ARTISTS FOR TRAUMA

Who’s the Woman Who Fell from the Sky?

Laura Sharpe was in a tragic helicopter crash on California’s Catalina Island on May 24, 2008, Memorial Day weekend. The horrific crash killed three others, significantly injured two, and left her in a four-week coma. She endured 43 broken bones, spinal cord injury, brain injury, third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body, organ failure, 60+ surgeries, skin grafts, near-loss of an eye, and partial amputation of her foot.

For life-altered trauma survivor Sharpe, it now marks ten years of a remarkable journey of rehabilitation and recovery.

What is a life-altered trauma survivor? This is someone like you and me who is just living their life. “Trauma happens in an instant. It is unexpected, devastating, and life-altering. If we are not victims ourselves, many of us know someone who has experienced a traumatic experience. Disfigurement, disability, and a long and difficult process of recovery are often results of trauma,” says Sharpe.

From the fiery wreckage, Sharpe manifested a new life by channeling her creativity to cope with the pain and the long-term recovery process. “It’s extraordinary what it takes for the body to heal. For the trauma survivor to stay in this process is a concert that results in a miraculous symphony,” Sharpe noted.

Out of a process of reinventing herself and with a driving compulsion to help others, Artists for Trauma was created.

“Artists for Trauma is about focusing on the positivity, on the possibilities at a time when trauma victims are dealing with great emotion and physical stress. There is great opportunity for quality recovery from life-altering trauma,” Sharpe explained.

She has just successfully completed curating a 4000 square-foot art gallery installation titled “Powered by Human Spirit.” This empowering installation features talented artists who are also fellow trauma survivors. This project is sponsored by California Rehabilitation Institute and Artists for Trauma. Visit www.poweredbyhumanspirit.com.

Today Sharpe continues to push the boundaries in her physical and mental recovery. While running a busy non-profit, she is currently immersed in an intensive 18-month academic program working toward completing her MBA degree from Pepperdine University.

Art is the Essence of Me….

Fresh out of college, it should have been a joyous time visiting family, but June 11, 1993, turned out to be the darkest day of Cassandra Tang’s life. Her sister was shot and killed by gunfire in front of her and the bullets left her paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Tang started to channel her broken heart by sewing embroidery that inspired her. She saw images of her younger sister in a peaceful place. Out of the darkness and into the light, she became a talented artist.

“Art is the essence of me. I feel it in my heart, it gives me hope and courage to be better…do better.… I found my calling. My heart was broken, and everything was shattered.… I lost myself. Work cannot define the way I feel and the emotion I go through but art is like no words, it is just a picture. It heals me and healed the core of my soul,” Tang reflects.

The Realism of Richard Bell

Award-winning artist Richard Bell began painting in an art class back in 1990. His paintings have been described as being based in realism yet hold influences of eclectic impressionism and surrealism. A catastrophic motor vehicle accident in 2002 left him a quadriplegic. Despite the lack of hand dexterity, he determined a way to create his images.

“When you are first injured your world is completely upside down. Artists for Trauma is a group of artists who have experienced, and all gone through trauma and all kinds of rehabilitation. Any glimmer of hope that can be gleaned from seeing somebody else who is injured like you doing something can make all the difference in the world,” says Bell. Visit http://www.rbellart.com.

“Dancing on the Canvas…. I Ran Out of Words, I Had to Paint”

Tommy Hollenstein grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He had a mountain bike accident in 1985 that left him with a broken neck and life in a wheelchair. As part of his healing, he began to paint in a deliberate way by having an assistant prime a board with a base color. Hollenstein then uses his wheels to apply multiple coats, sometimes as many as 50, before he feels the painting is complete.

“I just keep working it,” he says. “As each piece speaks to me, I keep on working the paint. It’s like dancing as I spin back and forth and slide the tires. It’s probably the time I feel the most freedom in my chair.”

Hollenstein names each of his paintings with a solitary word — “Expect,” “Soar,” “Beyond” — are a few examples. As a professional working artist, he has proven creativity always finds new ways to define the odds.

Visit http://www.tommyhollenstein.com.

Restorative Magic

Hit by a drunk driver, Janelle Hinshaw had a near-death experience when she was just six years old. After she was in the ICU trauma center, she was then placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted. Hinshaw is quietly fearless. “Time stops in this magical world. Art makes me feel like I know my place in the world,” says the self-taught artist. The charcoal textured technique she uses is a restorative healing platform that has transformed her life.

Hinshaw says, “I was looking for a community when I found Artists for Trauma. It’s been amazing. I feel I have these giant wings again!”

Visit https://www.instagram.com/janellephantart/.

Artists for Trauma is dedicated to enriching the lives of both civilian and military trauma survivors by pairing recovering patients with established artists from various creative disciplines.

In their signature aim to expedite the quality of the long-term recovery process for the significantly altered trauma survivor, they provide and facilitate fun, adaptive, artistic platforms designed to provide free-of-charge, evidence-based, interactive, healing programs.

AFT partners with local to international non-profits, trauma hospitals, businesses, post-acute rehabilitation facilities, military resource organizations, community-based trauma support centers and support groups, individual trauma survivors, and local to internationally established artists to best provide AFT’s adaptive, empowering, creative healing environments.