Needless to say Aimee Hofmann is an INSPIRATION to many!
At 30, she suffered from the neurological condition, Transverse Myelitis, an inflammation in the spinal cord that caused complete paralysis from level T10 of the spine. After learning she would never walk again, art gave her peace during the difficult stages of loss, grief, self-reflection, and re-discovery. Art helped her emotionally heal, as well as find joy again.
Throughout the years that followed, while facing a new life with a disability, Aimee created a number of collections. Her works featured landscapes, abstract florals and swirl patterns, which have continued to evolve into deeper abstract work. You can see her work and read. more about her on her website Aimee Hofmann Fine Art.
She risked it and has no regrets. Her unique abstract art has inspired many with its vibrancy and depth, symbolizing the resilience and strength found in the journey of recovery.
Aimee is being honored on June 6th by Burke Rehabilitation Hospital with the Burke Award, their highest honor. This year’s theme is the “Healing Power of the Arts,” which highlights the transformative impact of the arts in rehabilitation and recovery. Burke is a nationally renowned rehabilitation hospital located in White Plains NY and Aimee’s impactful artwork adorns the walls throughout Burke Rehabilitation buildings.
Aimee joined me to share her pride in how her unexpected journey brought her to this moment and how art contributes to the rehabilitation and recovery process for patients.
I asked Aimee to talk about what she does every day and how she does it.
Her most recent collections she said, express a newfound freedom that embraces the beauty of imperfections, renewal/rebirth and nostalgia and the symbolism of one’s unique life journey.
“After I became paralyzed throughout the years that followed, I learned so many life lessons. I did a lot of self-reflection and self-rediscovery work. One of the things was that I learned to let go of perfectionism, and it’s something that I struggled with throughout my whole life. And so, my latest work features, for example, paint in diverse textures and various consistencies, which I liberally pour and splatter all over the canvas. And this kind of embracing the beauty of imperfections, allowing the paint organically to react instead of focusing on being perfect and that is a complete reflection of my personal journey. “
“And so, acquiring a disability has also helped me discover this newfound courage that was born from the realization that there is nothing to fear because I realized that the future will always be uncertain for everybody no matter what. So, this epiphany has allowed me to relinquish control over outcomes, allowing my intuition to guide the creative process instead of focusing so much on the final results, if that makes sense.”
Everything Aimee creates makes total sense.
In addition to individual collectors and Burke Rehabilitation, Aimee Hofmann’s work is part of corporate collections at Amazon, JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Intuit, State Street Bank, Ipsen, Brown Advisory and Vigil Neuroscience. She has also shown at local and regional arts centers and has been a guest speaker at the Harvard Business School.
Aimee Hofmann lives with her husband and two children in Westchester County NY. She is a two-time hand-cyclist marathoner, avid swimmer, fundraiser, and guest speaker. As disabilities advocate her goal is to continue to create awareness about inclusion and fair representation for people with disabilities.
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About ‘The Burke Award’: Given by Burke Rehabilitation, it is conferred upon an individual or group who has made significant contributions to the field of rehabilitation, either through personal achievements, the development of research or the establishment of programs and facilities to assist individuals with disabilities. It recognizes strength and courage in overcoming the challenge of a disability or a significant contribution to the understanding of physical disability. It remains the highest honor bestowed by the Board of Trustees of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital.
The Burke Award Dinner is Burke’s premier fundraiser, with proceeds supporting Burke’s outstanding rehabilitative care services and the Healing Power of the Arts fund.
Enjoy being inspired to learn how art heals by the fabulous Aimee Hofmann in this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show. If you’d rather read than listen the transcript of the audio is below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
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And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show.
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Well, hopefully lots of people will be sitting by a pool this weekend instead of coffee with maybe a cool drink. Hi, everybody, I’m Debbie Nigro, and I’m happy to welcome my latest sponsor to the Debbie Nigro Show, the incredible, unbelievable Gunite Pools of Westchester and Vinnie Groppa Pools,
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and they should because they’re amazing, on creativity, integrity, loyalty, availability and trust. Everybody’s calling them this week so you may want to do and they offer hot tub service and outdoor lighting and Vinnie is a sought after expert in the pool industry and artistry design. Vinnie the pool artist I call him. Check out gunitepoolsofwestchester.com and what they don’t do, my other sponsor does,
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Nationwide Maintenance run by the incredible Marcy Manfredonia. She is a woman-owned certified construction company, 25 years, full service, facility maintenance and construction company and can help you with any of your spring renovation needs. Check it out at nationwidemaintenance.com.
That brings me to my star of this segment, and boy is she a star, wow, Aimee Hofmann. If you haven’t heard about her, I don’t even know if the word sadly is not even the word, she was paralyzed at the age of 30 by a horrible, horrible disease, but she uses her wheelchair and paintbrushes to create amazing works of
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art. She is an incredible inspiration. She is so fabulous. She’s being honored on June 6th by Burke Rehabilitation Hospital with what’s called the Burke Award, which is their highest honor. This year’s theme is the healing power of the arts and it highlights the transformative impact of the arts in rehabilitation and recovery.
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And here is Aimee Hofman to tell you all about her and it. Aimee welcome.
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Hi, thank you for having me.
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Boy, you are something, something, something, something. I just want to throw you a kiss and a hug across the radio.
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Thank you so, so much.
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Yeah, not simple journey you were, not simple hand of cards you were dealt, young lady.
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No, no, not at all. It wasn’t simple, but I got through it. I mean, I have to say it wasn’t simple. It was, it was so many things. It was exciting and it was up and down all at once, so. And here I am.
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Here you are, mom of a couple of kids, married. You got this weird disease called transverse myelitis.
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Yeah. Am I correct? Yes, you’ve pronounced it correctly. It’s a very rare disease. Not many people have heard of it. For those of you that have never heard of it, it’s an inflammation of the spinal cord
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and it doesn’t always cause paralysis, but for me, it caused paralysis, permanent paralysis from level T10 of the spine and below. Anybody in your family ever had this? Did you ever know anything about it before you got it? No, no I mean autoimmune disease kind of like runs in the hospital for about two months and during my hospital stay, there was a therapist that actually introduced me to a therapeutic art
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program and that’s how I was being introduced to painting again. I mean I was creative my I played the piano and I did draw but and then and then I graduated and took the the corporate world route, but this actually Caused me to have a life pivot personally and professionally Yeah, so yeah
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Amazing. Yeah, so you used you turned it around, you know amazing and
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Amazing and yeah this new life with a disability Didn’t get in the way of you creating all new and fabulous things that not only helped you But everybody else a number of collections I know you do landscapes and florals and swirl patterns and and what you call abstract work But I was reading about your most recent collections which express a newfound freedom That you say embraces the beauty of imperfections, and that I think is loud, renewal and birth,
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and nostalgia, as well as using symbolisms of one’s unique life journey. Talk about what you do every day and how you do this.
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Yeah, so after I became paralyzed throughout the years that followed, I learned so many life lessons. I did a lot of self-reflection and self-rediscovery work. One of the things was that I learned to let go of perfectionism, and it’s something that I struggled with throughout my whole life. And so my latest work features, for example, paint in diverse textures and various consistencies, which I liberally pour and splatter all over the canvas. And this kind of embracing the beauty of imperfections, allowing the paint organically react instead of focusing on being perfect and that is a complete
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0:05:47
reflection of my personal journey. And so acquiring a disability has also helped me discover this newfound courage that was born from the realization that there is nothing to fear because I realized that the future will always be uncertain for everybody no matter what. So this epiphany has allowed me to relinquish control over outcomes, allowing my intuition to guide the creative process instead of focusing so much on the final results, if that makes
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sense.
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Oh, it makes perfect sense. And you make perfect sense. You’re really amazing. Aimee Hofman, you’re being honored as you should be with the highest award that Burke Rehabilitation Hospital is allowed to give. There is no higher. June 6th at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, theme is Healing Power of the Arts. You are the epitome of their example of how art contributes to the rehabilitation and recovery process
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for patients from your perspective.
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Yes.
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Well, although I’m not a doctor or scientist, obviously, but I am a firm believer that mental and spiritual well-being significantly impacts the physical body. Wherever one is mentally, I believe the body will follow. The sensory experiences that we encounter, whether it’s through seeing colors or listening to uplifting sounds, it profoundly affects the body. From my own experience, what I learned in rehab is that all of these experiences can
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stimulate neurons in the brain and your neurological system and particularly when one engages in the creation of art, it could transport the mind and leading to a state of healing. So engaging in any kind of art practice I believe whether it’s writing, painting or
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music, any creative outlet can restore confidence in one’s physical body and shift
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This is basically, in my experience, what art did for me.
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Well, it’s just incredible. You know, you have me breathless today seeing what you’ve made of this moment in time. I love your quote. I went to your website, amyhoffmanfineart.com.
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Isn’t that amazing?
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You’re a fine artist. May I just use your quote because I’d like to share it?
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Sure.
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Absolutely. I thought it was loud. Art serves as a catalyst for anchoring me in the present moment. We cannot change the past nor control everything in the unforeseeable future. However, we can embrace and have gratitude for the moment right now. So needs to be read like every day and people need to be reminded every day.
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I’m sure you don’t have a desire to just jump up, you know, paint and do your thing every single day. So how does, what are some of the challenges that you as an artist face with a disability? Explain that to me.
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Well, I would say, you know what,
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I would say every artist faces similar challenge, so I’m not that different, especially in this industry. Competition is so high between us no matter what. There’s so many of us artists with or without disabilities. So I mean there’s there’s so many artists facing that are are working equally as hard while juggling family or other adversities that they have in their life. But although however I think artists
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with disabilities I think we encounter more misconceptions for example that people may think we’re not physically capable of creating great work, or that we just don’t belong in the mainstream art industry. And I think people have these beliefs subconsciously and they have prejudices against us.
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So it may take people a while longer for them to warm up to the idea of us or even understand my unique approach to creating art, to even understanding the reason behind why I use unconventional tools like my wheelchair. But the way I overcome it is, you know, I just keep being persistent
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and resilient, keep pushing and keep telling my story through my art because I truly believe there’s always someone out there that is interested in the messages that I’m trying to convey through my art. And I believe there’s someone out there that’s always interested in the stories that artists with disabilities want to express. And that’s what I truly believe. And so I just keep pushing.
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Yeah, you’re amazing, man. So this big award is coming up. And, you know, what does it mean to you? What does it mean to you? It’s very special.
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I mean, first and foremost, I’m deeply humbled to receive this Heid’s honor. This recognition represents a significant personal achievement for me because it’s just taken me so many years of hard work and dedication to reach the point of where I am today.
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So for example, my personal journey involved overcoming a traumatic experience, and it took years of extensive work on self-reflection, self-rediscovery, and the development and the reinforcement of my identity. I had to develop a strong sense of who I was as I faced this new life of disability. And likewise, my professional journey has also taken me years of dedication and hard
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work as well. I mean, what began as a passion for art just blossomed into a thriving business to my surprise. So to be formally and publicly acknowledged for my efforts and accomplishments both personally and professionally is such an honor. And to be quite honest, it’s a milestone in my life and this whole experience is actually beyond words.
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I’m just going to share a few with my listening audience besides the walls of Burke Rehabilitation Center of course, beautiful. Your work is part of corporate collections at Amazon, JPMorgan Chase & Company, HSBC, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Intuit, State Street Bank, Ipsen, Brown Advisory and Vigil Neuroscience. Come on, this is unbelievable.
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Yes. And there’s a few more that I didn’t put down there. But yes.
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You know what I was really blown away by? That you were a guest speaker at the Harvard Business School. My dream was to have always been a guest speaker, but I didn’t go there. So they weren’t going to call me.
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Well, never say never. Maybe one day after this.
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Maybe one day. So you know, you’ve got a husband and two kids, and you’re a two-time hand cyclist marathoner. That is very cool. Avid swimmer, fundraiser and guest speaker and I love that your passion is to include others too with disabilities so you continue
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to fight for fair representation for people with disabilities. Could you do any more every day Amy? What is left out?
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Yes, well, challenges of being a mom thrown in there as well, which is equally as rewarding. So yeah, I mean, the list goes on. I mean, I do have some future plans that are a bit of a secret, but I guess you’ll wait and see.
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I was gonna try and get it out of you, but I didn’t want to put you in this spot because we are on the air and then we can’t take it back. And that’s not good. Yeah, exactly. I could have got it out of you if I really wanted to.
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Maybe just tell us a little about your kids and how old are they now? I have a girl that’s 14 years old and I have a son who
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is 10, fourth and eighth grade. So yeah, every day is new surprises with them, new milestones and I’m just enjoying every minute now that they’re home and still living with me. Wonderful. Yeah.
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All right, let me throw out how you can get tickets because this is a very important event. This Burke Award dinner is held to raise the money that allows a lot to be done for all kinds of rehabilitation. They need your money to make this happen. And I can just shout out the web address for anybody interested.
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It’s Burke.
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You want to do it? You want me to do it?
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Oh, you could go ahead.
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Okay. I believe it’s, they have a definitive link for this particular event, but it’s Burke Rehabilitation. Of course, they’re in White Plains. They’re like world renowned, amazing, amazing place. I mean, it’s just, we’re grateful to have them in our community and beyond.
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Burke Rehabilitation, check it out. It’s at Burke.org. If you want to do the forward slash giving, forward slash events. But thank you, Aimee Hofmann I wish you all the best.
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I’m so proud to know you.
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Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me.
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Thank you so much.
Transcribed with Cockatoo
