Author: Lilly Nguyen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Published September 24, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A unique art show in Newport Beach last weekend sought to promote awareness of epilepsy and to empower individuals living with the neurological disorder that causes seizures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Held at the Marina Park Community Center, \u201c1:26 The Art of Epilepsy\u201d was hosted by the Hidden Truths Project, founded by Dr. Julie Thompson-Dobkin. She describes epilepsy as an invisible disability.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Beckemeyer was first diagnosed in 2011 when he was 22, after he had a seizure in the passenger seat of his mother\u2019s car while they were on their way to a nephew\u2019s birthday party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s since had two surgeries to address his epilepsy that removed 3 millimeters of his brain. The operations, after which he had to relearn to walk, speak, read and write, allowed him this week to say he\u2019s been seizure-free since August 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zach Beckemeyer holds one of his artworks, “Blue-jay in a Cherry Tree.”
Beckemeyer said he found art by accident in 2017 but that it has since become a therapeutic in ways that he hadn\u2019t expected for him both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, Beckemeyer printed out a few T-shirts, sold them and said that the sales gave him the confidence to keep going. He said he would frequent local cafes every morning, order coffee and draw in a small sketchbook until he started experiencing tremors and struggled with his mental health. So, he took a break from that ritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t until the last two or three years that he picked up a pen again and completed a drawing every day, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just realized, wow, this feels great. This is nothing I\u2019ve ever experienced. The only thing I\u2019ve ever experienced of that nature that really made me feel comfortable was playing my drums and playing my guitar,\u201d said Beckemeyer, who added with a laugh that his apartment walls are too thin to even consider playing his drums today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe thing with artwork is that it was helping out the physical problems I was having, such as the shakiness and the tremors. But all of my perspective \u2026 it was a deep concentration on an entirely new universe and \u2026 it was some kind of a high that I got out of it,\u201d said Beckemeyer. \u201cBefore then, all I did all day was smoke marijuana and cigarettes. But when I realized how much of a better feeling [art gave me] \u2026 that completely cut me out from smoking anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He creates his artworks first by pencil, then by Sharpie pen and then he\u2019ll scan the image into Adobe Illustrator to add color. He said drawing makes all the negative thoughts about his situation, about challenges he\u2019s facing, evaporate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was not expecting this to turn into anything more than a hobby,\u201d Beckemeyer said of his art being selected for the exhibit. \u201cI feel less like a grain of sand in a beach more like a stone that\u2019s rolling around on top of it.\u201dme and to not be controlled by the disease process, but to use it for their own personal development and expression,\u201d Millett said. (Nguyen, 2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Epilepsy can be a debilitating condition. Even if medication works, the fear and anxiety of breakthrough seizures is still there. Restrictions are set in place too for people on epileptic medication, restricting their daily life. The outlet of art is a beautiful way to lessen the burdens of epilepsy. Taking steps forward in providing for the epileptic community does not always have to mean find a solution or cure for the condition. It can sometimes just mean finding ways to make this community feel supported and engage in pleasurable activities without the fear of their condition. Making the space for people in suffering to experience “a deep concentration on an entirely new universe and … it was some kind of a high that I got out of it,\u201d (Nguyen, 2022) is truly important. In design, we sometimes get caught up in designing for the solution when when sometimes people just want something for the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nguyen, L. (2022, September 24). Artists bring \u201chidden truths\u201d of epilepsy to light in art exhibition at Marina Park<\/em>. Los Angeles Times. https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/socal\/daily-pilot\/news\/story\/2022-09-24\/artists-bring-hidden-truths-of-epilepsy-to-light-in-art-exhibition-at-marina-park Author: Lilly Nguyen Published September 24, 2022 “A unique art show in Newport Beach last weekend sought to promote awareness of epilepsy and to empower individuals living with the neurological disorder that causes seizures. Held at the Marina Park Community Center, \u201c1:26 The Art of Epilepsy\u201d was hosted by the Hidden Truths Project, founded by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":21849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts","8":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21848"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22414,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21848\/revisions\/22414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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