The Story of Fruhaf

Fruhaf

Early in my career as an art educator I taught special education.  I was to learn many lessons during that time about life, art and learning during that time.  It was never my intent to become a teacher, teach special education nor to learn patience-but all of those things happened whether I was a willing participant or not.  Many of those stories can be for another time.  But the following story was to teach me one of my most important lessons of life and art. 

Ernie was a special education student who no one could communicate with nor him with us....or so we thought.  He said little that made any sense.  One of my greatest challenges was to get him to even pick up a brush without painting himself, me or the other kids.  I think we all thought Ernie was clueless about the world around him.  There was one word Ernie yelled out over and over...it seemed to have no meaning until one day we asked his Mother what Fruha was...she was delighted, overjoyed and blurted out," it is the company his Father works for..Fruhaf!" For the first time Ernie's Mom knew he was trying to communicate to his family and loved them.

 I learned many lessons from this experience.  I learned Ernie was aware of his world and he did attach meaning a word that meant something to him.  I learned not to assume that people do not know things because they don't communicate the same way, I learned patience in understanding Ernie and solving the mystery of his language. I learned our brains function at many levels. I also learned many of the colors Ernie selected were in his Father's uniform.  I am not totally sure what it takes to be an effective teacher, artist or even human being, but I think among them must be the respect of an individual's effort to communicate and share.  

The mind is an amazing organism that functions in ways we cannot completely comprehend. My lessons on brain function, art and learning were to continue for many years though students that had autism, multiple learning handicaps, blind, deaf, and nursing home patients. All of these experiences have made my art richer, and my understanding of the human experience more complete. 

 One of the things I think artists do best, is to communicate what our mind absorbs and reflects.