William Utermohlen Exhibition: Self Portrait of Alzheimer’s Disease.
January 26, 2008 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Artist William Utermohlen spent the last decade of his life creating a series of self-protraits that followed his descent into dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. It was, according to his wife, his way of understanding the disease.
His painting have been touring the world, with exhibitions around Europe and the United States. Now the exhibition ‘Inside Alzheimer’s: Portraits of the Mind” will be on display in Sacramento, California. The 19 piece show will be displayed at the Art Foundry Gallery at 10th and R Streets starting February 6th 2008. Reproductions of some of the pieces will also be on display at the entrance to the Governor’s Office at the State Capital.
The exhibition has been sponsored by Aging Services of California, the advocate for nonprofit senior living and care in the state.
If you can’t make it to the exhibition, then check out this slide show of his paintings.
Further reading:
Self-Portraits Chronicle a Descent Into Alzheimer’s
Very interesting, Liz. Art and crafts, in various forms, often help the Alzheimer’s patients to relieve stress and express their feelings. I’ve worked with Alzheimer’s patients in scrapbooking and found they enjoyed this very much, although many of them needed a great deal of help.