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Alumni Profile Eye
of the beholder Imagine how difficult it
would be to paint a picture six feet wide and seven feet tall that would be
considered good enough to be displayed in national exhibits. Now imagine accomplishing
that feat with double vision, shaking in both eyes, and very little depth perception. These are exactly the conditions that Jon Leverentz is forced to work under every day. Leverentz has received private instruction at Augsburg from 1975-79 and from 1990 to today. At the age of 18, Leverentz was in an automobile accident that caused brain stem damage and led to the disabilities described above. Surgery to the right thalamus, usually used to treat Parkinson's disease, reduced his shaking but left him with double vision and little depth perception. "I must make intuitive judgments regarding what I perceive as close and what seems to be far away," said Leverentz. "For instance, it's hard to get the pen into the ink bottle, but I just think hard about where the middle of my two views are and then I make it."
While he admits to enjoying painting the most, Leverentz also draws and sculpts. Despite his disabilities, he insists on doing most of the work himself. "I take pride in trying to work without help," said Leverentz. "Though I work with friends, it is important for me to have control over my own work. My work is my main activity, and its workmanship is as important to me now as it was before the accident." Though Leverentz never graduated, he "took all the studio courses and a couple more classes," including sociology. Leverentz continues to work at Augsburg because people like Holen are willing to help him when necessary and because it gives him access to materials he could not use easily at home, "like clay and toxic inks." The list of Leverentz's exhibits is extensive, and according to Holen, Leverentz's work is exhibited nationally and in exclusive galleries. Leverentz won the Sister Kenny Show honorable mention in 1986 and 1996.
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Leverentz
currently visits Augsburg once a week to receive private instruction from art
professor Norman Holen, whom he credits for some of his success. "Norman
is a really great guy," he said. Holen has helped him find art shows, and,
"he helps suggest which galleries I should put my art in."