LUMA An intimate portrait of Alzheimer's


According to the Alzheimer's As- sociation, one in nine Americans over age 65 has Alzheimer’s, and the majority of those with the dis- ease are over age 75. For UK-based artist William Utermohlen, the symptoms began in his late 50s and he was diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease before he even reached the age of 65. William Utermohlen: A Persis-


tence of Memory traces the effects of the cognitive impairment on both his style and perspective. The exhibition, running through July 23 at Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA), showcases the span of Utermohlen’s work, from his classically trained portraiture to emotionally charged abstraction. “If you did not know that this


man was suffering from Alzheim- er’s, you could simply perceive the work as a stylistic change,” says Pam Ambrose, director of LUMA and cultural affairs at Loyola. “As the disease progressed, he was unable to render pictorial space correctly but was truly able to ex- press emotion through his work.” Walking through the exhibition,


Ambrose highlights Utermohlen's 1990 piece Snow, part of “The Con- versations Pieces.” The colorful six- part series, created as signs of the illness were emerging, features tilt- ed picture planes and ungrounded objects whimsically floating in space. Snow illustrates the artist's growing reclusiveness. Four people are engaged in conversation at a table while Utermohlen is far removed, on the sofa with a cat in his lap. The piece is flanked by two bleak, black-and-white landscapes, one of which could be perceived as a graveyard. “This painting gives us a clue that Utermohlen was really pulling away,” says Ambrose. “This is where I believe artists have a leg up with the effects of the disease; although they lost the ability to


Students lead the way on Magis Scholarship Fund


Loyola’s new Magis Scholarship Fund isn’t just unique because of whom it benefits—it also has an origin story that is completely unique to the University. Loyola students conceived the idea, stumped for it, then overwhelmingly ap- proved it in a spring 2015 vote. The scholarship’s mission is twofold:


Counter- clockwise from above: Snow, 1997; Self Portrait, 1955; Head 1, 2000; by William Utermohlen


to help undocumented undergradu- ates with school costs and to jumpstart conversations in and out of the class- room. “There are so many undocumented students who are working hard at Loyola but unfortunately can’t receive federal financial aid,” says Catalina Cipri, co- president of the Latin American Student Organization (LASO). “So it often com- promises their ability to work as hard in school because they have to work to pay for their tuition.” The University’s Board of Trustees


communicate verbally and in writ- ing, they continue to communicate through art.” LUMA’s ilLUMAnations program,


in partnership with Northwestern University’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center, works to develop that ability. The three-year-old program uses the arts to engage Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers. Working with Loyola’s Depart- ment of Fine and Performing Arts, the workshops combine art, dance, and music with a social hour. Evaluations have shown that participants have gained increased social engagement, self-esteem, and verbal communication skills. Utermohlen used art to com-


municate his deepest emotions as his life progressed. In Self


Portrait with a Saw (1997), the artist depicts himself with an anxious, perplexed expression and a miter saw. Though commonly used by artists to cut wood for canvases and frames, the saw meant some- thing more to Utermohlen—his physician told him that the only way to know for certain if he had Alzheimer's would be to cut into his skull to examine his brain after he died. “That image stuck in his mind,


and he immediately painted this piece," explains Ambrose. "Artists internalize everything. Luckily, musicians and visual artists espe- cially have the advantage of an en- grained need, almost compulsion, really, to express themselves.”


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approved the students’ vote to add an individual $2.50 student fee each semester—raising roughly $50,000 each year. Don Graham, chairman and CEO of Graham Holdings Company and founder of TheDream.US, matched the $50,000 raised by students. The initiative was a joint project of LA-


SO and the Unified Student Government Association (now the Student Govern- ment of Loyola Chicago). The two groups held forums, visited classrooms, and met with faculty and staff to raise awareness and support for their effort. Flavio Bravo, last year’s student body


president, says it was Loyola's existing commitment to supporting undocument- ed students that made the scholarship possible—and that helped it grow so quickly. “What started at $2.50 is over $100,000 now,” Bravo says. “Education is a process, and we don’t need necessarily to wait until we have our degrees in order to work on this type of initiative.” The National Immigrant Justice Center


will honor the Loyola students' efforts with their 2016 Commitment to Change Award, to be presented at the Annual Hu- man Rights Awards luncheon in June.


SPRING 2016 9


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