How one of my paintings helped a man recover from a brain injury

On view now through January 24 at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is a retrospective of my life’s work. It’s called Palettes: Past Present and Pursuits. It contains hundreds of artworks. Let me tell you tonight about one of them.

It’s called Flamingo Crossing.

A man by the name of Harold Dunfee saw it in my studio on Matlacha Island in 2013. That was the same year Harold purchased a home in northwest Cape Coral. He says the painting caught his eye immediately and that he promised himself he’d purchase it as soon as funds became available.

I’ll let Harold tell you what happened from there.

“In 2015, I had a medical setback – a subdural hematoma (blood clot in the brain) that resulted in three brain surgeries over the course of six months. After the first surgery, I had two seizures that resulted in memory loss."

During his recovery and struggle to regain his memory and thinking faculties, a friend of his from Fort Myers by the name of Karen sent him a miniature Flamingo Crossing.

"My girlfriend brought the package to my hospital room. When I opened it, I immediately recognized the painting and who created it – despite the fact that I was still memory-impaired. That’s how special Flamingo Crossing was to me. I am convinced that the small reproduction helped me on my road to a complete recovery from my ordeal.”

Harold moved permanently to his Cape Coral home in August of 2016. One of his first acts was to visit Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens to see if the original was still there. His heart fell when he did not see it on any of the walls, but his spirits rebounded when he learned it hadn’t been sold and was still available. The rest is history.

“Flamingo Crossing has an honored place on the wall in my home,” says Harold. “Art does indeed create special memories.”

Well, thanks to Harold’s generosity and willingness to share his memories with all of us, there’s an empty space on the wall of Harold’s Cape Coral home right now. He has loaned his treasured painting to us so that it can be included in and displayed as part of Palettes: Past Present and Pursuits.

 

It’s on the west wall of the East Conservatory. It alone is worth a trip to the downtown Fort Myers River District. The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is located at 2301 First Street. Museum hours are 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Thanks, Harold, for sharing your story with us all!