A new man A new life
Jacqui Brown
When it comes to artistic works, one usually associates the creative
process with a steady hand. But when it comes to 43-year-old Roger
Cupples, whose hands and body shake like a wind-whipped Aspen tree in
Colorado, a steady hand might actually deter the structural effect of
his ceramic works of art.
“It’s serendipity,” Cupples said, proudly showing off some of his
finished pieces. “Sometimes a piece gets its shape by collapsing on
its own, sometimes I might accidentally hit it with my hand but
that’s what makes each piece unique.”
The array of ceramic sculptures he calls “vessels” will be on
display at his debut art show at the Creative Art Center in Burbank
beginning Friday evening. Joining him in this three-artist show will
be Lynn Gadal, whose watercolor paintings illuminates her perception
of solitude and adventure, and Nancy Goodman Lawrence, whose collage
work gives you a glimpse of her humor and creativity.
Cupples, who lives in North Hollywood, has spent the last 10 years
redefining his life after suffering severe head trauma in a car
accident on an icy Chicago street in December 1995 that left him with
secondary Parkinson’s disease and other motor function disabilities.
After spending months in a hospital bed, undergoing surgeries to
repair eye damage and trying to learn how to cope with how his body
movements would forever disrupt his peacefulness, he realized he’d
never be able to return to the life he once knew. And that
realization hit hard.
“I spent a lot of years in sadness, in anger and denial because I
really didn’t know what I could do or should do,” Cupples said. “I’m
trying to live presently and in the future but sometimes it’s
difficult not to live in the past remembering what my life used to be
like.”
Life before the accident kept him very busy. He was a cook for a
catering company that served elegant dinners at private parties
across the Southland and worked at Q is for Quilts in Burbank where
his eye for color developed and his ability to create remarkable
quilts grew. Some of his quilted creations have made their way across
the country at a variety of shows.
“I probably would have been a wonderful quilter had I had a little
more time but I can’t do it anymore,” he said.
Cupples’ shaking prevents him from sewing.
He also attended classes and taught children’s ceramic classes at
the Creative Art Center during the last 15 years.
“I tried to go back to teaching children after the accident but I
couldn’t keep up because it was too demanding to the point where it
became disabling,” he said.
So instead he returned as a student, not so much to become an
artist, but to have a place to develop his creativity and make new
friends.
“This facility has given me life again because I lost so much of
it in the accident,” Cupples said. “This to me is the spiritual
process to healing.”
Having spent the last few weeks packing up and pricing the body of
work he created over this last year in preparation for this show, he
said it’s finally beginning to sink in that he truly is an artist.
“It’s an awesome feeling coming from a place of not being able to
do anything for so long,” Cupples said. “I’m thrilled, excited and
nervous.”
Along with celebrating his promising art career, Cupples is
ecstatic to be driving again and is not embarrassed in the least that
his new vehicle has three wheels and a large basket behind the
driver’s seat. Just this past month he purchased an adult-sized
tricycle equipped with a bell and headlight and is logging miles on
the Chandler bike path to and from the Art Center, a 6.1-mile
round-trip ride.
“My partner of 18-years, Jack, has been driving me around
everywhere and now I don’t have to wait for him to come home after
work to go to the grocery store or the hardware store,” Cupples said
adding that although he’s enjoying this new freedom he stays off the
main roads because they scare him.
“Being able to get around on my own is a wonderful thing to have
in my life again.”
One of Cupples’ biggest fans is Barbara Rog, his instructor at the
Art Center. She knew him long before the accident and recalls that he
was once one of the center’s most popular children’s teachers.
“He always had such a great sense of design, that part never left
him,” Rog said. “He makes the pieces work and I think they’re
phenomenal.”
As for the show in its entirety, Rog said it should be a great
collaboration between all three artists. Gadal, who is a veteran of
the art world, said her preference for watercolor was born from the
way the colors rainbow into each other.
“I think it’s such a natural quality and I just melt when I paint
with watercolor because it’s like blood flowing,” Gadal said. “It’s
fluid and I don’t think you can achieve the same thing with acrylic
or oil because of the consistency.”
Many of her pieces have solitary structures set in the middle of
nowhere and cloud filled skies, something she said she’s had a
fascination with since she was a little girl.
“I can’t get them out of my head,” Gadal said.
Lawrence, who became inspired to do collage nearly a dozen years
ago after working on a cut and paste project with students while
substitute teaching, said many of her pieces are autobiographical,
like her “Hot Flashes,” which shows a naked woman standing in various
positions in front of a fan.
“There’s humor in most of the pieces because I like to poke fun,”
Lawrence said.
What adds to the interest of her work is the unusual use of maps
Lawrence said she discovered while cleaning out her parents’
apartment.
“I started incorporating them into the work I was doing and
suddenly it became a whole new thing,” she said.
Glendale resident and Gallery Director Francis Santisteven said
this show is a must-see not only because all the art is fantastic,
but also because patrons are sure to be inspired by Cupples’ can-do
attitude.
“This is going to be a really great show,” she said.
FYI
WHAT: Art show featuring Sculptural Ceramics by Roger Cupples,
Watercolor by Lynn Gadal & Collage by Nancy Goodman Lawrence
WHERE: Creative Art Center, 1100 W. Clark Ave., Burbank
WHEN: 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, artist’s opening reception. Show will
run through Aug. 25. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday
through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. Saturday hours vary.
ADMISSION: Free
CONTACT: (818) 238-5397