Paintings created by eight talented people with Parkinson’s who have undergone Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) treatment are being showcased in online exhibition The Art of Parkinson’s, which launched on 1 April 2026 as an initiative sponsored by medical technology company Abbott.
A growing body of research and clinical observation suggests that some people with Parkinson’s experience a surge in creativity due to a combination of neurobiology, Parkinson’s treatment, and their lived experience.
Many of the artists whose work is featured in the exhibition were already painting before their diagnosis or turned to it as a new creative outlet.
Clive Couperthwaite, from Australia, swapped woodworking furniture for watercolour painting when his hand-eye coordination deteriorated due to his condition progressing. Although he was reluctant to try DBS, he went ahead in 2018 and says his “life was transformed.”
“I went from having difficulty drinking from a cup without spilling to being able to have steady hands and craft and fine-tune the strokes of a paint brush. The changes in my condition were so radical that they felt like I had been the subject of a miracle.”
Discussing his painting post-DBS treatment, he says: “My attempts to capture my surroundings through watercolour painting has been a significant contributor to the quality of life I can now enjoy. DBS has enabled me to find the joy that comes from being able to capture on paper the reflections of nature that appear in the landscapes that surround me.”
Four pieces of Clive’s artwork are included in the exhibition: the acrylic work Hope in the fire (below), and watercolours, Moon Rise, Habitation, and Coming Storm.
Painting without tremor
Ann Harwell, from Wendell, North Carolina, is a professional artist. After developing Parkinson’s, her tremors interfered with her work. “I was not able to achieve the precision that was so important to me,” she says. Ann had DBS in 2020 and immediately found that her tremors disappeared, which had a positive effect on her art straight away.
Two of the three works Ann is showing in the exhibition feature dinosaurs – pictured below is Ann’s work, Mass Instinction. The topic of dinosaurs was inspired by family life: “My husband would say to our sons before putting them to bed: ‘I’d fight a velociraptor with a Lego sword and shield to save you.’ I pictured these dinosaurs as if a meteor had not ended their reign.”
Ann adds: “Parkinson’s feels like one of those dinosaurs pinning me to the ground or engulfing me or grinning with full intention of skewering me with his spear.”
Art had always been a way for Roger Saunders from Queensland, Australia, to relax. But with the onset of Parkinson’s, he felt that his creative abilities had declined. He was therefore thrilled when he regained his talents following DBS treatment in 2020.
Of his exhibition work (pictured below), Shattered by Parkinson’s – REBORN by DBS, he says: “It represents my shattered spirit in two halves. Also, my depression and lack of confidence. The bottom half represents me being reborn with my confidence and abilities.”
Art as a form of expression
“Art means the world to me,” says Margie Burns-Kohn, a professional artist from Maitland, Florida, (pictured, top).
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015, she describes life before DBS like this: “When 75-80% of your day is spent being OFF, including bouts of very painful dyskinesia or dystonia which could last anywhere from 15 minutes to 12-plus hours. Your tremors are so bad that you cannot get a fork or spoon to your mouth.”
Following DBS, Margie’s symptoms improved dramatically: “I have my life back,” she says.
Margie has used her paintings to express her feelings about the condition through her work. Her Art of Parkinson’s pieces: Exhausted (photography with digital painting), Broken and Hell & Heaven (both acrylic on canvas) capture what she calls the “sheer hell” of being OFF, contrasted with the freedom of feeling ON.
View more artworks by people with Parkinson’s and learn about their stories at The Art of Parkinson’s website.
Abbott is currently looking into showcasing The Art of Parkinson’s as an in-person exhibition in the second half of this year.
Find out more about creativity and Parkinson’s
