Eddie Arning

Eddie Arning grew up in Germania, Texas, about 50 miles Northwest of Houston. Raised by a strict Lutheran mother, Eddie suffered from depression and anger, which resulted in several hospitalizations for "dementia praecox." He was later moved to a nursing home.

In 1964, a hospital employee introduced Eddie to art, providing him with crayons, paper and coloring books.  His creativity grew to include figures, colors and patterns. Most of his early work was autobiographical, but expanded after he began working with oil pastels which lend a soft, glowing, almost floating quality to his later work.

After 30 years in the hospital Eddie was moved to a nursing home where he turned his room into a studio, often producing a drawing a day. While there he gained a significant following; however, he was asked to leave because he refused to abide by the rules. He moved in with his widowed sister, but stopped drawing. "That's hard work," he remarked. A long established creative and physical equilibrium was disturbed, and Eddie has never recovered from it.