games and share ideas.

Creative movement can also be a response to a unique experience. Community Access to the Arts (CATA) is an organization that is dedicated to “nurture and celebrate the creativity of people with disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts”. Ann Mintz was the Director of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts when she partnered with CATA to provide a series of workshops for CATA participants that used exhibitions in the museum as the basis for programs. One such event centered around kinetic sculpture by MIT artist-in-residence Arthur Ganson. Their response was unique and extraordinary. Ann says “These are individuals with physical and intellectual challenges and they approach physical movement in a different way. Immediately after viewing the art, they were encouraged to express themselves which resulted in a display of whirling and dipping, moving hands and happy faces. It was so beautiful because it was completely spontaneous and unselfconscious.” They engineered their bodies as moving objects in space and, in effect, looked like components of a kinetic sculpture.

Exercise can be for everyone and it now has an exceptional voice in the arts. Exploring different modalities and creatively translating different experiences to movement is an opportunity filled with physical and cognitive benefits. Your personal world is ripe for interpretative exercise.


It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.
Muhammad Ali

Celebrating Creative Centenarians

Everyone’s doing it. We’re all getting older and accelerating across the decades of life. Positive aging is important and pharmaceutical companies are racing to provide new drugs to extend healthy living. People want to live longer and live healthier. Dr. Thomas Perls has developed a calculator that can be used as a guide to understand your aging potential. “In the United States, where the average life expectancy is about 78 years, centenarians account for about 1 out of every 6,000 people.” Yet it also has been projected that in 2025, one person out of 26 will reach their 100th birthday.

What are the odds of you living to 100 or beyond? There are factors that may contribute to the potential of becoming a centenarian, says Nir Barzilai, M.D. Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University 80% can be contributed to your environment and the remaining 20% to your genes

And there is a quality of aging that is important. For those who have enjoyed a strong social, intellectual and physical lifestyle, they are more likely to sustain those passions as they get older and reap the benefits.

The following centenarians have maintained their creative zeal and are still enjoying successful lives despite some physical issues that come with aging.


Irving Kahn, (born 1905) Investment Advisor
Irving began his career prior to the 1929 stock market crash and established the Kahn Brothers Group in 1978 where he shares his business with his son and grandson managing over $700 million in assets. Irving works 5 days a week in his Madison Avenue office and reads at least two financial newspapers daily. He has no plans to retire.

Rita Levi-Montalcini (born, 1909) Scientist, Italian Senator
In 1986 Levi-Montalcini and colleague Stanley Cohen received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovery of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). Remarkably she was the fourth Nobel Prize winner to come from Italy's very small but very old Jewish community. In 1987, she was given the National Medal of Science, the highest American scientific honor. Rita is the oldest living Nobel laureate and the first ever to reach a 100th birthday.

Elliot Carter (born 1908) Composer
Elliot is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer who has been extremely prolific in his older years. Between the ages of 90 and 100, he published more than 40 works and three more since he turned 100. He received the Trustees Award (a lifetime achievement award given to non-performers) by the Grammy Awards and is on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center where he gives annual composition masterclasses

Eva Zeisel (born 1906) Industrial designer/ Artist
An industrial designer in her early career, she currently designs furniture as well as glass and ceramic objects producing “useful things” with soft organic shapes. Her pieces are in the permanent collections of the British Museum; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Musée des Arts Decoratifs de Montreal; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Brooklyn, Metropolitan, Dallas, and Milwaukee museums.

Wesley E. Brown (1907) Judge
Judge Brown is one of four of the Kennedy appointees still on the bench and the oldest federal judge in the country. Wearing a tube that feeds oxygen through his nose, he is still active at the court but warns lawyers about lengthy hearings and says “At this age, I’m not even buying green bananas.” He refuses to focus on the hoopla over his place in history or his birthdays, he simply says “I’m not interested in how old I am, I’m interested in how good a job I can do.”

Milton Rogovin (born 1909) Photographer
Milton is a documentary photographer with a social passion. “The Forgotten Ones", considered his most recognized project, is a portrait sequence captured over 30 years showing a hundred struggling families in hardship living in Buffalo.. His work is in the Library of Congress, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Center for Creative Photography as well as other fine institutions.

Alice Herz-Sommer (born 1903) Pianist
Czech pianist and survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, Alice is a steadfast optimist despite having lived a life filled with great loss and difficulty. She is also very self disciplined. Everyday she practices 3 hours starting at 10am, eats the same foods and continues to walk. "… life is beautiful, extremely beautiful. And when you are old you appreciate it more. When you are older you think, you remember, you care and you appreciate. You are thankful for everything. For everything"

Malcolm Renfrew (born 1910) Chemist
Renfrew produced a number of patents while working at DuPont including material for tooth repair and the first method of synthesis which would contribute to what was later known as Teflon. He became a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and on his 100th birthday, October 12, 2010 was declared to be Malcolm M. Renfrew Day in Idaho.

Norman Corwin (born 1910) Writer/Screenwriter, Producer
Norman was always a serious lover of words and drama so his early career in radio was a perfect fit. He has won the One World Award, two Peabody Medals, an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a duPont-Columbia Award. He is still writing for radio and is a writer in residence at the Journalism School at USC.

Will Barnett (born 1911) Painter
A New York City artist with his paintings in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim and the Whitney, Will paints for 3-4 hours every day. His current exhibition is at the Art Student’s League in Manhattan where he began his art studies in 1931 when he moved from Boston. At the age of 10 he knew that he wanted to be an artist and now says “The old masters are still alive after 400 years, and that’s what I want to be.”

Ruth Gruber (born 1911) Journalist, Photographer, Writer, Humanitarian
Just months shy of her 100th birthday, Ruth is an extraordinary woman who has had an extraordinary career. A new documentary, AHEAD OF TIME,was created to catalog some of the many historic events in her life. By the age of twenty, Ruth earned a Ph.D degree from the University of Cologne and became the youngest person in the world to receive a doctorate. In 1935, she was the first foreign correspondent to fly through Siberia into the Soviet Arctic. Her life was studded by high level social political assignments.

Getting old is a fascination thing. The older you get, the older you want to get.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

We don't grow older, we grow riper.
Pablo Picasso

An Interview with DR. JAMES GAMBONE: Filmmaker and Gerontologist

As a gerontologist and filmmaker, Jim combines both talents to offer a unique perspective to film. His work also includes training with intergenerational relationships and he has developed the Intergenerational Dialogue Tool™ which is used in many social sectors.

How did your early career in the Peace Corps, PhD degree in bilingual/bicultural education and work as a Drop-OUT Prevention Specialist prepare you for your current work in geriatrics?

I grew up in a multigenerational home in a Pittsburgh ghetto with blacks and immigrant families. I was always around adults from all generations and backgrounds for most of my childhood.

I like to think of myself as not necessarily working in “geriatrics,” but rather as an educator (in the tradition of Paulo Friere and Myles Horton) trying to use my various skills and talents to bring generations closer together and have them appreciate the unique and different values they bring to a shared future.

Can you talk about the functionality and impact of your Intergenerational Dialogue Tool™?

It has been 19 years since I created the Intergenerational Dialogue and Action process. I have organized and conducted dialogues and training sessions involving all living generations in every region of this country, and in parts of Canada, Mexico, England. It has been quite a ride and it’s not over yet!

There has been a doctoral dissertation, two doctors of divinity, and numerous articles and commentaries written about my process. I have also trained nearly 1,500 people over the last 18 years how to organize and facilitate my process and other intergenerational conversations. It is part of my lifelong work and hopefully something I will be remembered for after I am gone.

In terms of functionality, I have not found any issue or opportunity that isn’t immediately enhanced by adding more generations to the mix. My process is based on a pretty simple proposition. What you learn at an early age helps form your core values. These are values that last with you throughout you entire life. That means each generation has different core values. If we learn how to respect, care and cooperate across generations, I believe many of the seemingly intractable problems we face can be solved. I am buoyed by the results I have seen so far.


What brought you to the world of writing, producing and film making?

My first moderate foray into media was in 1976, when I was asked to do “on the street interviews” for a video documentary of Minneapolis’ second May Day Parade. However, my big plunge in video production came when I was working as an investigative reporter. An independent TV producer approached me and asked me to join forces on an hour long documentary he was making on rural poverty in Minnesota. That documentary, “In the Midst of Plenty”, appeared on public television a year and a half later to critical acclaim. It is still being used in rural sociology classes across the country.

My biggest career break came in 1981 when Martin Sheen narrated my first 30 minute film “Agent Orange: A Story of Dignity and Doubt”. It took the veterans perspective and the film was distributed worldwide. That enabled me to get a real understanding of the film and TV distribution business.

What triggered your thoughts for your film The Journey Home ?

At 3AM one morning almost four years ago, I woke up from an unusual dream where an entire film was etched very clearly in my mind. I rushed down to my computer and in 20 minutes wrote The Journey Home. Yes the tile was also in the dream and the Spanish dialogue that opens the film. This had never happened to me in 25 years of filmmaking and it meant I had to produce this film.

Before that dream, I was researching for an on line course I was teaching on the future of long-term care. I discovered a crisis looming ahead in the year 2030, with the swelling of the older adult population and need for more caregivers and care facilities. The problem is that neither our politicians nor the elder care industry have put much thought or planning into dealing with a demographic time bomb. To put it into perspective, as the Baby Boomer generation enters the year 2030, over 30% of our population will move towards either semi-dependent or fully dependent living conditions. Never in our modern history have we had an even closely comparable demographic demand placed on an institutional or governmental system. We are entering a situation where our social structures are going to dramatically change and the model of our elder care system will not be exempt.

The film ends with a simple question: What kind of elder care is in your future? Although the film presents a number of important moral and ethical questions, it is not suggesting a direction to go. It invites all who view it to participate at the Journey Home website ( www.thejourneyhome.us) to join in an effort to create a new vision for elder care. At its heart, The Journey Home is designed to be a film calling people to action and to the realization that the year 2030 is not so far off.

Were there particular hurdles that you had to manage successfully in this project?

Money. Money, Money. It is always a problem with independent films. This being a science fiction film located in the year 2030, posed other hurdles on a very small to no budget. But a very creative and imaginative team of filmmakers, friends who bought advance copies of DVD’s to pay for direct costs and people who believed in the power of a dream made this film possible.

Where can people see the film?
You can view the film, a short documentary, the Making of the Journey Home, an interview with me and a Trailer on our website.

What are you working on now?

I am talking with another filmmaker about producing another short fictional film around the modern experience of being in nursing home. I am also trying to distribute The Journey Home-which has now been an Official Selection in three film festivals,- and I continue to teach MA and Ph.D. students at Capella.

Am I an Artist?

By Judith Zausner August 2010 all rights reserved


Academic degrees are not required. There are no certifications. But it is anticipated that you bring passion, dedication and talent to the profession. Do you have it?

Art can be tangible or intangible, practical or impractical, private or public, appreciated or disregarded. Making art exists in a vast arena with no license. But that does not make it easy; it has to satisfy. To be an artist, you have to create and love to create and feel compelled to create. However the process of considering yourself an artist is an inward journey.

Li Gardiner struggled with the concept of taking on the role of an artist and says “Today, if you ask me who I am, or what I do, I will tell you easily and naturally, “I am an artist.” It wasn’t always easy. It took years of doubt to get to this point, but I figured out how to maintain my belief in myself as an artist, in the face of all obstacles.” Read her 10 point check list that outlines her dedication to creativity.

How can you consider yourself an artist? Many people have pictures in their mind of what an artist looks like, how they dress, the way they live and of course what they create. It roots from our knowledge of master painters such as Michelangelo, Renoir, Picasso; artists who captured subjects on canvas with their expertise and vision. Comparing yourself to a famous artist may not be an exercise in elevating your self esteem, but by studying and emulating their techniques, you can improve your work. We’re all different; our abilities, sensitivities and styles make us unique. By developing your talent, believing in your art and securing your confidence, you will be prepared to succeed. Buddha claims “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.”

If you take that inner journey to be an artist, you must fill the path with focus. The dedication and drive required cannot be overestimated. Joan Jeffri’s project “Above Ground: Information on Artists III: Special Focus New York City Aging Artists” studied a group of artists from 62 to 97 years old. Jeffri sums up her findings: “All the artists we interviewed visited their studios on a frequent and sometimes daily basis, even if it took 1.5 hours to walk the three blocks to the studio. When the medium became too taxing—such as large-scale sculpture or paintings, not one artist talked of giving up art; s/he simply changed the medium.” This is not uncommon for prolific and committed artists to continue to pursue making art no matter what hurdles lie in their path. In her book, When Walls Become Doorways, Tobi Zausner describes the creative spirit of artists who overcame physical obstacles to continue their work. An example is Matisse who, confined to his bed or wheelchair, drew on walls and with charcoal attached to a fishing pole, also drew on the ceiling.

With talent, you create. With passion, you commit. Are you an artist?