Arthur (Art) Lee suffers from Lewy body dementia (LBD). Words often fail him and his arms and hands often experience uncontrollable tremors. But somehow, he still paints incredible oil paintings. Whether a portrait, a landscape, or
an abstract (on his most troubling days), Art is able to create masterpieces with his paintbrush.
What makes Art’s ability to paint so incredible is how he can paint such incredible portraits with his tremors and stiffness. He does so using a few tools to help him better steady his hands as he paints: an artist’s tool called a mahl stick and a
tennis ball that is speared through by a paintbrush for those days when his hands will not cooperate with gripping a small, fine paintbrush. Art is able to place his hands more easily around the ball, bringing his fingers gently together to meet at the base of the paintbrush, allowing him more control. Art also uses his fingers to produce his masterpieces, adding dimension to the canvas. Some might call it finger painting. His wife calls it “genius.”
Art is on a mission to paint every day. According to his wife, “(w)hen he was given this debilitating, degenerative, life shortening sentence of Lewy body dementia (LBD), he could have curled up in a ball and withered his time away, angry and despondent. He could have given up. But instead, he reaches out daily to discover new meanings in life through his artistic
abilities.”
