Jenny Van Alstyne's Art Portfolio

Artists are constantly creating new worlds, but these worlds are often constructed from the mortar of their own life experiences. Over the past few years, I have had the experience of witnessing my grandmother Mimi battle Alzheimer’s disease. During the process of caring for her, I’ve witnessed a glimpse into her world. I found myself drawing parallels between the way someone with living with Alzheimer’s views the world, and the worlds Lewis Carroll created in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.  

 

 In a world where reality constantly shifts, and new realities are born instantaneously-some beautiful and some terrifying, lies the mind of someone living with Alzheimer’s. Their perception of memory, time, and space deviates from reality.  Memory and time oscillate back and forth like a pendulum, from one moment to the next. Space can also become deceiving, sometimes familiar surroundings can help anchor the  patient’s mind in the present, but at other times, even the familiar becomes foreign. Suddenly, their perspective of  the world directly parallels Alice’s encounter in Wonderland.  And much like Wonderland,  Alzheimer’s can cloak the patient’s world in rose-colored momentary beauty, or can instantaneously grow very dark--often the two typically opposing forces intermingle simultaneously.  As the disease progresses, it claims one’s independence, memories, distorts time and spacial relationships, and makes it impossible to identify loved ones, and even oneself.

 

As I witnessed my grandmother’s journey, I felt compelled to create art and write music. Since no cure for Alzheimer’s exists, we must continue research until a cure is found. In the meantime, we must combat the disease by helping those with Alzheimer’s experience mental and social stimulation in positive and calming ways, and help them live in those moments.  I felt the impulse to give my grandmother a voice, an advocate, and to fight in the battle of finding a cure on her behalf. Therefore, for each artwork sold, I will make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association.      

                                 

Before I created my Card House Skyscraper collection of Alice in Wonderland pen and ink and prismacolor drawings, I painted in mostly oils and acrylics and studied studio art and drama at New York University.