Artist discusses joys of painting, creative projects with students
Visual artist Anna Schuleit spoke to a crowd of students, professors and alumni Tuesday about her projects involving the mentally ill. Schuleit described much of her work with mental institutions around the country as well as her current life as a painter.
‘It humbled me,’ Schuleit said. ‘I was their newscast from the real world.’
Schuleit served as the visiting artist for two different mental hospitals: one in 2000 at Northampton State Hospital and another at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in 2003. During these visits, Schuleit worked with the patients to discover what they thought was art.
She created a book that 180 patients worked on for four years. They painted and drew what was on their minds every week. The book was not released, however, as it was only for the eyes of everyone involved, Schuleit said. This was a way to keep the patients in touch with what they thought the world around them had become.
Gabrielle Frawley, a sophomore interior design and psychology major, said Schuleit’s work with patients is compelling.
‘Her combination of art and psychology is simply amazing,’ Frawley said.
When Schuleit visited the institutions, she took more than 60,000 photos as a mapmaking and record-taking process before she started painting. This process is common method in all of her work. The photos serve as a record of what she saw and an inspiration for her paintings.
‘This process helps me gain knowledge of the world around me,’ Schuleit said. ‘Most of these paintings don’t need me. They are perfect and beautiful just the way they are.’
At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s performing arts center, Schuleit said she was asked to come up with an idea that she could paint on the wall of the center. Schuleit painted an upside-down face on the wall so that the face was reflected from one end of the pond to the other.
‘This was one of the most happiest moments in my life,’ Schuleit said. ‘I got to paint alone outside on a beautiful day.’
Jerome Witkin, an art professor, said Schuleit is truly a special person.
‘From a person so young and successful, she is not egotistical,’ Witkin said.
Today Schuleit focuses on her painting in her studios in New Hampshire and New York. She said she loved the experience of working in the mental hospitals and would like to do it again.
Said Schuleit: ‘I really want to focus on my painting. It is what makes me the happiest.’
Published on February 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Contact Nick: nrcardon@syr.edu
