The artist/disability activist agreed to be profiled just days after getting out of the hospital—and she was already on the run, getting ready for appearances she plans to make at various venues.
Asked to describe a typical day, she laughed. “First, I wake up, looking bleary,” she said. “And then I put on the coffee maker.” Describing herself as someone who is “deeply in love with the lake,” she walks along it most mornings.
Preparing for a show that runs next year, Lehrer works in her studio “for about three or four hours.” However, Lehrer—who also teaches figure drawing (with an emphasis on anatomy) three hours twice a week— added that “if I’m teaching that day, I get cleaned up, pick up some supplies and go to the Art Institute.” Discussing the class a bit more, she said, “I use live models, skeletons and [other items]. I teach them the basics of not just anatomy, but also how the body moves.”
When asked what drew her to becoming an artist, she immediately responded, “A lot of the choices I’ve had to make is because of [my] disability. When I first went to college, there were virtually no accommodations for people with disabilities. The problem was that I was equally interested in a career in medicine, but because of my health and the lack of accommodations, that goal wasn’t realistic. I love being an artist but, to some extent, it’s a career where I have a lot of control [regarding] when I need to be somewhere—things like that. I don’t mean to make it sound like a compromise career; it’s one that suits me. The good thing now is that I get to prove my interests in biology and medicine.”
Lehrer—who is also in three upcoming documentaries—is giving a talk Sunday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m. as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival at the Art Institute’s Fullerton Auditorium; it’s called “Beauty and Variation.” She will talk with Dr. Norman Lieska, associate professor of anatomy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “My thesis is that the body is the template of all experience, and there are ways to think about that … [that] lead to a state of empathy” she said.
See www.RivaLehrer.com.
STATS
Name
Riva Lehrer
Hometown
Cincinnati, Ohio
Current neighborhood
Edgewater
Relationship status
Has been dating filmmaker Ronit Bezalel for 14 months
Favorite food
Graeter’s mocha-chip ice with hot fudge
Hobbies
Walks along the lake; attends fire dances; does crossword puzzles
It’s a fact…
Lehrer’s mother was a fashion designer.