Art Therapy Saved my life!!
by Lisa Hilton
On November 3rd, 2017 I will turn 45 and in a whole other way I am really only 5, let me explain.
On November 3rd, 2012 I suffered a stroke while on stage competing in Texas State Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships in Austin, TX. I was given the clot-busting drug TPA and was in ICU for 6 days. One year later I had my second stroke, but only in ICU 4 days. I suffered some Paralysis to my left side, Severe Photophobia, Depression, Memory Loss, Aphasia, Severe Fatigue Syndrome, Anxiety and PTSD. I still battle with some of these invisible limitations but I am not here to play the violin and whip out some wine with my cheese NO MAAM!! NO SIR!!!! I will save THAT for the day I have my own solo show but trading the violin for a guitar!! lol
I am here sharing my story of how I SURVIVED and more important how ART saved my life.
I never took a class or ever really painted before being introduced to Art Therapy. I became the legal guardian of my niece, who I see as my own child, and when she was in college pursuing a psychology degree she suggested Music & Art Therapy in my recovery to help regain the full use of my left hand and arm. I was not having a good experience with the medications I was given at all, in fact, I was in the deepest darkest part of my depression and ready to just give up. I did NOT want to live, I really felt everyone would be better off if I had just not made it and I was scaring myself with my own thoughts.
I decided to give Music & Art Therapy a try and after finding out I couldn’t play any instruments we started buying art supplies. My mother, who remains my caretaker, even emptied out an extra room and made it my art room ( Yep, I had to move in with my parents with my two kids).
It took a while to figure out just what type of painting or media I fell into or enjoyed. I finally figured it out when I broke up with a local musician I had been dating and put his CD in the microwave!! (DO NOT DO THAT VER
Y DANGEROUS) BUT I did and at 3 seconds I thought I was gonna blow up my parent’s house so I stopped it and took it out, I looked at the CD and the back looked SOOOO COOL I mean CDs are already so memorizing and I thought ” Hey, I can make something with this…..” I wound up making some Resin coasters and I cut up that CD and that CD Cover along with our favorite momentums and crap only he would get ya know.
Anyway, I basically put all my heart ache my pain and my happy memories in those coasters…….
I FELT SO MUCH BETTER and I gave them to him.
I felt like I literally got rid of all that negative energy and when it left my house it left me. So I started doing that with some songs and they would trigger memories good and bad and BOOM when they were done I was like hey I just made something so cool out of something I thought was so horrible. I am a single mother and decided THIS WAS MY THING , I chose Recycled Art to show my kids that even though something is damaged and not what it once was (LIKE ME POST STROKE) doesn’t mean that someone won’t still find beauty in it and that you can still make something amazing out of it.
BUT I had to purchase a barn and move my workshop down my by parents pond and chickens because of my misuse of the microwave and a couple fires with the blowtorch hahahahaha nothing serious but I was just mastering my craft and resin use. I finish all of my work, which is all recycled broken and unplayable music related items, in Art Resin that’s kinda my niche.
I truly feel that my soul is awake now and I am happier than I have been even when I am sad. I have a great support system of family, amazing fellow artists & good friends. So when I say I am really only 5 years old I mean I feel like I was given a chance to start over and I really feel the need to share how much ART really saved my life.
5 years ago I was going down a path that wasn’t meant for me or my kids.
Today I am working as a full time artist it is my job and I love my job. I am a regular at First Saturday Arts Market, The Market at Sawyer Yards, I am a featured Gallery Artist at Rockstar Gallery and have even shown at The Woodlands Waterway Art Festival. I have many goals and strive to soar to new heights!!!! (Pun totally intended) I have a whole new outlook on life in general. I AM ALIVE AND I AM HAPPY.
Art Therapy & Music Therapy helped bring me back to life.
Music helped bring back some memories and the amazing ability to purge your soul through Art Therapy is better than colonics. Lmao
All of my artwork pieces embrace a story…….. Come out and check it out in person or online on www.facebook,com/LoveCactus88
I was angry and full of so much pain and hurt for so long……. for the past 5 years I have been making art and burning sage and just praying and thanking GOD that I am on this side of the dirt!!!!
Lisa M. Hilton
