Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Going…going…for clean water

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012

Here’s an opportunity to own Endless Glow II, a Susan Swartz Original Acrylic on Linen painting, while supporting Waterkeeper Alliance, the world’s largest and fastest growing clean water advocacy group. Susan, a longtime proponent of eliminating toxins from our rivers and oceans, is proud to join this amazing group of artists and activists in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.

Hosted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Jeff Koons, the  ARTFORWATER live auction will include a special performance by Deborah Harry on Monday, March 5, 2012 at 6:30 pm at the Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 West 22nd Street, New York City.

Bidding has begun at the online auction and will close on Sunday, March 4 at noon.

Want to see Endless Glow II and bid in person? Contact Liz@livetreichard.com

Endless Glow II 20 x20

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For the New Year…on Susan’s Nightstand: The UltraMind Solution

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Susan has been working proactively on her health with Dr. Mark Hyman, a renowned physician and educator, who practices Functional Medicine, a whole-systems approach to health. In addition to Dr. Hyman’s earlier book, UltraPrevention,  also a New York Times bestseller, Susan recommends The UltraMind™ Solution.

Dr. Hyman is part of a movement on the cutting edge of an entire shift in our scientific model of disease. This movement is called systems medicine or functional medicine. Explains Susan, “Dr. Hyman advocates a way of understanding the root causes of our illness and how our lifestyle and environment interact with our genes to create the imbalances or balances that are the real determinants of disease or health.”

She is looking forward to Dr. Hyman’s latest release The Blood Sugar Solution (available to the public in February 2012.)

To learn more about Functional Medicine and Dr. Hyman’s work, visit his website.

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Susan Serves as Executive Producer for the Lauded Documentary, Under Our Skin

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

In the early 1970’s, a mysterious illness was discovered among children living around the town of Lyme, CT. What was first diagnosed as isolated cases of juvenile arthritis, eventually became known as Lyme disease, one of the most misunderstood and controversial illnesses of our time. Today, the Centers for Disease Control admits that more than 400,000 people may acquire Lyme disease each year, a number ten times greater than AIDS and West Nile Virus combined. And yet, the medical establishment–with profound influence from the insurance industry–has stated that the disease is easily detectable and treatable, and that “chronic Lyme” is some other unrecognized syndrome or a completely psychosomatic disorder.

During her own struggles with Lyme disease, Susan has battled not just physical symptoms, but a startling ignorance about the illness that pervades the medical community. As she fights to regain her health, she grows ever more resolute in her desire to shed light on both the disease and the fog of secrecy and misunderstanding that surrounds it. In order to help spread awareness about the disease, Susan and her husband, Jim, executive produced the impactful documentary film, Under Our Skin.

Directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson, Under Our Skin is a gripping and often terrifying look not only at the science and politics of the disease, but also the personal stories of those whose lives have been affected and nearly destroyed. The recipient of multiple awards, including Best Documentary at the Houston International, Somona, Durango, Talking Pictures and Camden International Film Festivals, as well as a finalist for the Audience Choice Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, Under Our Skin was further honored by being named as a semifinalist for the 2010 Academy Awards.

“Susan has been a friend and fierce advocate for Under Our Skin,” said Abrahams Wilson. “Her generosity and graciousness stand out, especially considering her own struggle with Lyme disease. I have been moved and humbled by Susan’s courage and support, as well as her commitment to her own artistic soul and to the healing of herself and others”.

For more information about the film or to purchase a DVD, visit http://www.underourskin.com.

Under Our Skin is also available for rental through Netflix.

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On Susan’s Bedside Table: Diagnosis, Mercury: Money, Politics & Poison

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

To learn more about mercury contamination, Susan highly recommends Diagnosis, Mercury: Money, Politics & Poison, by physician Jane M. Hightower. In the book, Dr. Hightower retraces her investigation into the modern prevalence of mercury poisoning, revealing how political calculations, dubious studies, and industry lobbyists endanger our health. While mercury is a naturally occurring element, she learns there’s much that is unnatural about this poison’s prevalence in our seafood.

Dr. Hightower’s tenacious inquiry sheds light on a system in which, too often, money trumps good science and responsible government. Susan suggests that Diagnosis: Mercury should be required reading for everyone who cares about their health.

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Susan Serves as Executive Producer for the Award-Winning Documentary, The Cove: Mercury Rising

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Did you know that over 70% of the toxic mercury in our environment is the result of industrial activities and human pollution? Mercury accumulates in the atmosphere and makes its way up the marine food chain, ultimately leading to dangerously high concentrations of the metal in the species of fish favored by many humans, like tuna, swordfish and mackerel. In humans, mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that at elevated levels may lead to cancer, slow growth, brain, and kidney damage. After becoming critically ill with mercury poisoning a decade ago, Susan emerged determined to shed light on this environmental and human health catastrophe. Together with her husband, Jim, and their filmmaking partners, Susan executive produced the impactful film Mercury Rising.

As a companion piece to the Sundance hit and 2010 Academy Award-winning documentary, The Cove, that tracked the secret butchering of dolphins in a rural Japanese beach community, The Cove: Mercury Rising is a short documentary that explores the dangers of mercury contamination as it affects society and the global environment. Included on The Cove DVD, Mercury Rising highlights interviews with environmental crusader, Robert Kennedy, Jr. and advocates for stronger regulations of mercury emissions.

Launched in tandem with the film is a mercury-level-calculator website, which allows people to check mercury exposure from fish on-line or from a cell phone based on their weight, fish type and serving size. The calculator is available at www.GotMercury.org and www.takepart.com/GotMercury

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Susan’s Story:

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Susan Swartz creates vibrant landscape paintings from her studio in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. An official artist of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, she is well known to public and private collectors alike, and just wrapped a solo exhibition at the Springville Museum of Fine Arts in Utah.

There is an underlying energy and tension to Susan’s work that hints of her complex relationship with the natural environment. “Mankind’s carelessness with the natural world has had a very personal effect on me,” she explains. “It has nearly killed me two times.”

A decade ago, Susan was diagnosed with mercury poisoning, most likely from eating fish from contaminated waters. Six years later, she was struck with another environmentally bred illness: Lyme disease, probably contracted through an infected mosquito. “I came this close to dying,” Susan says. “My spiritual reverence for the natural world and my painting kept me going.”

Today, Susan still combats the effects of illness, but has found new purpose both in and out of the studio. She is an activist who works with renowned environmental crusaders, like Dr. Jane Goodall and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who writes that Susan “captures what is both sacred and divine in nature…in her work I find refuge and inspiration.” Susan serves on the board of the Harvard Divinity School and the Salt Lake Film Center, is a trustee of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and co-founded the charity-based The Christian Center in Park City.

Since becoming ill, Susan has also become deeply involved in the production of documentary films that seek to shed light on an injustice. Films touched by Susan include Academy Award nominees and winners, as well as Sundance Film Festival award winners.

Susan’s ordeals have also inspired a change in her artwork. “While my illnesses wreaked tremendous havoc on body and spirit, they also shook me out of my comfort level as an artist,” she says. “The art I am now creating is more impassioned, more profound, more achingly full of desire than anything I have created in the past.”

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