Laura Sherrill Ligon is an artist who uses painting to process her emotions and mental health struggles. She was diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia in college and overcame them through therapy and a commitment to her art. Her husband helped her get a correct diagnosis of bipolar disorder after noticing her unstable spending habits and detachment from her family. Medication and continuing to paint and exhibit her art helps manage her mental health conditions.

1. 14 Adult Psychiatry CL I N I C A L PS YC H I AT RY NE W S • September 2006
F
or Laura Sherrill Ligon, painting provides a portal to
what’s going on inside of her. “My paintings are very
stream of consciousness,” she said. “I paint about my fears
and my dreams.”
Ms. Sherill Ligon, 40, started off painting flowers for her moth-
er when she was 17. While studying fine arts at the University of
Texas at Austin, she learned to push her painting further.
“My professors were very inspiring and opened a lot of doors
for me,” she said. “While I was there, I saw what art could do—
and how it could tell my story and show my emotions.”
While away at college, Ms. Sherrill Ligon begrudgingly ac-
cepted the advice of her mother and went to see a therapist be-
cause of her bewildering behavior. Diagnosed with anorexia and
bulimia, she continued therapy throughout college and gradu-
ate school. She successfully overcame her eating disorder through
a commitment to painting and therapy.
Ms. Sherrill Ligon credits the correct diagnosis and medication
with inspiring her to become the kind of artist who exhibits. “The
thing that put me back on my path was the goal to be a show-
ing artist,” said Ms. Sherrill Ligon, who attended graduate
school at the Maryland Institute College of Art. “I love talking
to other artists about the creative process.”
She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including
shows at the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts, an af-
filiate of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; the Arts and Cul-
tural Foundation of Antioch, Calif.; Art Basel Miami 2004; Mary-
land Institute College of Art in Baltimore; Woman Made Gallery
in Chicago; and Voici la Galerie des Mail Art et Mes Responses,
in Neuilly-sur-Marne, France.
She also teaches art classes at a Germana Community College
in Fredericksburg, Va. More information on her work can be
found at www.ligon-art.com.
—Deeanna Franklin
V I S I O N A R Y A R T
The Art of Laura Sherrill Ligon
I was an art student from early on. My mom no-
ticed that I was really interested in colors, and I al-
ways felt pushed in that direction by her and my
grandmother, who was into the creative arts. I
would [create art] full time, but I also teach. In the
fall, I’ll teach a 2-D design class on fundamentals
in design.
I grew up in Dallas, and my dad was an advertis-
ing executive, so I knew a lot about commercial art
when I was young. I went to the University of
Texas at Austin, where I got my bachelor’s in fine
arts. I had two best friends at the time who were
painters, and we were real open. We’d go paint late
at night, and we would just paint, paint, and paint.
That’s when I started going to therapy for being
an anorexic/bulimic. Art was a way for me to start
opening up.
I remember one of my friends said: “You used to
always put your Walkman on, and you wouldn’t
talk to anybody during the 4-hour painting labs.”
Over the years, because I was in therapy the whole
time I was in college, I started taking my Walkman
off—I started going to lunch with the other stu-
dents. I can look back and see how I started open-
ing up.
My mom got the name of a woman therapist in
Austin and kind of flipped it to me. I was real bel-
ligerent at first. I said, “I don’t have a problem.” But
I knew I did. I was very, very thin. My parents knew
I had a problem because of my bingeing and eat-
ing every ounce of food in the house. They put
locks on the fridge and would lock up the closets.
I asked my mom a couple of years ago, “Instead
of locking everything up, why didn’t you take me
to the hospital?” and she said, “I thought you
would just grow out of it.”
I came out of graduate school, and I was really
burned out. I had worked really hard, and I knew I
had to take a break. My husband and I—we met in
grad school—and I think he knew early on that I
wasn’t this always-stable person. We were together
6 years before we got married. Scott is a painter, a
filmmaker, and an environmentalist. We live in
Fredericksburg, Va.
Scott is more laid-back than I am. I think when
you’re with someone who is somewhat unstable,
after awhile you think, “Why is this person like
this?” I try to be empathetic. We got married in
Virginia at Naked Mountain Vineyard, and then
we stayed in Northampton, Mass., for a while. I
didn’t know I was bipolar, and I wasn’t doing any
bulimic or anorexia stuff, but I was starting to
spend a lot of money on credit cards. I kept think-
ing it was okay, but I wasn’t. I started doing this
after I had my first son, but I’ve always had a mon-
ey problem.
My first baby was a little girl, and she had en-
cephalopathy. I still didn’t know I was bipolar, so
I wasn’t on any kind of medication. I found out
about the baby at the 20-week ultrasound; until
that, all of my tests had come back normal. My
doctor told me that he thought this baby was par-
alyzed and brain damaged. Anyway, I ended up go-
ing ahead and having the procedure. I was com-
pletely devastated.
Scott said we should wait to have kids. I was so
impatient and impulsive at this time that 5 months
later, I got pregnant. This was really hard and scary
for Scott, but he got on board. We had Sam, and
he was fine. After Sam I know I was depressed, but
I was starting to spend and pretend it was still okay.
We wanted to have a companion for Sam, so we
waited 2 years and then I had Max. But it’s worse
the second time. I was really depressed, and all of
the money I’d spent 2 to 3 years earlier wasn’t paid
off yet. I think I started to snowball and started to
swing. After the kids, I only painted sporadically.
I wasn’t really taking myself seriously.
I was also ignoring the gigantic debt. I started
not participating in my family as much, and Scott
started to realize that I was so far away. Scott could
not sleep, and it all wreaked havoc on him, so he
went to the emergency room. He told the doctor
there what was going on, and that he just needed
to sleep but couldn’t, because he was scared to
death. He told this doctor all of my symptoms, and
the doctor told him that I am bipolar.
Scott came home one day and said, “Laura,
you’re not going to want to hear this, but just
please listen to me.” He told me what the doctor
said. I wanted to ignore it, but everything he said
was true. I agreed to see a doctor, and Scott sold
some of his music equipment—he’s a musician,
and it makes me so sad and so appreciative to re-
member this. He sold his equipment to pay for this
doctor in Amherst, which was near our home at
the time. This doctor said I was not bipolar, and
he put us both on Zoloft, which made us both feel
better. After we moved to Virginia, I started see-
ing an amazing doctor. He took me off of Zoloft
and eventually put me on Trileptal, because the
Zoloft just made me want to sleep and eat. When
things are really difficult for me, I’ll see my ther-
apist more often.
The thing that really made me happy and put me
back on my path was the goal to be a showing
artist. Scott paints digitally, and I use acrylics. We
each started incrementally. We started showing at
community centers. Scott won awards, and I was
jealous. I also work at a frame shop part-time, and
I paint a lot while the kids are at school. I also do
pottery.
One of my professors said I painted boldly. I think
it’s left over from kindergarten days. I prefer those
colors—I think because I want people to hear me.
I’ve been a passive person for a long time, but I’ve
been very bold in my paintings. I think I’m de-
manding attention. My paintings tell stories of
how I’ve handled things and what I’m interested
in. They say whether I’m frustrated or angry or
conflicted or happy.
I love painting, so I feel very free and open do-
ing it. It’s a gigantic relief for me. When I’m hav-
ing a hard time, if I can just pick up that paint
brush and start painting, I pretty quickly feel re-
lief. I paint every day, except when we’re on vaca-
tion, because it makes me feel really good. Every
once in a while, a calm painting will pop up, but I
do like drama.
As told to Deeanna Franklin by Laura Sherrill Ligon.
T H E A R T I S T ’ S R E F L E C T I O N S
Roller Coaster, 2006
40, 2006
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