LEFT-HANDED PAINTING ARTIST'S PRIDE.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The audience rose to give Michael Ounjian a standing ovation last month at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival An arts festival or art fair is a festival that focuses on the visual arts, but which may also focus on other arts. Arts festivals in the visual arts are exhibitions. in Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (1990 pop. 444,719), state capital, and seat of Oklahoma co., central Okla., on the North Canadian River; inc. 1890. The state's largest city, it is an important livestock market, a wholesale, distribution, industrial, and financial center, and a farm , and all the 54-year-old Burbank man could say was, ``Wow.'' Over and over again. ``Wow.'' He had so much more he wanted to say, so many people he wanted to thank, but when a stroke has robbed you of your ability to speak, you take whatever sound or word you can still make to show your appreciation. You fight back the tears, squeeze your wife's hand, and you say, ``Wow.'' April 27, 1999. Michael Ounjian closed his photography studio in Burbank at lunch time, and went home to make some soup for his wife, Susan, who had a bad cold. ``He was standing at the stove stove, device used for heating or for cooking food. The stove was long regarded as a cooking device supplementary to the fireplace, near which it stood; its stovepipe led into the fireplace chimney. It was not until about the middle of the 19th cent. when all of a sudden he took off his shirt, and started making faces at me,'' Susan said, remembering that day four years ago that changed their lives. ``I said, `Michael, what are you doing?' That's when I realized he was having a stroke. I called 911.'' The prognosis prognosis /prog·no·sis/ (prog-no´sis) a forecast of the probable course and outcome of a disorder.prognos´tic prog·no·sis n. pl. prog·no·ses 1. was not good. Her husband could not walk or talk. The entire right side of his body was paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. . His career as a professional photographer was over. He was 50 years old. ``Michael was depressed and angry,'' Susan said. ``He didn't know what hit him. One day he woke up, and he couldn't walk or talk. I remember thinking, how am I ever going to live with this angry person?'' She didn't have to. Susan didn't know it at the time, but there was a staff of dedicated therapists working at the Sepulveda VA in North Hills who were going to tap into the artistic talent that still lived inside the Navy veteran who had served in Vietnam. Talent even a major stroke couldn't rob from him. ``We tried different things with Michael when he came in, but he wasn't responding,'' said Ruth Phillips, his occupational therapist occupational therapist A person trained to help people manage daily activities of living–dressing, cooking, etc, and other activities that promote recovery and regaining vocational skills Salary $51K + 4% bonus. See ADL. . ``His attention span was extremely short because he was not interested.'' Phillips and speech therapist speech therapist Speech pathologist, speech/language therapist A health professional trained to evaluate and treat voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorders–eg, hearing impairment, that affect communication. See Speech pathology. Muriel Goldojarb knew about Michael's photography background and his interest in art, so they tried to teach him to draw. ``When the dominant hand is of no service anymore, we train people to use the nondominant hand to dress and groom themselves, so we tried to get Michael to draw with his left hand, too,'' Phillips said. ``But he didn't want to draw simple line pictures to describe what his desires and needs were. We tried different things, and finally decided to put Michael into an oil painting class.'' Irene Dobrushken, an art instructor who has volunteered at the VA for more than 25 years, teaches that class. Phillips said the change in Michael was almost instant after starting the class. ``She nurtured him, got him enthused when he saw the work the other veterans were doing,'' she said. ``She gave him hope, and his talent took over from there.'' Susan saw the change at home, too. The anger and depression had been replaced with smiles and an excitement she candidly can·did adj. 1. Free from prejudice; impartial. 2. Characterized by openness and sincerity of expression; unreservedly straightforward: In private, I gave them my candid opinion. says was not always in her husband before the stroke. ``It was as if the social side of his brain started working more than it had before,'' she said. ``He became so loving and alive. I told him, it's like we're on permanent vacation. We enjoy every day we can now.'' The phone rang in the Ounjians' home earlier last month. It was Patrick Gregario, recreational therapist at Sepulveda VA, and he had some incredible news. Every year, the VA's Journal of Research, Rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. and Development selects one piece of visual artwork to feature on the cover of its magazine that goes to all VA facilities in the country. More than a dozen pieces of art had been submitted, and it had been winnowed down to three, then to one, by the journal's board. Gregario said he had just been notified that the winner this year was an oil painting titled ``French Red House.'' The oil painting Michael Ounjian did left-handed. The board wanted to meet the artist personally. Could Susan and Mike fly back to Oklahoma City for the National Veterans Creative Art Festival? It's the culmination of a yearlong year·long adj. Lasting one year. Adj. 1. yearlong - lasting through a year; "attending yearlong courses" long - primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or fine arts talent competition in art, music, drama and dance for veterans receiving VA care. A few weeks later, Michael Ounjian sat on stage in his wheelchair wheel·chair or wheel chair n. A chair mounted on large wheels for the use of a sick or disabled person. wheelchair, n fighting back the tears and saying ``wow'' as more than 1,000 people rose to give him a standing ovation. Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Artist Michael Ounjian and wife Susan show off his award-winning painting, ``French Red House.'' Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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