DisabledandProductive is excited that disabled artist Andrew Reach, who we interviewed last year – Interview with Digital Artist Andrew Reach – was selected with his work March of Humanity for a very special Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements, Wounded in Action. This exhibition features the art by soldiers, military personnel, surgeons and even civilians like Andrew who have been inspired by the brave fight our wounded veterans battle every day.

March of Humanity by Andrew Reach

Andrew created his work March of Humanity as a statement of hope for a better future without war. From the violent vortex of energy at the focal point of the image emerge peaceful beings, he calls “whimsies”. “Like musical notes in a symphony, they are reborn in brilliant colors. With freedom comes the ability of all of us to reach our greatest potential,” he says.

About Andrew Reach’s Motivation

Andrew Reach began creating computer-generated art when it became too physically challenging for him to continue as an architect, due to the chronic pain from Scheuermann’s disease. This condition, which usually starts in adolescence, causes the vertebrae to grow unevenly, increasing the curvature of the upper spine. When Reach had two surgeries for progressive symptoms of this disease, the bravery of those wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars inspired him and helped him overcome his own obstacles from the disease. Working with the Art Therapy Studio at Metrohealth Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, Andrew and his life partner Bruce Baumwoll are developing a program to introduce computer graphics. From this pilot program, they hope to bring computers into the VA to help our wounded veterans to heal. Andrew hopes his artwork will inspire them and others in difficult circumstances to overcome great obstacles, including the emotional pain induced by war. “Having my own orthopaedic condition and disability has tested me more than any experience in my life, especially my worth as a person,” he says.

click here to see the Wounded in Action website

Exhibits

March 9–13, 2010
Morial Convention Center, La Nouvelle Ballroom.
New Orleans, LA

April 26-30, 2010
Russell Senate Office Rotunda
Washington, D.C.

May through November 2010
National Museum of Health and Medicine at Walter Reed

Being in a wheelchair doesn’t have to stop you from achieving your dreams. When Maksim Sedakov from St Petersburg, Russia lost his leg in a car accident and ended up using a wheelchair, he was determined to prove that his condition would not prevent him from doing the thing he enjoys most.

Maksim picked up a passion for wheelchair dancing, participated in dance tournaments all over the globe and even competed in world championships. Maksim’s attitude is a real motivator for others. He continued to trust himself and his abilities. I like his attitude: “Don’t let other people discourage you when they say you are unable to do certain things. You can do so much more than you think, like dancing in a wheelchair.”

This is the second half of an interview we did with an inspiring artist named Andrew Reach. For part 1 of the interview please go here. In this second half, Andrew talks more about the creation of his art, and what inspires him.

"A Tailor's Sample Cut From a Bolt of Summer", 2008

D&P: How has your disability affected your relationship with your partner?

Andrew Reach: Well we had a really close relationship even before the disability, but the whole thing has just brought us closer. Like last night we went out, and we have been in love with each other all these years, and just very good friends too, and I am so lucky to have someone by my side, and have that support.

D&P: I have been lucky too, I can’t imagine things without that support. Ok, now I think we’re getting into your favorite subject. Why is art so important to you?

Andrew Reach: If I didn’t have the art, I’m not really sure what I’d have right now. It gives me my lifeline to the world.

D&P: What makes your art so special?

"Archaic Archetype Number 1", 2009

Andrew Reach: Oh I don’t know… I don’t know that it’s special. I’m very overwhelmed by the effect my art has had on people. Oh… Bruce just came in, and he said I have to add to my last answer. He said I do my art because it gives me hope, and he’s right about that. It gives me a lifeline. Ok, so what makes my art special… when I started doing the art, Bruce got me the equipment – the computer equipment I use to make my art. We started putting the art up on the walls around the house. It was just for us, but a neighbor saw it, who has a friend with an art gallery, and she was blown away by it, and a week later someone from the gallery came by and they gave me an art show. They just said it was different, like no one had done this type of thing before. People were telling me they just hadn’t seen something like this done digitally before.

D&P: I’m wondering… if you do something with your hands like painting it’s easy to be very expressive, but I’m wondering how easy it can be to do that with a computer.

Andrew Reach: In the great abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, what he said is that he was channeling the art, like it was just going through him to the painting. He started using sticks as tools instead of traditional brushes because for him it was a more direct thing from the brain to the canvas. I like that a lot – but you can’t quite do that with a computer, but you can in a way though. Somehow I get myself into a zone where my mind, and Photoshop, and the mouse just all seem to work together in unison. I get myself into a trance-like state, and that’s where a lot of the intricate patterns in my art come from. It’s almost kind of a meditative state, and when I get more relaxed, the brain just starts to open up for me somehow.

D&P: Like an escape from reality.

Andrew Reach: Exactly, it’s like that. It’s always a process of being in the moment, making my art.

D&P: So do you do your art in a one-time shot?

Andrew Reach: No, no, it takes me a couple weeks. It’s kind of a chaotic process, because I have to stop in the middle. I do it in bits and spurts, and that maybe is better, because it ends up being something different from where I thought when I started.

D&P: So a little bit of a journey.

Andrew Reach: Right, right. And it’s never perfect, I mean that’s something to realize. There never is really anything perfect – in architecture, art, anything.

D&P: How long did it take you to become proficient with all this software where you felt like you could really express yourself.

Andrew Reach: I’m still working on it! Photoshop is like a bottomless pit! I kind of just started using it – I was making these cards for Bruce where I cut things from old vintage ads – and I learned how to cut things out, learned about layers, and slowly learned the basics. Photoshop for Dummies actually helped and the rest was trial and error. I had used CAD programs before (computer assisted design) so I had some basics with this kind of thing, but it was very challenging to really get proficient. It took a few weeks before I really felt like I could make anything of merit in terms of art. After about 6 weeks I created what I felt like was my breakthrough piece - Lost in a Place Where Pain Does Not Live. That piece was the first one where I really felt like I could tell myself that I was able to express myself with my computer. Actually what you see on my website, www.andrewreach.com, is all consecutive, in terms of when I made them.

D&P: You know your work almost looks like paintings.

"A Day At The Races", 2008

Andrew Reach: Yeah a lot of people wonder about that – “is it a painting, is it not a painting?” It’s very exciting, to be at a time with this technology, it’s like the very birth of this type of art.

D&P: So my next question I think you answered, which is how long it takes you to finish a piece.

Andrew Reach: Well it depends but typically a couple of weeks.

D&P: So I also wanted to talk about the rewards you get from your art.

Andrew Reach: Well really just getting things into the world and seeing how people respond to it, and seeing how people are inspired by it. That has been not only a surprise, but now seeing the joy it brings to people, it brings a real feeling of satisfaction also.

D&P: In what way do you feel like you are giving back to the disabled community?

Andrew Reach: I guess exhibiting the art and having people see what I can do. And also now I have all this knowledge of what I’ve gone through, and now with this art therapy project I have, there’s going to be a lot of work with it, but I think it’s important to do.  If someone else can be helped like it has helped me through computer technology that would just be wonderful.

D&P: I’d like to talk about the art therapy in a moment – but I want to ask what your favorite piece is.

Andrew Reach: I don’t, I don’t have one.  They’re all my children.

D&P: How long have you had the website?

Andrew Reach: Well, after my first show, I realized people wouldn’t have any way to see my art, so I just got Dreamweaver for Dummies, got a domain name, and set it up. You know, people said I shouldn’t put all my art up there, but I want people to see it! With the world, and technology these days, I feel like it’s important to have something like that.

D&P: I feel the same way

Andrew Reach: Your website is wonderful, by the way.

D&P: Thanks. Yeah, I’m trying to reach out to people, be inspiring with a positive message – that the world doesn’t end when you become disabled. So, I want to ask about your exhibitions. Do you attend all of them?

Andrew Reach: Well, I’ve been very very lucky to have received all the recognition I have. Some of the exhibitions have been outside the area – San Francisco, Chicago, Vermont, and so I haven’t been able to attend all of them. I’ve only been to 3 exhibitions of the ones I have had art in. I mean, it’s ok because the art is what’s there and what speaks on my behalf.

D&P: Now, I want to ask about your Art Therapy Program. First of all, how did you get involved in this?

Andrew Reach: Bruce and I started seeing a primary care physician, he’s a really nice guy, and when I first saw him we talked about my issues and the art came up. He told me the Metro Health people (the clinic I was at) about my artwork. Bruce and I had come up with the idea to start a foundation called Reaches Far. So this is a dream of ours to do someday. A way of giving back the art to help people. So when Metrohealth told us about the very special art therapy program they have, we hoped to be able to help. So the discussion started around wanting to bring computer technology to help people, and I was able to connect them with the right resources with Photoshop, and with Epson, for a grant for software and a printer. This place has the oldest art therapy clinic  – since 1967 – and I just talked with them and now we are seeing about how we can go forward with integrating the computer technology into the art therapy they do there, which also involves music, painting, crafts and pottery. The clinical Art Therapist’s role is to be a facilitator, a sort of bridge that helps patients walk across to a new side of consciousness that had never been opened up before. The process is healing and the physical manifestation is the art produced, each telling its unique story of perseverance. Bringing in computers would give the Art Therapists another tool to work with and considering so many young people who are computer literate, the computer could greatly benefit some patients.

And so eventually for 2010 it’s my hope that some of the work done by people in the art therapy clinic can be exhibited alongside mine in a special exhibit to promote and educate the public about Art Therapy and the Healing Arts.

"Super Hero", 2008

D&P: Is this a volunteering thing?

Andrew Reach: It is, it is. There is an artist-in-residence program, but it’s not really something that I would be able to do as it requires the artist to spend a week with the patients, so what I am doing now is strictly volunteer. And it’s going to take a while to get it fully integrated, to develop the libraries of images to have available for people to use so that the people in the art therapy clinic can do this.

D&P: So what has given you the most satisfaction: your current art, or your architecture before you became disabled?

Andrew Reach: Oh, well, I guess right before my surgery I was kind of at a high point of where I was with architecture, and I’ve come to terms now with not being able to do that any longer. I guess I can’t choose between the two: the satisfaction comes from just being able to do something. Being an artist is a great thing – I mean, I’m reaching a lot more people with my art than I ever did with my architecture.

D&P: What about your hobbies?

Andrew Reach: I listen to a lot of music, but not when I’m doing artwork. I would say music and reading.

D&P: Pretty typical for someone who is limited in their physical capabilities. Do you have any big plans for the future?

Andrew Reach: So with the art therapy program, and the exhibits, I hope my story gets out to more people because I think it can inspire. I mean if people see what went on with me – maybe they are going through something themselves and they can be inspired by my art.

I also wanted to make sure to mention, my computer broke a couple of months ago, and I didn’t have the means to get a new computer for myself, and had no prospects, and was getting to the point where I was feeling hopeless again. Our dear friends Jimmy, Karen, and Julie bought me this new computer. They’re very special people – you know, there are guardian angels out there. So I wanted to thank them.

D&P: Well, this has been great, and I want to say thank you for spending so much time with me and in being so detailed with all of this.

Andrew Reach: Your welcome, it’s been a pleasure.

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.

Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Federal Courthouse

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.

Frost Art Museum

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?

"There's No Place to Hide", 2008

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