Johnson Simon, the Overachieving “Throw Away Kid”, was born with severe Cerebral Palsy. He couldn’t walk until he was 5 years old. He was born in the Turks and Caicos Islands then moved to Haiti to live with his grandparents while his parents went to the US to try to make a better life for their family. Haiti would not admit him into their schools, so he joined his parents in Florida. He was considered mentally retarded due his disabilities and was put into classes with others who were in ... view more »

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About My Work:

I have always been interested in body movement and when an opportunity was presented to me to attend a dance recital exhibition two years ago on the Western Michigan University campus, I was excited to attend.  Viewing the dancers and their freedom of movement inspired me to display movement in my painting.  I was stimulated to create my first dance focused expressionistic painting.  Dancing is to me, the art of moving lightly and quickly with the skill of communicating my emotion.  As someone with a disability, movement impacts me on a daily basis.   In order to help gain more knowledge of motion and movement, I used several sources of movement for research and to enhance ideas. I watch several videos of dancing to help in determining the type of movement I wanted to present in my painting.  I studied the movement of people: walking, running, swimming, and sky diving.  I then had my own walking and stepping up and down stairways videotaped. I discovered that my walking has a rhythm to it.  To further enhance my study of movement I attended several dancing classes to sketch the dancer’s movements for effect.  My painting is a representation of me dancing.  I am able to make broad and sweeping motions with my paint brush and transfer that motion and feeling of movement onto the canvas to express myself.  In my artistic work, I am able to move freely about without limitations.  I use bright colors to represent the body movement throughout the surface.

My artwork is a way for me to express or transfer how I would move freely and uninterrupted.  I can run, walk, jump, and I can dance without being bound to limitations when I paint and draw.  I believe the paint brush is an extension of me and represents my idea of movement on canvas.

Upcoming Events:

BigIndy Artist Reception

Friday, July 6th

6pm-9pm

Education:

Western Michigan University Frost School of Arts, BFA

Herron School of Art and Design, MFA

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