Press Release-Eli Lilly Welcome Back Award
(Text extracted from Press Release by Eli Lilly Awards' Chamberlain Communications Group).
Los Angeles Art Program Coordinator Wins National Mental Health Award
Lamp Art Project Illuminates Hope for Skid Row’s Homeless with Mental Illness
April 22, 2004, New York – Scrolling through artwork displayed on
www.lampartproject.org, ( Lamp Art Project . Org ), one sees a myriad oil
paintings, etchings and sculptures all in different styles and themes. The work,
created by artists challenged with diagnoses of mental illness and
homelessness, was made possible by Los Angeles artist and innovator
Rory White in conjunction with the cutting edge Skid Row based agency,
Lamp Community.
For his work as the art program coordinator of the Lamp Art Project,
Mr. White is honored with the 2004 Welcome Back Award for Community Service.
Ben Vereen, noted dancer, singer, and actor, of stage and screen,
("Roots", "Jelly's Last Jam". etc) is himelf a survivor of depression
and post traumatic stress disorder provoked by
catastrophic losses in his life.
Mr. Vereen gave a stirring narrative on the suddeness and unpredictability,
with which mental illness, can enter, an otherwise, successful life.
Concentrated within Los Angeles’ Skid Row district is one of the nation’s
highest percentages of homeless people, with as many as 30 percent of
these individuals having a diagnosis of mental illness.
All Skid Row Photos by Rory White.
Many of the
artist members in the program have been marginalized from society, facing
the double stigma of depression, other diagnoses, and homelessness.
“While many mental health programs for the homeless offer food, shelter
and medications, humans with diagnoses, like all humans, must be met at
a level of equality, and the fuller aspects of their humanity must be addressed
in order to effect true positive change.
Lamp Art Project artist-members, Darlene Altemeir Dobbs(left) and Magdalena Astrid Dahlen (right) in
Lamp Art Project studio with their oil paintings.
An effective art program can meet and strengthen the deep creative urges
definitive of a self-actualized human being” said Mr. White who, having suffered from depression himself,
exacerbated by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, knows first-hand the healing power of art.
During his six years with Lamp Community and the Art Project, Mr. White has developed a curriculum that includes formal training in artistic techniques and art history, while at the same time encouraging self-expression and the individual creative process as a means of healing. With Mr. White’s support, artist-members achieve, through the flourishing of their artistic powers, deeper senses of self esteem, and empowerment as individuals.
“What Rory has done is so innovative because he takes the concept of art therapy, but insists that technique and art history be a part of the education,” said Jane Seys, PhD, APRN, a psychiatric advanced practice nurse and Welcome Back Awards committee member. “It’s a powerful statement about his respect for these individuals.”
Furthermore, a critical aspect of the art project's dynamic is complete
respect of the autonomy of those artists members to pursue their own vision,
who choose either to access intense foundational training, or to
simply be given the space and respect to work completely independently.
Last year, Mr. White created and launched the Lamp Art Project website
featuring artist-members’ work.
The website provides a daily worldwide digital exhibition venue.
Mr. White is one of five individuals honored at the sixth annual
Welcome Back Awards ceremony on May 1, in New York City. Sponsored by
Eli Lilly and Company, the Welcome Back Awards is a national program
that recognizes outstanding individuals who make a difference in the
depression community.
In addition to his award, a $5,000 contribution from Eli Lilly and Company will be donated
to Lamp Community on Mr. White’s behalf.
Below : "Xochitl of God", oil on canvas, 60"x 48" by Rory White
portrait of a young woman, Xochitl Gabriela Maria Casillas y Orozco, diagnosed with severe
Schizophrenia, and found homeless in Los Angeles before entering Lamp Community
and the Lamp Art Project in 1998.
Below : Rory White, more recently, in Lamp Art Project's Skid Row studio. (June 2005).
Below : "Spring Street Gorge"; Spring and 5th, Los Angeles. oil on canvas by Rory White.
Below : "Stephanie", oil on canvas, by Rory White.
Stephanie, diagnosed with Schizophrenia is a member of Lamp Community.
Her participation was essential to the beginning of the Lamp Art Project.
Added Note: In 2008, the Eli Lilly WBA Awards named Rory White "Person of the Decade"
CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO RETURN TO LAMP ART PROJECT HOME PAGE:
all website design and construction / rory white / copyr
(of all material within website, excluding software and left-column border detail of website server)
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