Flying Colors: The Story of a Remarkable Group of Artists and the Transcendent Power of Art - Softcover

Tim Lefens

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807031038 ISBN 13: 9780807031032

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2003

Synopsis

Ten years ago, Tim Lefens was introduced to a group of severely challenged students living at the Matheny School in New Jersey. None of them could walk, only one of them could talk, and all lacked the use of their hands. As a painter facing the gradual loss of his own eyesight, Lefens had come to fully appreciate the power of art, and he was determined to enable the students to paint despite their physical limitations.

Flying Colors is an immensely inspiring story about leaping over obstacles. It is a story of friendship, courage, and the dream that brought a group of forgotten people into the heart of life.

"Art transforms the lives of a group of profoundly disabled individuals. . . . A vivid reminder that one teacher truly can make a difference." --Kirkus Reviews

"An intensely moving memoir . . . unsparing and inspiring." --Publishers Weekly

About this title

About the Author:

Tim Lefens is the founder of A.R.T. (Artistic Realization Techniques); he lives in Belle Mead, New Jersey.

From Publishers Weekly:

In the early '90s, Lefens, a painter, goes to the Metheny School for students with cerebral palsy and other disabilities to show slides of his work. As this intensely moving memoir shows, he becomes obsessed with finding ways to help students, who are in wheelchairs and have no use of their arms or hands, learning to express themselves, devising methods that allow them the freedom to paint. Carefully maneuvering wheelchairs over tinted acrylic produces excellent results, they find, and a laser attached to a welder's helmet can direct a surrogate precisely where to apply the paint to a canvas. His students thrive: some begin speaking more frequently; others experience improvements in their physical well-being. Lefens founds Artistic Realizations Technologies (A.R.T.) to insure these techniques are used by others. Student work becomes so noted that they get gallery showings, sell their paintings and are the subject of a CBS Evening News special. There are obstacles along the way: it is a struggle to get A.R.T. funded; dismissive sentimentalism (and even resentment) is often shown by teachers, administrators, social workers and therapists confronting the work and students. Lefens writes simply and clearly throughout, remaining focused on the students and the task at hand. "The idea," he tells them, "is not to struggle to do things the way that able-bodied people do. The idea is to make art."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0807031038
• ISBN 13: 9780807031032
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224