Study of artists' brain injuries hints at roots of creativity - Paul Jablow
Monday, October 18, 2010 at 08:58PM In 1997, when she was 44, a massive stroke cost painter Katherine Sherwood the permanent use of her right hand. Today, the Bay Area artist is painting with her left hand, her career more successful than ever. Back in 1980, an aneurysm from a previously undiagnosed brain abnormality required surgery that completely wiped out noted jazz guitarist Pat Martino's musical memory. Surgeons told him he had been two hours away from death, put him to sleep, and removed 60 percent of his left temporal lobe. Playing with a computer and listening to his old recordings, Martino, who lives in South Philadelphia, taught himself to play again and has made more than a dozen albums. In 2004 he won the Downbeat magazine readers poll as "Guitarist of the Year."