Lyme Awareness Art Project (LAAP)

LAAP was born out of my own struggle with Advanced Neurotoxic Lyme Disease. I needed to find some way to transcend my own suffering and to give myself a sense of purpose. I was also horrified at the lack of unbiased research that had been done and the often violent clash of opinions in the medical world not only on treatment protocol but whether or not Advanced Lyme even existed at all! Through LAAP I hope to paint some of the faces and stories behind Lyme to raise awareness that more research is desperately needed.

The first submission for the Lyme Awareness Art Project read:

“I'm not afraid of Lyme disease. I know I can beat it. I'm tough and strong and I can be as mean as a dinosaur. This disease can't slow me down.”

Jeff - age 6 - Middlesex, VT

There was a photo of 6 year old Jeff attached looking as fierce and tough as he possibly could to show how strong he was. I wrote him back and told him that he was my Super-Hero and that I was going to name him “Dinosaur Boy” and paint him as a super-hero fighting Lyme all over the world. I was very uplifted as this is exactly what I envisioned this project to be about. Please help spread the word to anyone whose life has been affected by Advanced Neurotoxic Lyme Disease.

The guidelines for submitting your story and photo are simple, write a short paragraph or poem describing your experience with Advanced Lyme and send a photo that you feel visually expresses the experience you have written about. Include your name, your age and the city and state you live in. I will paint my interpretation of the submissions for what I hope will be a traveling Lyme Awareness show. Please be sure that you send me your contact info incase I need to ask you something about your submission! I will go through the stories and photos and see which ones I feel will translate into the most powerful “Lyme Story” paintings. It is my hope to continue adding paintings to the show over the next 1-2 years. That’s a lot of paintings and I need your stories and faces to do it. You can find the paintings and Lyme stories as well as updates on my website and Lyme blog (See addresses listed below)

When I have enough paintings completed for a show I will be looking for galleries and businesses that are interested in hosting the show and helping me publicize it to raise Lyme awareness. Although the primary goal, at least initially, is not to sell the paintings right away but to keep them together as a traveling show as long as possible to raise Lyme awareness, there will be signed giclee prints of each painting available for sale and I plan to donate a portion of any profits to Lyme research and I will ask my galleries to do the same. The hope is that funds raised by selling the prints and from donations will pay for the supplies and costs related to the project. The poems/paragraphs and photos will be displayed with the paintings so please tell me if you want to remain anonymous and I will leave your name blank.

Thanks to Jeff, Lyme sufferers now have their very own Super-Hero complete with scary fangs, claws and scales, help “Dinosaur Boy” and the Lyme Awareness Art Project spread the word that more research is desperately needed before any more people suffer or even die from this terrible disease.

For the complete submission guidelines and links to important Advanced Lyme websites go to my website at: http://www.crowhousestudio.com or my Lyme blog at: http://lindaslymediseasejournal.blogspot.com

Be Well,
Linda Marcille
Crow House Studio

"After treating hundreds of Chronic Lyme Disease patients in recent years I am convinced that this disease represents the most debilitating, fatiguing and agonizing form of Neurotoxis mediated illness in the USA and in the world"

-Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker

Don & Linda Marcille
Crow House Studio
Paintings on Silk
http://www.crowhousestudio.com

Edited by BryanRosner (12/12/07 05:38 PM)