Tonight was the Vernissage or opening night of a new art exhibition here in Montréal, the annual juried art show of the historic Women’s Art Society of Montréal (WASM). How historic? Well, this is the organization’s 127th annual exhibition! The WASM was:
founded in 1894 by two Montreal women, Mrs. James H. Peck (nee Mary Alice Skelton) and Mary Martha (May) Phillips, with the goal of integrating women into the art world at a time in history when women had few rights and were relegated to other roles.” (1)
Fast-forward to 2022, and this year their art show features over 100 works of art from 52 different artists – including me. This Vernissage event was open to the public, with no entrance fee, but I wasn’t sure how many people would be there as we still have mask mandates in this area.
It was a lovely surprise, to me, to see such a crowd at this art gallery tonight. My husband and I left before the event wrapped up, to get some dinner, and apparently the art show was even busier later on in the evening.
If you’re in the Montréal area, feel free to drop by and see the show. This free visual arts exhibition continues until May 21st, and is open from 1000 to 1700 on weekdays and from noon to 1700 on Saturdays. The address is: Gallerie Gora (Gora Gallery), 279 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 205, at the corner of Park Avenue. There’s an elevator to get to the second floor, to Suite 205.
I only began painting last year, so I still find it amazing that I’ve already had seven watercolour paintings in live exhibitions and six of them featured in online exhibitions. Any time I see one of my paintings on a wall, or even on a website, I can’t help but smile. It’s been a hard road, to get to this point.
In 2016 I was struck with a rare autoimmune and neuro-inflammatory disease, that causes high-impact (severe) chronic pain and a whole host of other symptoms. I’m lucky that it’s primarily my right hand and arm are directly affected, not my legs, but – of course! – I’m right-handed. And I experience full-body fatigue from the autoimmune aspects of this disease, and now have a mild cognitive impairment from it as well.
The range and variety of symptoms is truly bizarre, and the condition is so complex that its name even includes that word; Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). CRPS is considered to be very challenging for both patients and healthcare professionals, because all we can do is to try to manage its symptoms as best we can.
There’s no research evidence to back up any particular type of treatment at this point, in part because each patient with CRPS may have a different set of symptoms. In effect, any given CPRS patient may have their own unique version of this disease:
complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) – multiple system dysfunction, severe and often chronic pain, and disability… has fascinated scientists and perplexed clinicians for decades” (2)
Despite the pain and other challenges of CRPS, I’d continued working in bioethics. I had a career that I loved, was part of a great team, and told my family and friends that I’d finally found my dream job. Then, at the end of 2018, a new symptom of CRPS developed; that mild cognitive impairment I mentioned earlier. CRPS is an extremely odd ailment, in that it’s considered to be both an autoimmune disease and a neuro-inflammatory condition. On the neurologic side, cognitive issues develop in about 65% of patients who have CRPS for more than a few years:
Significant neuropsychological deficits are present in 65% of patients, with many patients presenting with elements of a dysexecutive syndrome and some patients presenting with global cognitive impairment.” (3)
That research used “tests that assess executive control, naming/lexical retrieval, and declarative memory”. (3) Executive control, in neurologic terms, includes thought processes like planning and problem solving. The category of naming/lexical retrieval is the ability to remember words and to use them properly. That was the first sign, to me and my loved ones, that something had changed for me.
After my physicians and insurer declared my mild cognitive impairment to be permanent (as a ‘long-term disability’) I began switching from my hobby of nature photography to other creative arts. Primarily as movement-therapy for my CRPS-affected right hand and arm, but also in the hopes that learning new skills would help prevent my cognitive issues from getting any worse.
Then last year I decided to go a step further than crafts, and try watercolour painting. It always been a dream of mine to learn to use watercolours, and I’d often take nature photos and tell myself: “Someday I’ll paint this scene”. I quickly fell in love with watercolours, and have continued to use my art to raise awareness of chronic pain and of CRPS.
Whatever you do this weekend, I hope you find some beauty in your life and some reasons to be grateful. Even if you are experiencing pain. As always, thanks so much for stopping by, and please feel free to reach out over on Instagram or Twitter with any comments. There’s no Comments section here on the blog, because it became too much for me to handle due to my cognitive impairment. I had to disable that feature a few years ago, but I do still love to hear from you!
References
(1) Women’s Art Society of Montréal. WASM Celebrates 125 years!. Webpage. 2019. Accessed 07 May 2022.
https://www.womensartsociety.com/history
(2) Clinical features and pathophysiology of complex regional pain syndrome. (Review Article.) Johan Marinus, G Lorimer Moseley, Frank Birklein, Ralf Baron, Christian Maihöfner, Wade S Kingery, et al. The Lancet Neurology. 2011(10):7; 637-648. 01 July 2011. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(11)70106-5. Online:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(11)70106-5/fulltext#secd13577181e290
(3) Libon, David J, Schwartzman, Robert J, Eppig, Joel, et al. Neuropsychological deficits associated with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. J International Neuropsychological Society (JINS). 2010; 16, 566–573. Online 19 Mar 2010. doi:10.1017/S1355617710000214. Accessed 07 May 2022: