The Healing Power of Art: Parkinson's Patients Take Up Painting at the Parrish

Once a month, educator Wendy Gottlieb stands in front of a group of art enthusiasts and novices alike, inside one of the galleries of the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, and says to them, “Tell me what you see.”

And a conversation begins.

It twists and turns, their perspectives differing and overlapping and sometimes conflicting, until they come together in the art studio to create. They talk about the art, their lives and the struggles and triumphs that come with their shared diagnosis: Parkinson’s disease.

Six years ago, Gottlieb jumped at the chance to work with them.

“I said, ‘This is for Daddy,’” she recalled. “I think about him all the time.”

Toward the end of his life, her father, Henry Gottlieb, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease — and now after six years of experience with her students, she suspects that he had the condition long before.

For the art educator, this speaks to the importance of Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month in April, she said. “I needed the awareness — it’s 20 years too late,” she said. “I’m sorry that I didn’t know. We didn’t know.”

According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, approximately 90,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease every year, joining the 10 million people living with the neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. In its early stages, the disease typically causes stiffness, imbalance, tremors and slowing of movement. But as it progresses, it can eventually impact walking and talking.

For those living with the disorder, every month is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month, but April specifically shines a light on it — a disease already made famous by figures such as Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox, who has raised $1.5 billion for Parkinson’s research through his eponymous foundation.

But any opportunity to celebrate the Parkinson’s community and spread awareness is a good one, explained physical therapist Sarah Cohen, the administrator of the Center for Parkinson’s Disease at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, which runs the Paint at the Parrish class.

“We are then better able to support people living with Parkinson’s disease in the here and the now, and also better able to advocate for research for better treatments,” she said, “and hopefully a cure sometime very soon in the future.”

When Cohen started the Center for Parkinson’s Disease at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in 2017, she launched with two programs: Rock Steady Boxing and Paint at the Parrish. The latter was a calculated risk, she said. While research supported exercise as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, there were few studies on art therapy.

“I like to say we’re cutting edge, ahead of the curve,” Cohen said. “The Parrish really took a chance with me, and I’m so grateful to them.”

The Center for Parkinson’s Disease has since grown to include 10 programs — including Tai Chi, yoga, cooking, singing, support groups and more — but the painting class remains one of its most popular, Cohen said.

“I think it really ties back to that sense of camaraderie and the quality of life measures — feeling connected with the community, feeling socially engaged, enjoying being together,” she said. “We had one participant at the very beginning say to me, ‘It almost makes me feel glad that I have Parkinson’s disease.’ It is such a joyful program, and I think that can’t be underestimated.”

As an outsider looking in, the Paint at the Parrish class has changed Martha Stotzky’s perspective on receiving a life-changing diagnosis and even the process of aging. As deputy director of art education, she has watched the program’s participants from afar as they continue to learn.

“When I think of a disease like that, I think, ‘Oh, well, I’ve had a good life,’ until now, because these are people who are having a good life,” she said. “It may be not the life they chose, but they may have been brought to art because of this disease, and so they’re continuing to grow and learn something new, and their care partners as well. It gave me great hope as a person getting older in the world.”

As the years have unfolded, there are too many wonderful memories from the classes to count, Gottlieb said, though some of her favorites are what she calls the “ah-ha moments.”

“What I’ve noticed is that people will say to me, ‘I’ve never made art before,’ and at the end of making something, they’ll say, ‘Well, that was fun,’” Gottlieb said, “which always just makes me feel so great.”

Inside the classroom, there is joy and frustration and resilience and community, Gottlieb said. And, for her, the memory of her father — his presence somehow there with her.

“I do think of him all the time and think that he would be very proud that I’m doing this,” she said. “I know he’s looking down.”

For more information about the Paint at the Parrish program, designed specifically for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners, call 631-726-8800, or visit southampton.stonybrookmedicine.edu/services/parkinson-disease.