A Colorful World

I went to an art walk this weekend and met an incredible person and artist. If I had been thinking, I would have gotten her name or taken a photo of her artwork. As it is, I got neither of those things. Ah, well. I did get her story.

When my friends and I walked into the art exhibit off the corner of Walnut Street, it was to a room lined with intensely colorful paintings. The artist stood towards the back of the gallery with her back facing the door, painting on a canvas. We made our way towards where she worked and began to watch. Noticing us, she turned to tell us her story.

"I was born with synesthesia. Instead of seeing letters on a page, I see color. Everything is color. This," she said, pointing to a landscape of blues, yellows, reds, and greens, "was what I saw driving to Walmart earlier this week."

Synesthesia is a condition where the brain mixes up the senes. While it's not common, there are a few great musicians and artists who struggled with the same condition, Mozart being one of them.

The painter continued to talk as she added to the piece in front of her, explaining the world in which she lived. "I couldn't read until I was 13 years old. Throughout elementary school, I would try to explain to my teachers and parents that I couldn't see the letters on the page. Instead of an "A," I saw red. Instead of "B," I saw green. Reading I could never grasp. Art, however, was my language."

Her father was the one who introduced this to her. When she was little, he would give her paper and crayons and would wait to see what she could come up with.

At the age of 12, she began her artistic career. "My father owned a tile shop when I was little. One day, he set me up in the back corner with some tiles and paints. I would paint vines and grapes - really anything I wanted. After she finished, he would place the finished tiles in the front of his store. Soon, people began to see them, admire them, and purchase them.

"Pretty soon, our entire town was covered in little pieces of my work. It was then that I was hooked. I've been an artist ever since."

I wish I could have gotten her name. As a writer with zero artists talent, it was fascinating to see the thinking and feeling behind a different creative outlet. While I don't know what I would do without words, she would be as equally lost without paints.