Art and Dementia

      The “Portraits of Artists”by Bruce Miller and Craig Hou is in regards to patients who are suffering from dementia, and yet are able to expand artistically. These are some remarkable findings because the topic of dementia hits home for me. My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease about a year ago, and the disease causes her to not be able to remember.  However, that is not the worst part; the worst part is that she is frustrated because she is unable to recall important information, and this frustration  leads to tantrums. She is in a rehabilitation center for her ankle, and the center has been taking her to art time. They stated that everyone in the rehabilitation center does very well when they are engaging in art related activities. To our surprise art time has definitely had an impact on my grandmother as she is quite calm after art time.

      My grandmother has been producing some very abstract artwork, which seems bizarre and out of touch at times, but still looks very beautiful. This is consistent with the findings listed in the paper; it has shown that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s have been able to create successful artistic pieces that are appealing even though they are not consistent with reality.  It is amazing to read a paper that speaks of the same concept that I have been observing with my grandmother. At first, it was astonishing and confusing that she was able to create such artistic pieces that were so profoundly amazing, despite the fact that she is unable to remember my name. I am glad that the center started to take her to art time because it definitely helps her channel her frustration into an artistic medium. So, the article is consistent in stating that, “focusing on the potential of patients with dementia could become a powerful tool for rehabilitation. I think it is definitely proving to be a powerful tool for rehabilitation; at least it is for my grandmother. 

      As for the patients suffering from Frontal Temporal Dementia, I found the fact that the usage of certain colors such as “purple, yellow, or blue” was more often than other colors very interesting. I wonder if they use these colors more often than other because they are bright and perhaps more “eye-catching” than other colors. Another intriguing aspect of this paper was that art is not only a visual process, but rather a language-based process as well. I have never referred to art as a form of a language based process because I have always associated it with a visual and motor process. Although, I can see the relationship between art and it being a language process, as explained in the article with "symbolism and linguistic concepts" . Due to the fact that, symbolism was used within the art and the need for linguistic concepts to explain the art and the different aspects of symbolism used to make the artistic piece relevant. Above all, I think it is great that art is prevalent as a rehabilitation tool.