Patty's Story

Review - Darning mental socks: 'Mind Fields' at Intermedia Arts by Jay Gabler, MN Artists

Patty - 9 months

Patty - March 2006

Patty's Story - comments by Bonnie Van Moorlehem

Patty's story begins Memorial Day 1953 when she was only eleven months old.  Her family was at a picnic in Dawson, MN where it is believed a mosquito carrying encephalitis stung and infected her.  Patty quickly became very ill and had to be taken to a Twin Cities hospital. Before she could be stabilized, the encephalitis had damaged the right side of Patty’s brain resulting in physical and mental challenges.
In Patty’s early teens, she started suffering from seizures that grew progressively worse. When she was seventeen, doctors could no longer control the seizures with medication, and her parents were faced with two options, place Patty in an institution or undergo brain surgery.  Knowing surgery was the only option that would give Patty a quality of life, she had extensive surgery to remove the damaged brain on the right side at the Mayo Clinic in January 1970.
Patty recovered from her surgery with limited mobility in her left hand and leg and has worked to rebuild her life.  Now in her fifties, Patty has a strong drive to share her life experiences with others, hoping it may help people with similar struggles.  Teaching herself to type with only her right hand, Patty has worked to write her story for close to twenty years.  Patty repeatedly has asked me in what other ways she could share her experience.  Being an artist, I asked Patty for permission to paint her story.
Faced with the challenge on how to tell her story through paintings, my daughter Sara and I came up with the solution to depict the turning points of her life.  Being an abstract painter, I was faced with the challenge of including enough symbolism so that the paintings would have meaning to Patty.  Before starting each piece, I would consult with Patty -- asking her for colors, descriptions, and emotions that represented what was happening to her at that moment in her life.  I included quotations from Patty’s writings on the title cards of each painting as well as my own comments on how I approached each piece to help the viewer relate to her story.  Since Patty is my sister, I also have emotional connections and memories associate with her struggles.  One of my goals with each painting was to make sure that they reflected Patty’s memories, and not the many emotions her story brought back from my own life.
In addition to Patty’s input, our Mother Doris, and my siblings Dave, Patty, Becky, Candace, Melissa, and Michael have all been involved with this project contributing their ideas and feedback.  I am thankful for their support, as well as the ongoing encouragement from my husband, daughter, and son.