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| September 1, 2002 |
The Verve
Seattle, WA |
September 2002
Volume 1, Issue 7 |
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"Cover Art titled Traveling by Light" water media and pen on paper Artist's Collection May 2005 36" x 24" |
It is not a big room, but to the inner child it fells just right. Tucked in the corner of the Seattle Center House, beside a Thai Take-out place, the Seattle center Art Studio is crammed with creative spirit. There are easels, two long, low tables, and low chairs. Simple, unfinished –wood shelves are full of paints, brushes and sculptures, and paper. Paintings crowd the room all over the walls and lean on each other in racks. But most of all, it’s the smell-tempera paint-that triggers the primal human urge to put on a smock and get colorful.
Children and adults do so, happily, with cheerful help from the volunteer, who might be working on a large acrylic painting of his own over in the corner. “Some days it’s like a mini United Nations in here,” says volunteer Willie Rosenthal. That’s not surprising, since Seattle Center is a tourist magnet, especially for families. And what tired parent wouldn’t perk up, seeing the painted banner sign FREE ART STUDIO, FREE USE! posted at the edge of the food court?
The lifeblood of the studio, though, is the daily stream of “regulars.” Disabled people of all ages, and those recovering from illness and injury, make their way up the ramp from the Center House’s main floor. People who can’t hold a paintbrush are fitted with head wands which grip a brush or marking pen. Volunteers are trained to handle the special needs of the special artists. In fact, the studio grew out of a partnership between VSA arts Washington (formerly Very Special Artists) the state chapter of the national non- profit, and Seattle Center.
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"Travel by Light" water media and pen on paper Artist's Collection May 2005 36" x 24" |
The Studio would not exist, however without the energy and commitment of Bittin Foster Duggan, a woman who redefines the phrase “rolling with the punches.”
Bittin became the Director of Adult Programs for VSA arts Washington 1999. Working part-time and with a budget of only $10,000, she put together five programs in two years, including: Artists Unlimited classes for the disabled, “No Boundaries” traveling exhibits of work by disabled artists, a gallery of work by disabled artists, and an “Open Studio” , in a third-floor room at the Seattle Center House, accessible by elevator. This was the beginning of the Seattle Center Art Studio. In its first month’s as an experimental program, Bittin brought all the supplies from her own stash at home.
The Studio was moved to its present location in 2001, giving Bittin a few months off…which was good timing, because she needed to prepare for becoming a mother. Work and personal life converged in a great push in the first months of 2002, as the Studio received $40,000 grant to fund a new computer and new assistant, and Bittin gave birth.
Bittin is handing the Studio’s management over to her assistant at the end of September, bringing her association with the Seattle Art center to an end. She will move to Oregon with her family in October, but knows that her “bigger life story, which is pretty outrageous,” isn’t over yet. This is just another turning point, after what could be seen as a triumphant, 13 year comeback.
In 1989, Bittin Foster Duggan was studying painting at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Suddenly, a severe accident left her in coma for five days. After regaining consciousness, she turned to her art as the path of her recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Drawing and reflective journal writing “helped me relearn who I was,” she says. “I had to relearn and rebuild my skills and abilities.”
Trees became a central visual metaphor for Bittin sense of her injury, and her re-emerging self. Bittin earned her BFA at UC in 1991, exhibited her paintings in a Boulder Art gallery, and worked as an office manager at Boulder record company.
Then she attended a TBI support group in Boulder, where she met people facing injuries more severe than hers. That confrontation inspired her to bring her drawings and journals to the group. She was determined to share how art had been her path to a new sense of self, as it reflected her physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual realities day-by day.
“I knew I had to show them the growth and transformation that can happen during recovery,” Bittin says. “With art, whether drawing or writing, they could process their experiences and empower themselves to have a life that they love. They could live with who they are now, and not just be a little victim.”
Naturally, people encouraged her to start teaching workshops. “I backed away from it ,” she admits. “I said I am not a workshop leader, I’m an office manager.” Nonetheless, in 1993, she took a chance that her inspiration could reach other TBI patients, caregivers, and the public, starting with the existing TBI support network.
She chose 66 paintings completed before, during and after her brain injury. Many of the works were quite large and incorporated passages from her journals. She created a proposal and presented it to the executive Director of the Brain Injury Association (BIA), a national non-profit. Her intention was to showcase art’s value as a recovery tool. Bit called the show Tree-To- Tree: Recovery Transformation.
It was a slam dunk. The BIA had never had anything like this before at its conference and the reality of Bittin’s healing was undeniable. From 1993-94, Bittin drove around the country to BIA conferences in North Carolina, Colorado, Ohio, West Virginia, and Florida.
With this success, her reluctance to teach workshops dissipated. She led the first “Growing Through It” workshop in Boulder in 1993. Nine years later, she has led workshops for TBI patients around the country, to vivd acclaim from participants and health care professionals. She has also participated in documentary videos and conference panels, and has published articles about art’s value to recovery. Bittin has created www.growingthroughit.com to showcase the artworks created by her participants, and encourage art-focused communication among the injured and disabled as well as connecting users with TBI information and support links.
In 1997, Bittin moved to Seattle to enter Antioch University’s Whole Systems Design program. She earned her Masters Degree there in 1999 and soon afterwards took the job as Director of Adult Programs for VSA arts Washington. Asked about her personal artwork now, she smiles and sighs, “I did one painting in 2001, but I did not finish it.”
Bittin foster Duggan leaves a vibrant legacy behind in Seattle as she moves on. She has encouraged the injured people involved in her workshops to “be a thriver, not a survivor.” Enduring the brain damage is nothing shameful, in her world. She used its challenge to broaden her life, rather than limit it, “I can fit into so many kinds of work wherever I am,” she asserts, “I am confident that I can create whatever kind of work I want.”
Joy Shayne Laughter is a freelance writer, Web site scripter, and Verve member. She can be reached at Shayne@speakeasy.net
Links:
www.growingthroughit.org
www.vsaarts.org
www.antiochsea.edu
www.seattlecenter.com
The Seattle Center Art Studio's hours are 11am - 3pm daily.
