At Parkville High School, in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland, an artist was born, and the artist was me. Art is what made my identity. In art, I could finally express more of myself. Art came from emotion very deep inside of me, saying what I had never said before, taking me in a new direction as far as I could go, and then to a new place. With painting, I could express myself clearly without anybody interpreting for me. I am so connected with painting. The headstick is my only hand. Although it has no fingers and it is slow, it gets the paint on the canvas. The minute my headstick goes on, I don't hear other people in the room, everything is filtered out, creating a state of purity possible only through art. The marks I make are me, my handwriting, my art. Painting revealed Dan, a man of many faces. It revealed a part of me, and a part of the world that only I know. My soul spoke through my art and for the first time the world heard my voice.
Working on my art for hours each day, the true artist within me came out. I desperately wanted to keep developing this way of expression. Painting and looking at the work of other artists, I knew that at last I was in the right world. A world where color and shape are emotion. A world where words are diminished and images are the power. No one can say who is or who is not an artist. I am an artist.
At first, the art teacher at Parkville High School didn't think I was capable of doing the work or even understanding him. The teacher (I called him "S-Man") told my mom if I would stay after school, he would work with me. He started a painting to show me how to get going. I didn't think I could do it, and I almost dropped art. Thank goodness, I didn't.
It took weeks to work things out. Plus, he found out who I was, and for the whole time I was in high school, he was my mentor. I see him in many ways as the creator of my life.
S-Man made a space in the classroom where I could sit on the floor. Charcoal or chalk or a paintbrush was attached to my headstick. My first creations were self-portraits. Each one is different, as I will always continue to change. S-Man gave me art. Art set free emotion, which had been trapped inside of me. The world could now hear that I was a person. With art I am.
I am confined by my physical state and my speech. When I taste freedom, it is intoxication. Art gives me a freedom -- a way to communicate.
