Color and Courage
Anthony Roberts & Aaron Needle
Anthony Robert's Artist Statement:
Anthony grew up in Brooklyn, with a foster mother and attended Boston College on a scholarship. He studied sociology and continued his education at Lesley University where he earned a masters degree in Intercultural Relations. After graduation he joined the Peace Corps and was deployed to Burkina Faso, where he spent two years living and working with people in a small village. Anthony assisted the local residents by vaccinating chickens, an important part of poultry health management, and built mud stoves that reduce firewood consumption, improve air quality and provide a more efficient cooking method compared to traditional open-fire cooking. He then returned from Africa and continued his service with the Peace Corps for the next five years as a recruiter. Anthony was very active physically and trained in Kung Fu and competed at a high-level.
Anthony enjoys art and painting which was interrupted when he was struck by a drunk driver while crossing the street in 1999. He sustained a severe traumatic brain injury along with other injuries. Over the past 25 years, art and music have been very beneficial in Anthony's continuing recovery and provides Anthony with many benefits that he describes as "giving me freedom."
Aaron Needle's Artist Bio:
I was raised in Newton, Massachusetts and attended grades K through 12 there. My parents were sandwich artists, rising at 4 AM each more to produce hundreds of sandwiches for delivery into Boston. That experience shaped me into the productive adult I am today!
At age 21, I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. After enduring 30 years living with that label, my symptoms were re-examined and found to be the result of trauma. Having been liberated from such a hopeless and stigmatizing label, I've been enjoying life, my relationships, and producing original artwork.