[accessibleimage] She serves her heart by sharing art

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http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060115/COLUMNISTS04/601150410/1008/NEWS01

www.creativediversity.org

article

Sunday, January 15, 2006


She serves her heart by sharing art

Life for Emie Wilson has not always been a pretty picture.

She has been legally blind since birth, with high-functioning autism, severe attention deficit and depression disorders, her life's canvas largely a dark abstract of discordant images.

"In my biological family, art, music and mental illness sort of run in the family, and whatever age the art comes out is the same age the trouble does. I was 3," said the 37-year-old Evansville, Ind.-born artist. "I remember being in approximately 30 foster homes before I was adopted at 16."

Then in the early 1980s, while she was a student at the Kentucky School for the Blind, someone noticed that she could draw and suggested she take an art course.

Today she is the manager of Creative Diversity Studio, where artists -- some with disabilities -- create and market their work in Louisville's Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center.

At long last, the lines and colors of her life are beginning to make sense.

"Her ability and compassion to work patiently with people of all types of disabilities is astounding," said Amy Marlatt, the studio's executive director. "A frequent comment from the participants is, 'I'm glad it's one of us teaching us.' "

Marlatt met Wilson five years ago at an art gallery where Marlatt was employed. She was so moved by Wilson's passion and commitment that when Marlatt opened Creative Diversity Studio in 2004, she offered Wilson the position of manager.

"I'm multichallenged and I work in the field I want to work in," Wilson said. "That's more amazing to me than selling art -- because I've always done that."

Although she struggles to make ends meet, Wilson still donates to charity most of the money from sales of her own eclectic gallery of oil pastels, acrylics, oils and colored pencils. Her subjects range from sweeping landscapes to flowers, butterflies, human forms and animals.

She has always loved dinosaurs and lizards, and she chose the name "Bluetail" for her own small studio, because she picked up the nickname as a youngster fascinated by the bluetail skink, a small lizard.

Wearing an 18-power magnification lens on her left eye -- the only one in which she has any usable sight -- and working within a few inches of the canvas, she is able to paint with amazing clarity. She sometimes paints nearly nonstop for two or three days at a time.

"I have kind of a knack for getting people with autism or severely challenged people to do art," Wilson said. "…. I try to bring out the art that is inside of them. I tell them all of my disabilities -- so they can say, 'Well, if she can do it, maybe I can work.' "

She points with pride to Nick, a homeless artist who finds refuge and escape in warm, soft colors and cozy images. She savored the moment when Adam, an autistic member who had rarely spoken, walked over to her and began talking and joking.

"He said, 'You know what? I'm participating.' I said, 'Yes, you are!' " Wilson recalled. "It was a moment to treasure. They give me way more than I could ever give them -- because they make me feel so important and special."

To learn more about Creative Diversity Studio and its artists, go to www.creativediversity.org


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