How do you perceive art? What do you see? What is beautiful? What does the color blue look like? If you could not express your answers to these questions using words, what would you do to communicate your answers? Imagine living always in a world where you see things differently. Most of us tend to see and interpret our lives from a learned perspective of how our parents, teachers, and caregivers see things, but the world of an autistic individual is quite different.

Through Patti Gay, I have been able to experience this different kind of artistic expression. Patti is a commercial artist with a wonderful range of work from realistic to whimsical designing a myriad of items from cards and gift paper to advertising campaigns and children’s books. She is just as comfortable with oil paints and she is with water color and acrylics. Her work is bright and beautiful. Patti has and artistically gifted son named Noah who also happens to be autistic.

Patti started Noah with painting when he was just three years old. He always loved to listen to music and look at books, so she thought he would enjoy being creative, too, and she was right! While she would paint, Noah would create his own paintings in the form of beautifully combined textures. Noah loves the tactile feeling of the paint and creates bubbles, or finger paints, or uses sponges. He paints on paper or newspaper, and he has even painted over some of Patti’s assignments. Inspired by Noah’s paintings, Patti found a way to combine their work and created a whole commercial line of giclee prints.

Two Can Art is the name of this line of unique art. Noah creates textures with paints, then Pattie scans his paintings into the computer. She then creates sketches where she inserts Noah’s painting into the images for the color in the finished products. The giclees are beautiful and have realistic subject matter from vegetables to surf boards and flip flops. Noah’s textures have influenced her art work. She has learned much from Noah and is working on getting a book published of Noah’s textures.

So here is a great example of looking beyond the standard perception to the beauty of the unknown. Instead of Noah living a life devoid of expression, he uses his joy in painting to manifest the hidden beauty of his soul. Working with his mother’s creativity, they together have a unique way to express themselves. Be sure to check out their website.

Click here for Two Can Art

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