Bean is a frequent artist for the MSAA Calendar and is part of their artist showcase. She recently sold all of her pieces submitted to the Swedish 2018 MS Art Show at the Seattle Center.
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Bean Fairbanks describes herself as a geeky artist. Living with Multiple Sclerosis for over 30 years, she has had to repeatedly reinvent herself to accommodate her physical and mental decline and disability.
Once a prolific photographer and textile artist, Bean thought her artist days were done until career retraining turned into art retraining. She reveled in the exciting and diverse world of digital media while learning to turn challenges into art; celebrating her tremors and visual distortions into award winning pieces like "Crocuses" and "Neon Greens". Unfortunately further MS progression and other accompanying ailments kept her from using the computer. She struggled for years to find another artistic outlet, dealing with severe depression and critical health issues. Two years ago, she discovered Alcohol Ink, with which she could paint using just gravity, straws, cotton balls, felt and other household items. Returning to stress relieving art, eye surgery and extensive rehab has brought about strong MS remission. Currently, Bean is able to do limited brush and pen work with her Alcohol Ink projects on her good days. She is also exploring the possibility of watercolor and digital art during this MS remission. |
