Friday, June 19, 2009

Sylvia Serville - Featured Artist with Epilepsy for June 2009


Sylvia Serville from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is one of the two featured artists with epilepsy for June 2009. Sylvia received a purchase award of $1,000 from Epilepsy Australia for her painting titled Totems and Icons. Click here to review her artwork and personal story.

The article by Denise Chapman is reprinted with permission from the Epilepsy Report, May 2009.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Family Member Participants


Family members, spouses and partners of participants in our study of the influence of epilepsy and migraines in visual art, who are 18 years and older, are invited to participate in this research study as part of an important group for comparison. You as a parent, sibling or child of a participant have experienced similar environmental influences and have a close genetic background to your relative who is a participant. Spouses and partners also share a similar environment and life experiences. Volunteer family members of participating artists do not need to be artists by trade or by hobby to help in this study. Please do not hesitate to participate because you or others feel that your artwork and drawings are not “good” or you don’t produce art yourself as a hobby or a profession.

Family members of participants are asked to do two drawing exercises and answer a few background questions. A person may withdraw from participation at any time.


This research will evaluate how epilepsy and migraines, in some circumstances, can stimulate and/or enhance artistic creativity. Secondly, it will help reduce the level of misunderstanding and stigma that your family member and you may have experienced. Thirdly, this study explores whether there are genetic links or vulnerabilities to epilepsy and/or migraines. Fourthly, it will evaluate how drawings can be used to better understand these neurological conditions and also as a tool to diagnose if a person has epilepsy and/or migraines. Finally, this study will help to develop an effective way to evaluate what famous artists had epilepsy and/or migraines based on comparison to the art and experiences of living artists.