Artist: Jane Gerus, St. Paul;

Medium: acrylic paint;

History: she started drawing in 1980 while hospitalized—at the onset of mental health disability in 1984, evolved to painting. VSA Arts helped her begin to show her work; 

How she paints: “I paint my dreams and visions . . . to contrast my inner world and the world around me. I dream, breathe and feel pain in color”.

Inspiration: “I go to the easel with the power of the terrible and the wonderful and all the glory in between. The unpredictable pain limits my life functioning, yet at the same time—the other side of the same coin—somehow gives rise to an open channel of inspiration that fulfills me ¼ keeps me striving for better technique, purer color, more meaningful form.”

Showings: Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Twin Cities; Recent solo show in Duluth; Currently available at VSA  Arts Online Gallery: http://www.vsarts.org/gallery/exhibits/disability/disabculture.html.