Disabled Art – Interview with Digital Artist Andrew Reach

Andrew Reach began his career as an architect, culminating with such notable buildings as the Frost Art Museum and the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida. But he found himself disconnected from his work as an architect when a disease of the spine, known as Scheuermann’s Kyphosis, caused him to need spinal fusion surgery. Following two surgeries to stabilize his spine in 2004, Andrew found himself no longer able to continue to work as he had before. Understandably despairing at the change his life had taken and not sure what to do, Andrew began exploring digital art at the suggestion of his partner, Bruce Baumwoll.

Using a computer and Photoshop, Andrew began to explore the digital medium as a means for expression, and now creates large format archival prints at sizes up to 90 inches long. His artwork has been featured in numerous galleries and museums around the United States, and those who see Andrew’s art often describe it as inspirational and uplifting. Andrew is a pioneer in the digital art arena and many people have been amazed by the expressionism he has been able to portray through this new form of art.

Recently, Andrew became involved as a volunteer with an art therapy program in Cleveland called the Art Therapy Studio at Metrohealth hospital. Founded in 1967, it’s the first Art Therapy program to be established in a hospital in the United States. Seeing parallels in the program’s goals and in what his art has done to help him, he realized that many of those in the program could benefit through expressing themselves in the digital medium, as he has. It is his hope that some of the art created in the program can be displayed alongside his in the near future.

We recently had the chance to interview Andrew to find out how he decided on digital art, what inspires him, and what advice he would share with anyone struggling with a disability. Below is part 1 of an interview we were privileged enough to do over the phone with Andrew Reach. For part 2 please follow this link.

Interview with Andrew Reach 2/21/2009

Disabled & Productive: Can you tell me a little bit about where you grew up?

Andrew Reach: I grew up in Miami, in North Miami Beach, Florida. It was a great place to grow up, I had a great childhood. I grew up in a mostly Jewish neighborhood, and grew up mostly among people like myself, and didn’t really get exposed to a lot of other different things until later in life.

D&P: How long did you live there?

Andrew Reach: Until I went to college – I went to college at University of Florida, and that was really the last time I lived there until I returned to live there for a bit in 1996. After college, I moved with my life partner Bruce Baumwoll to Greenwich Village, for a few years, and went to architecture school at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Living in New York was a wonderful experience.

D&P:What kind of architecture did you do?

Andrew Reach: I did a lot of stuff. When I first got out of school and moved to Los Angeles, I did a lot of smaller projects – private homes and office’s and studios for advertising agencies. I had the opportunity to do a lot of creative things because some clients were in the film and advertising industries. I also did historic preservation work on a Lloyd Wright home and a Lloyd Wright Studio designed for the violinist Yasha Heifetz. He was Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, and a great architect in his own right.  When we moved back home to Florida I wanted to work on larger scale projects. I began working for the Architecture firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum in 1997 on a new Airport Terminal at Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Intl. Airport.

D&P: Yeah I saw some of your buildings – they were impressive.

Andrew Reach: Thank you. Then I was brought in to Miami to work on a new Federal Courthouse which was a joint venture with the renowned architectural firm Arquitectonica. It was a real challenge due to regulations and guidelines to make federal buildings safer. So we had to make it both transparent and safe, which was a real challenge. I was given the job of designing the whole glass curtain wall and exterior skin of the building, including a cone that goes through the atrium, 5 stories tall. It’s a beautiful building, and I was very proud of it.

I had my first surgery when the courthouse began construction. Six months after the first surgery I was able to go back to work and I was brought in as Project Architect of the Frost Art Museum. It was a complication from the first surgery that put an end to my career. l had to have a second surgery extending the fusion to support my head which was dislodging from my spine. The Museum was just beginning construction so I was not able to see it built.

D&P: So when did you become disabled?

Andrew Reach: I went on permanent disability in March of 2006. It was after the second surgery, I was fully intending to be back to work, but this time, it was much worse, and the pain was so intense, I wasn’t getting better. The rigors of working on complex architectural projects just isn’t possible for me any more. I have a limited amount of time that I can be up before I’m in too much pain and I’m forced to lie down flat many hours of the day.

In my situation with my spine, at the top of the fusion, my spine was no longer rigid above it, and my vertebrae were just falling apart there, and so I couldn’t hold my head up without severe pain. Doctors were able to structurally fix it, but it didn’t really eliminate my pain. My disability not only comes from mobility issues but also comes from the amount of pain that I live with.

D&P: So is that what you deal with then? Just pain all the time?

Andrew Reach: Yes, I can do things, but when I try to do anything for a while, the pain just becomes really difficult to deal with, and because of that I can’t go into an office, and because so much architecture is collaborative, I’m not really in a situation where I can work from home. I had to come to terms with the fact that doing architecture was just no longer an option for me.

D&P: And I can tell from your work that you really love architecture.

Andrew Reach: I do, and when I realized I couldn’t do it any more, I just fell into a deep depression. It was really hard for me.

D&P: So it was a difficult thing that you had to overcome.

Andrew Reach: Yes, so I went through physical therapy and there were a lot of things I tried to do, but the pain just continued, and I started experiencing muscle spasms as well. A lot of work was done on me in the surgeries in just one area, and it took a toll. I guess all disabled people have to come to terms with their disabilities – I’ve gotten past the point of wishing things were different.

D&P: You have to accept it after a while and move forward with what you’ve got.

Andrew Reach: Yeah I went through a time where I would blame myself for things. I can’t tolerate any opiate pain medications, so I try using some other things, but sometimes it becomes so bad I just have to lay down and deal with it. I try to meditate, and sometimes I just fall asleep, and that’s how I deal with things. I’ll sit up for a while, and then I have to lay down for a bit. 3-4 days a week we go to the pool, and it’s probably the place I feel the best, because I can move around and do exercises there that I can’t do anywhere else. I don’t have the pressure on my spine there, and I can do exercises and strengthen my muscles, which keeps me from turning into a lump of jelly.

There are so many people that have so many challenges, so I just try to keep in my mind that I’m just one of the millions of people that deal with it, and do it every day.

D&P: So is there any hope for a cure for you?

Andrew Reach: I mean, I don’t know, there are just breakthroughs happening, and who knows what will happen with pain management in the future. I get regular massages, either once a week or once every two weeks, and that has become really important to me, and really it helps a little.

For me what really helps is my art. My creative outlet.

D&P: I actually have a lot of questions about that and I’d like to get to it later. I wanted to ask you about your use of a wheelchair.

Andrew Reach: Well one day we went to a large art exhibition the convention center in Miami. I was walking around, using a cane, and Bruce and I were walking for about 20 minutes, and I just couldn’t do it any longer. I looked in front of me and finally had the realization that I had to let go and do what Bruce was saying, “Sit in a wheel chair”. I just came to the realization that I would be able to get around a lot better at times by using it, so when we’re going to go somewhere that requires a lot of walking or be out for longer than usual I use it.

D&P: So do you drive?

Andrew Reach: No, I don’t, I can’t really, I just can’t turn my neck – it’s too painful, so I don’t have the peripheral vision you need. Bruce drives me around everywhere and it’s great to have a partner that can do that for me. I mean the loss of freedom is difficult, but it was just too much for me to be able to do it safely.

D&P: I would like to know what is the most difficult thing you have had to overcome with your disability?

Andrew Reach: I guess I would say dealing with the pain, dealing with the constant pain, pushing it to the periphery, and just acceptance, realizing, “ok, this is my normal life now”

D&P: Yeah I can understand that. So what gives you inspiration day after day?

Andrew Reach: The magic when I do my art. You know, I have a lot of time on my hands with my disability, and I was used to working a job with a lot of hours, and how I have so much downtime with my disability, that it gives me a lot of time to think. I mean, I can watch TV but I try not to do that too much during the day since Bruce and I will watch tv at night. So I meditate and I’ll think about art, you know, I’ll think about what I’m going to make. And there are days where the inspiration isn’t there – I’m feeling too down or it’s difficult physically, so I don’t do it.

D&P: So it seems like you’ve become more spiritual since your disability.

Andrew Reach: Well, yeah, Bruce is a very spiritual person – I was trained to be very pragmatic – but Bruce is very spiritual and over the years he has taught me a lot of things and trained me to become more spiritual. Through Bruce I got more into some of the Eastern traditions and a lot of that still influences me in my art today.

D&P: What is the most important piece of advice you would give to those struggling with their disability?

Andrew Reach: I guess I would say, that there is life after disability. There is, in the darkest moments you might feel like you’re not going to get out of it, and the world you know is over, and it’s scary because you may have to reinvent yourself and get on with your life. No matter how hard it gets, with enough work and perseverance, you can get to this new life that will go with you the rest of your life. I don’t know if that makes sense -

D&P: It does, it makes a lot of sense, and that’s how I feel about things too. How have your goals in life changed after your disability?

Andrew Reach: Oh, that’s a big thing, and I guess my answer is a little cliche…I guess where I was getting with the cliche part is that the little things in life take more meaning. You really appreciate life more after you go through something like this.

D&P: Yeah, I totally appreciate the little things more too.

Andrew Reach: It’s hard for me to get out, so when I do go out I try to notice the little things in the world more. So it’s changed me in a good way, even though the disability changed me in a bad way.

D&P: Yeah, I went through some of those same changes. I was kind of a macho guy before I was disabled. But I’m more appreciative of things now, I think I’m better with other people, but now just simple things in nature just make me happy, and I don’t think I would have noticed those things before.

Andrew Reach: Yeah, just watching ballet, I can’t do those kinds of movements, but I just appreciate the beauty and movement of it so much more now. I’ve probably had my moments where I can be a real pain in the ass – just ask Bruce – but I think I’ve changed for the better. For the most part I think I’m a better person.

*for part 2 of this interview please follow this link