November 13, 2020
by Sheryl Wilde
Each item offered in the MSF Virtual Arts, Crafts & Holiday Fair is one of a kind and handmade with love. And each item has its own story, as varied and as beautiful, as the artist who created it.
Proceeds will help fund activities Mountain Shadows Foundation supports such as adaptive horseback riding, Hearts & Hooves therapy visits, adaptive skiing, swimming, and all the fun activities and outings our residents are looking forward to participating in once it is safe to do so. For the time being Mountain Shadows Foundation will be purchasing holiday presents for all our of residents! Your purchase will help make this possible.
We’re proud to introduce you to several of our artists:
Susan and Kristen Weller – Communicating through Art
“When my daughter, Kristen, was born, I had such wonderful hopes for her, days filled with childhood games and friends, followed by the teenage years and dating, and the shared bonds of special mother/daughter talks,” says world-renowned artist Susan Weller.
“But all these dreams came to an end when Kristen was 11 months old. Born with a serious heart defect, she had open-heart surgery as an infant and suffered the equivalent of a stroke in an adult.”
Following the surgery, Kristen was comatose for nearly six months. When she emerged from the coma, she was diagnosed as having spastic cerebral palsy. She was left paralyzed except for limited use of her left hand. Her ability to speak remains severely limited to this day.
Kristen lives at Mountain Shadows.
“Kristen’s speech is a mystery to those who don’t know her well,” says Susan. “Others, who are close to her, try patiently to understand her limited verbalizations. But she has found another, beautiful way to communicate.”
While mother/daughter talks, in the way Susan had hoped, were never an option, today, Kristen’s painting has inspired a unique form of shared mother/daughter communication. It has also given her a canvas upon which to share her voice with the world – and to finally be heard.
Coming from a family of painters, Kristen was exposed to art at an early age.
“Kristen has painted since she was two years old. Painting is the one way she can freely express herself where everyone can understand her. That’s because she paints from the purity of her spirit. She paints from joy and that’s why you will most often see a big smile on Kristen’s face as she is painting. It’s her bliss.
“Kristen’s painting speaks for her. When watching her paint, one can see the happiness coming out of her. Painting has given her a way to express herself in such a beautiful way. She can’t sing, she can’t dance, she can’t run, she can’t even walk, but she can do something!!! She touches people with her art.”
As Kristen paints, Susan holds the various colors for her on a palette. Kristen chooses each color with great care. She will allow only Susan to hold the palette.
Together, Susan, her daughter Kristen, and the Mountain Shadows Foundation hosted “The Language of Art,” a show featuring the works of both artists a few years ago. The event benefited Mountain Shadows and was held at the Susan Street Fine Art Gallery in Solana Beach, California.
For this year’s Mountain Shadows Foundation Virtual Arts, Crafts & Holiday Fair, Susan and Kristen have generously donated two original paintings, “1.8.2018” by Kristen, acrylic on canvas, 8×8 inch, and “Spirito 1” framed, 17×21 inch, by Susan.
Susan has studios in Laguna Beach, California, and Verona, Italy. She describes her work as a “map of life”.
“Through Kristen’s ability and disability, she has given me a rare gift, one that I would not trade for the world. Together we have figured out how to navigate life.”
To see art, born of the spirit, born from happiness, please click on the link below. You will see pure joy expressed on canvas – and it will light your soul.
Cat Mitchell – Ephemera Dolls that Touch the Heart
Devas inspire the souls of the dolls created by Cat Mitchell.
Vayu – the Lord of the Wind … Varuna – the Lord of the Water …
Agni – the Lord of Fire
According to classical Hinduism, Devas are celestial beings, shining lights, presiding over the cosmos, the evolution of creation, and the forces of nature, such as wind, water and fire.
“The dolls,” says Cat Mitchell, whose son, Ivan, lives at Mountain Shadows, “are not made normally.”
Spurred by her imagination, and made with heart-felt love, the idea for each doll she creates is born from her hands, not her brain. “My brain has nothing to do with it.
“I call them Ephemera Dolls.”
A retired art instructor at the Vista Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, Cat was inspired by a yarn doll, similar to a Worry Doll.
Worry Dolls, or Muneca quitapena, originated in Guatemala. The Mayan princess, Ixmucane, received a special doll from the sun god, which allowed her to solve any problem she worried about.
Combining inspiration from the magical Muneca quitapena and the Devas, Cat began creating Ephemera Dolls many years ago. Made from scraps of yarn and fabric, and buttons from her jewelry drawer, each doll is unique, and made of many textures. Each doll is meant to be touched, felt, and experienced tactilely.
“My dolls are made without faces, so they can be anyone. Some people paint faces on them. They can be angry, they can be happy, they can be anything you want, or need, them to be.”
Logan Biggs – Photography Reflecting Life
It was the 4th of July and the fireworks had been cancelled due to COVID-19.
Fourteen-year-old, Logan Biggs, and his family were visiting Forest Park in St. Louis. The day was growing long, but as they strolled around the rambling park, they stumbled upon the Jewel Box, and decided to make one last stop.
Located on a sprawling 17-acre site, The Jewel Box was built in 1936. Listed in the National Historic Register due to its magnificent Art Deco design, and cantilevered vertical glass walls rising a majestic 50 feet high, the unconventional greenhouse in still considered the “jewel” of Forest Park.
Logan recently developed an interest in taking photographs and was taking impromptu photos at the “jewel” when a particular flower in a pond by the greenhouse caught his eye.
He snapped a stunning photo, which he named, “Lily Reflections” just as a dragonfly landed on the plants’ unfurled leaves to relax. A statue of St. Francis of Assisi stands in the background, welcoming all, with arms open wide.
Logan is the nephew of new MSF Board Member, Cia Farrar Knapp.