Doodlesam.com

Happiness to Share

I am happy to share with you that I’ve been selected as an Artist of the Month in the Atlantic Health Healing Arts program!

The following quotes are from the Atlantic Health Healing Arts call for submissions.

About the Healing Arts Program

The Healing Arts Program at Atlantic Health System believes that the arts are an essential component to health, healing and well-being. We provide opportunities to experience health and well-being by bringing literary, performing and visual arts to our patients, staff and the communities we serve.

About the Artist of the Month

Every month, Healing Arts will celebrate an artist who demonstrates how art has been a healing force in his or her life. We strongly believe that art is healing. To bring awareness to the value of the arts for wellbeing, we wish to share stories of those artists who have directly experienced the benefit of art-making on their lives, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional.

The Artist of the Month will be featured in a monthly Healing Arts email newsletter, along with their story, photograph, and a link to their website (if applicable). The Artist of the Month will also be featured on our virtual monitor displays throughout Atlantic Health System. All Artists of the Month will be invited to exhibit their work together in a group exhibition to be scheduled for a later date.

My Submission Essay

As someone who experiences classic migraines often, art has helped me explore and cope with the many dimensions of the migraine event. What began with the drawing of a frowning face notation in my private journal has grown into a means of finding comfort, beauty, meaning, and humor during my migraines. It has become a way of fighting back against an ailment that feels devastating and all-consuming. There is the physical pain, the depression, the confusion, the fatigue, the dissociation involved in migraines. Art has helped me to explore and express these things. Art has become an avenue by which to communicate my suffering: to say to fellow migraineurs, “I feel your pain,” and to those who have never had a migraine, “Words fail me, maybe these pictures will give insight into what it’s like.”

Most of my migraine art has been done in my private journals. This art consists of drawings using various media and various styles. Some are cartoonish and humorous. Some use violent depictions to express my physical pain or emotional suffering. Some are colorful abstract designs. In 2015, I began making larger pieces using oil pastels, paint, and charcoal. The three images attached are a small representation of my art. There are currently over 150 images on my website.

This is the link to the migraine art section of my website:
https://www.doodlesam.com/blog/migraine-art/

The Response

Artist of the Month – Congratulations

Dear Sam,

Thank you for your submission for Artist of the Month. I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected as one of our upcoming Artists of the Month. More details on the anticipated timeline of your feature month are forthcoming.

Thank you again for taking the time to submit your artwork; we look forward to sharing your story.

Excited

Needless to say, I am very excited about this. This is a first for me. I am grateful for all of you who have supported my art efforts, given me feedback, laughed at my often loony drawings. It has given me the courage to enter my artwork in a program such as the Atlantic Health Healing Arts.

More details to come.