"The First is Last" painting session 11: TEDMED Day 4

I painted this backstage while I was surrounded by the easy camaraderie of entertainers and backstage crew.  This was the final session of a long show.  The day began will Jill Sobule leaving her soft chair and crossing the stage.  She began with a song that went “Ritalin Boy, Ritalin Boy, oh, look a squirrel!”  I laughed at that, as I have two very active sons and could relate.

Then Jill sang to us “Lucy at the Gym.”  It was so beautiful I thought I must show you the song within this blog:

“Lucy at the gym
She's there every time I go,
and I don't go that often, so she must live at the gym
I stare at her ribs they show through the spandex
Her little legs are working, she's going somewhere
She's climbing up the stairs
And when she reaches the top her dreams will be there

Lucy at the gym
Lucy on the scale for the third time
Thru thick and thin, Lucy's at the gym
She's staring at the clock and like the 2nd hand she never stops
She's Lucy at the gym

When she takes a shower, after all the hours
Does she have a place to go
Is there someone waiting
Or is Lucy all alone

I'm at the gym and Lucy's not there
It's got me kinda worried so I imagine the worst
She's made it up to heaven
And when she met her maker, he said "come right in"
"I'll show you around the gym"
"Everyone's beautiful and thin"
"And here there's no sin, 
and your life can begin
Lucy at the gym"

I painted Lucy in the center of this canvas and titled this piece “The First is Last.”  Here on the final session of the final day we were speaking about emotions and the underlying sorrow that can affect our health outcomes.    

Jill Sobule was followed by Dr. Jay Lombard, MD and Chief Scientific Officer at Genomind. He furthered the conversation that Jill began as he talked of the final frontier in health: biomarkers for psychiatric conditions.

Leslie Saxon, MD Executive Director and Founder of USC Center for Body Computing spoke about the future of implantable wireless heart devices. I was saddened that I did not hear her address the need for patients to access this data just as much as the provider and the manufacturer.  Patients such as Hugo Campos fight daily for access to the data of these devices implanted within their very own bodies. So I painted a patient with a heart device looking stoically from the canvas.

Next Ali Ansary, co-founder of SeventyK currently a medical student, began a diatribe against non-compliant patients.  This session had began with such promise, focusing on mental health issues and the explaining the underlying reasons that people act as they do. I was deeply disappointed in Ali’s speech.  His delivery reminded of a game my 13 year-old sometimes plays with his little 6 year-old brother.  It is called “Why are you hitting yourself?”  The game consists of my little Isaac holding his hand in front of his face while my older son Freddie repeatedly smacks Isaac’s hand into Isaac’s face while saying in a sing-song fashion “Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?”

I painted Ali into the painting with a simple doctor’s progress note saying “Why are you hitting yourself.”

Mark Hyman, Founder and Chairman of the Institute of Functional Medicine, spoke next.  He delivered an amazing speech about the coming epidemic of “Diabesity.”  He spoke of his time in Haiti and his questions to the local doctors.  He was surprised to hear the most common diagnosis in pre-earthquake Haiti was diabetes.  He spoke about the effects of over medication, lack of exercise and poor food choices.  He said such a path was killing us. But gave us a thread of hope as he spoke of Project Daniel, a program that helped entire Church congregations’ loose weight, he added it is not your parent’s weight that effects you as much as your friends. Community can save your life.  So a woman from Haiti holds the shoulders of another figure in the frame.

But that is the only human contact within this piece. The colors are so dark. Lucy looks so lost.  
I wish that I could save her.

This painting was given to Steelcase and Nurture for their support for TEDMED.

"Sacred Cow" painting session 9: TEDMED Day

This was the ninth time I began to paint in the simulcast Hub Room.  Suddenly, the signal was cut and we heard an ominous announcement that everyone must head to the Opera House to see the final session.  I looked at my assistant Kait B. Roe in shock as we threw wet brushes and paints into a bag and I began to limp as fast as possible to the backstage area.   I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I had been painting while standing on a probable stress fracture in my foot as I created the previous eight works.

Out of breath once I arrived, I set up my canvas on the floor five feet away from Billie Jean King and Katie Couric and began to paint.

Once again Steve Connell and Sekou Andrews treated us to a spoken word composition that told us to go find “the cows” and that command influenced this piece I entitled “Sacred Cow.” They were commanding us to apply our new knowledge as we leave TEDMED and think in new ways.

Next I painted a book within the painting. The book is entitled “The Never Trials” in honor of Ben Goldacre, MD the author of Bad Science.  He spoke of the danger in our publication system that publishes positive findings while ignoring negative ones.  His statistics were terrifying. Over 90 of articles published in the biomedical publishing industry were reporting positive results.  Or to put that another way, for every 7 failed studies that proved a drug did not work as hoped, they would print the one that showed positive results.

John Wesley Harding, singer, songwriter and author famous for such postmodern hits as “There is a Starbucks where the Starbucks Used to Be” treated us to his dystopian scientific ballad: “Calling Off the Experiment.”

Jay Walker then amazed the crowd with another piece of medical ephemera: The Bills of Mortality recorded by the Church.  Considered by some to be the first public health data collected, it included death records that showed a seasonal spike in plague deaths. So, I painted the Bill of Mortality in what was rapidly becoming a sacred blue stained glass window image.

Next wearing a traditional suit, rather than a farmer’s outfit, organic farmer Joel Salatin crossed the stage.  He said he was wearing a power suit to be taken seriously, as the founder of the Walking Gallery that is a sentiment I really understand.  Then he launched a diatribe against the horribly bad food we eat in America.  He spoke out that instead of feeding cows to cows, we should embrace the very nature of the cow.  Then a cow’s head entered the painting tagged on one ear 73 and a shaft of wheat appeared at the top of the image.

Next Billie Jean King and Katie Couric began to interview each other. Katie spoke of her husband death from cancer and it was revealed that her wiliness to undergo a colonoscopy on television led to a spike in that procedure.  This was called the Katie effect. 

Katie also spoke of discrimination against women in the workplace saying that when she went into this business, “Harass was two words.”

Billie Jean King spoke of her long-term support of women’s rights to equal education funding.  She spoke of the importance of playground tennis and easy access to sports in neighborhoods and schools.  She spoke of her worries that we are fighting the same battles we fought 30 years before.  So within the painting I placed a young Billie Jean standing in for all of the patients with a tennis racket at her side.

Then Jill Souble and her mother sang us into the night to come…

This painting was given to SIEMENS for their sponsorship and dedication to TEDMED.

TEDMED Day 2: "Space" Painting Session 2

Music began the second day of TEDMED 2012. 


Beautiful Singer and Songwriter Jill Sobule was a spark of light on stage as she performed with Dr. Francis Collins, both playing guitar and singing a song about disease. Their instruments were quirky cool and I combined them within the painting.  The guitar is the tear shape of Jill's instrument with the double helix from the guitar Francis held.  Then Francis showed us he was an equally accomplished speaker as he led us into a discussion on rare disease.

Besides being a musician, Francis works on fighting disease at the molecular level. He helped discover the cause for Cystic Fibrosis about 25 years ago.  He spoke primarily on the topic of Progeria and his hope that NIH will enable clinical trials to occur more rapidly. Progeria is a rare disorder causing premature aging and early death.  Francis invited Sam Berns, a 15 year old boy who lives a full life regardless of his Progeria status, to present with him onstage.  I painted high school band member Sam brave and wonderful holding the Jill/Francis guitar.

 


Sam the patient received a standing ovation.

Next TEDMED's Jay Walker came onto the stage and defined himself as a curator of "The Library."  In my life I have met many who own books or art in a need for prestige or fame through acquisition. I have also met folks who cherish such pieces and want to share those amazing items with others in joy whilst illustrating their great importance within our history.  Jay Walker is the type of man who cherishes. My late husband Fred would have loved Jay.  They both hold books with great reverence and joy.

Jay told us about the frightful moments on Apollo 11 before "the eagle has landed." He spoke of the second by second communications as the astronaut team reported they would soon be out of fuel.  Calmly the astronauts stated their dire circumstances.  They avoided a crash landing with only 20 seconds left of fuel.  Then Jay showed us the EKG vital readings of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin that revealed the racing pulses belied their calm tones. The lunar module landed at 4:18pm Armstrong radios "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Mission control responds, "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again."  So within the painting an astronaut cradles Sam in his arms. The astronaut's face is the blue of the moon and the blue of asphyxiation and sleep apnea foreshadowing the speeches to come.                                         

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, presented a speech on "What we have learned about tackling "Great Challenges."  She highlighted the dangers of childhood obesity and importance of community in fostering positive health outcomes.  She stated that unlikely alliances were necessary in order to cause change and the composition of this painting testifies to the truth of that statement.

Howard-Yana Shapiro, Global Director of Plant Science and External Research of Mars Incorporated, only had to walk onstage to draw attention as he has the most magnificent beard.  But then his speech really blew our minds. I began to paint a red planet Mars into the painting.  As he continued to speak about the importance of the healthy quality of food over the tonnage of food sold, Mars became an M&M and part of the guitar above became a shaft of wheat.

 


Judith Salerno, MD and Leonard D. Schaeffer Executive Officer of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies presented with John Hoffman, Vice President, HBO Documentary Films; Executive Producer, "Weight of the Nation."  Their speech focused on if America was finally ready to tackle obesity and why it cannot weight any longer.  Early in the speech John made a comment that HBO was famous for shows such as "Game of Thrones," not documentaries that try to address health problems.  I disagreed to some extent, as I believe they do both.  So I painted a very obese King Robert Baratheon upon his throne wearing the boxer shorts of an American couch potato with remote in hand.  I was glad to hear that the folks at HBO are addressing this important health issue from their powerful public pulpit.


Finally Scott Jurek, author and Ultra marathon Champion and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street took to the stage. They had a great conversation that revolved around healthy eating and exercise.  Scott assured Cookie that healthy living required more than specialty sneakers and non-chafing running shorts.  It required a healthy lifestyle in food choice and activity.  That means fewer cookies and more veggies.  So the final image added in this painting is a hesitant Cookie Monster peering around the astronaut's legs.




As I finished this piece, I named it "Space:" for the space above us, for the space between us and the space we fill with our ever-growing body size.

This piece was given to Mars, Inc for their dedication to TEDMED and their sponsorship of attendees through the TEDMED patron fund.