One of my students of many years is now 92 years old and has Alzheimer's, yet even though she had not touched a brush in several years, when her granddaughter set her up for painting, not only did she paint as if she was picking up from yesterday, she spouted out the art lingo as if she'd been painting every day.
So this week's post is in honor of Mignon Bruce, artist and lover of the arts. Here she is with her son holding her newest painting.
Mignon is one of those rare human beings who in addition to being an artist herself devoted her long life and an indeterminate amount of energy enabling an awareness and appreciation of the arts in an artless community. Her determination and support for artists in our area has been as tenacious as it has been fruitful. Whereas forty years ago interest in the arts was sparse, today this same community sports an abundance of artists, a community theater, an active and growing art department at our local college and several art galleries. In every single one of these areas I can find Mignon's footprint.
And today even though Alzheimer's has stolen from her far too much, she is proving what I've always known, that art is an extension of the soul and does not perish.
