Art of Autism Creatives Share ‘Wassup’ In the New Year
Compiled By Keri Bowers with help and special thanks to New Art of Autism Ambassador Linish Balan
This Mash Up is dedicated to all of us who are emotionally and physically exhausted from the high-intensity dramas of 2020. Our wish is we can tap into that certain something special within each of us in 2021 to find peace in our blessings, gratitude for each day, and with grace and love, to be thankful for the simplest of things.
Melody Rain and Snoopy
Longtime Art of Autism friend, Melody Rain, shares some favorite photographs with us of her much-beloved best friend, Snoopy, depicting the deep bond shared between them. Snoopy who loved and was loved unconditionally, was Melody’s guardian angel for 15 years, until his passing last year.
Melody, who enjoys teaching others about autism and what autism is like for her, shared her experiences as a woman with mutism in an Art of Autism blog My Challenges with Mutism, is a skilled writer in addition to her many other talents. Check it out her December, 2019, blog here My Challenges with Mutism. https://the-art-of-autism.com/my-challenges-with-mutism/
Try not to misunderstand mutism. Research it instead. Like other disorders each person may experience it differently. But learn what you can.
For Melody
by Linish Balan
He was her boy
He was an angel guardian
He took care of her
He protected her
He watched her every move
He could understand her sadness
He would just know when she was upset
He kissed away her tears
He was her service dog
He was her best friend
He devoted his life to her
He is Snoopy
He is in heaven now
He is still looking down at her from there
He is still her favorite boy
He still lives in her heart
Devansh
Devansh, age 19, from India, is non-speaking using his art to communicate. He pours his art out onto the canvas, taking all the colors of his choice to express his feelings and put his world on pieces of canvas. His beautiful composition abilities are titled with intriguingly astute names; in order of appearance, his three paintings are titled “Alfheim”, “Metro”, and “Seasons of The Golden Moon”.
Gatik Pradhan
For Gatik
by Linish Balan
He was so shy when we met for first time
But I noticed that spark at the very first moment
We spent most of the time on boring academics
But my all interest was on that gifted talent
Slowly we started to work on that talent
We started with masks
Masks helped him to remove his shyness
Then we removed masks
The gifted talent has been unmasked
An actor has born
Gatik Pradhan’s parents shared a bit of his world with us in these three videos. A joyful, happy boy, Gatik lives in India.
And what’s not to LOVE about this! The below invited submission is a collaborative painting by Gatik’s parents, Anubhav and Shivani. In Anubhav’s words
My wife Shivani and I also want to submit our entry as a painting that we made for the Art of Annual Art & Poems for Peace 2020 Initiative. It’s a city landscape of one of our favourite cities – Nuremberg in Germany. This city has a special significance in history as it has witnessed several crimes against peace but ultimately the winner is humanity.
The Art of Autism wishes all a Happy and Creative New Years! We are taking submissions for Black History Month for February, Women of History for March, and peace-themed art and poetry for September.
