‘You gotta’ get a grip ...’

John Schartung was driving back to Florida in his reformed milk truck after visiting his 100 year-old grandmother in Owensboro when he took a sharp exit just outside of Birmingham, Ala., in 2002.

Going too fast in a too narrow, too tall truck, he felt the vehicle begin to slowly tip, and soon found himself “encased” in the crumpled, aluminum corpse of his truck, staring up at the sunlight through a tiny, non-metal cubby-hole.

“When I opened my eyes, it was like looking out of a beer can,” Schartung said.  “It took the medics two-and-a-half hours to cut me out.”

Once they did, the medics strapped a brace around Schartung’s neck and carefully lifted him out.

According to Schartung, he’d broken his C3 vertebrae:  the bone high on the back that affects nearly every human function from the neck down.

His sharp exit left him completely paralyzed for three days, and forced him to learn to walk all over again.

Schartung still used a walker when he enrolled at Owensboro Community College to study – and create – art.

Today, Schartung, 65, is an artist who boasts an eclectic/expansive portfolio of work.

He paints, print-makes, makes Raka ceramics (on the side) and has pieces showcased everywhere from Beijing to Abruzzo Italy, Mexico City to downtown Evansville.

One of his abstract paintings lay in the hands of Helmutt Jenne, a German folk rock artist.

After enrolling in Owensboro, however, he could barely remember his own name.

“Short term memory was bad for me, so Math was really tough,” Schartung said. 

He sometimes repeated math classes two or three times before passing them.

His real focus at Owensboro, however, lay firmly in art.

When Schartung lived in Nashville – which he did for 22 years – he owned a photography business, and even studied the form at Nashville Tech for a couple of years.

He neglected all other art, though, and by the time he enrolled at Owensboro, Schartung hadn’t picked up a paintbrush for 25 years.

“I started doing art in grade school, but got wild and crazy when I was young,” Schartung said  “That’s what you’re supposed to do, right?  But I got serious (after the accident).  If I wasn’t going to become something I never was, I knew I had to get off my butt and get motivated.”

Which is exactly what he did.  While at Owensboro, Schartung began painting again, and even bolstered the school’s art program by teaching a drawing class and helping set up the college’s first printing press.

All in all, he spent four years in community college before finally graduating in May 2007.

Afterward, he immediately enrolled at USI – the only school in the area with a full art program. 

“All the work I’ve done, I’ve done since the spring of 2003,” Schartung said.  “Before, art was just a hobby.  I wouldn’t have called myself an artist at the time.  I attempted art.”

His work involves painting – which he sees as his primary focus – but also includes a wide-variety of printmaking techniques.

Unlike almost all other art forms, “prints” are generally created by cutting indentations into a surface – a piece of copper, other metals, etc – and dipping ink into the cuts to create complex, layered works.

In etching – a form Schartung regularly uses – the artist must dip their piece of copper in a pool of acid to eat at the surface and create better texture.

According to Schartung, the artist then “bakes” the copper and draws on the piece, cutting out said drawing using a very small, but very sharp, scalpel-esque knife.

The aforementioned acid “eats that away,” Schartung said.  “You may have to etch it three or four times.”

The artist then runs their creation through a large, metal, obese-ly heavy printing press boasting a wheel weighing more than an average-sized man.

 “I wouldn’t say there’s more freedom (in printmaking/etching).  There are still rules, like composition and balance,” Schartung said.  “But if you mess up a painting, you can paint over it.  If you mess up a piece of copper, well …”

Schartung also creates “monoprints”:  prints consisting of a single layer dropped directly onto paper.

In a series of prints, Schartung dropped ink-dipped fallen leaves onto the paper, and repositioned them for each print, sometimes peeling the foliage away from the press between runs.

Schartung usually spends 15-20 hours in the printmaking studio a week – on top of going to school full time – and does most of his work on the weekends.

Last Sunday, he spent six-and-a-half hours (7:30 a.m.- 2 p.m.) printing.

“The facilities here are awesome,” Schartung said.  “I love it here.  I don’t think I’ve had a bad thought the whole time I’ve been here.  About anything.”

This year, Schartung received a RISC grant …

(Editor’s Note:  According to USI’s Web site, RISC grants are “for undergraduate students who are conducting research, scholarly or creative endeavors at the University of Southern Indiana.  Students are encouraged to apply for up to $150,000 … (they) can be used to help defray costs for equipment, lab work, materials and travel expenses necessary for the research to occur.”)

… and plans to use the money to “explore monoprinting in the same way I approach my paintings,” Schartung said.  “When I approach a painting, I approach it blindly.  I don’t think.  I just paint.  With mono, I want to achieve something similar.”

Although Schartung dedicates himself wholly to art – and will move on to graduate school after graduating in May – he still avoids pushing himself too hard after his accident, limiting himself to 20 or 30 minute blocks of work.

“I hurt a lot,” Schartung said.  “I can’t run anymore, and I still have a problem with coordination.  I couldn’t step off a curb when the accident first happened.”

“I consider myself blessed.  The alternative is sitting in a wheelchair and doing nothing.  But I wasn’t going to stop, man.  Life goes on, you gotta get a grip.  That’s my theory.”