| Art, takes child abuse out of the filing cabinet and exposes it to the world! |
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| Father & Daughter #1 |
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A Vision in the Wilderness
From about the age of four until I escaped with only the clothes on my back at age seventeen, I was treated brutally, cruelly, and humiliated by my father while my mother enabled him to do so. When I was 12 years old, my father went into an insane rage and began beating me so severely, I was certain I would be murdered. Fear for my life gave me the strength to break loose, push my father hard enough for him to lose his balance which gave me just enough time to run down the stairs and pound on a neighbor’s door. I begged frantically, “Please call the police. He’s going to kill me. I am never going in that house again. Let the police take me away.”
Almost six months from that day I lived in Juvenile Detention Hall in Detroit Michigan. For the first time in my life, I found a degree of happiness. I saw a girl copying Christmas cards in chalk on construction paper. I began doing the same. I did dozens of pictures. Everyone loved them and soon the entire facility became decorated with my pictures. It was the first time in my life I got praise and acceptance for myself. It was pure ecstasy. It felt so good I dreamed of becoming an artist.
I was released from Juvenile Detention Hall to St. Mary’s Academy where my first formal art lessons were taken. My belief in my dream of becoming an artist and an art teacher intensified. My father’s abuse continued for five more years until my dream was totally crushed when he falsely accused me of having premarital sex and forced me into an unwanted marriage. My education was aborted and my hopes, dreams forgotten. From then forward, it was an up & down struggle for economic survival. Art study had to be abandoned though the desire to pursue art gnawed at me. I promised myself somehow, some way I would still become an artist. There were times I was so poor I didn’t even have ten cents to buy food. There were years there was no time for me to practice my talent. Once I went as long as ten years and never produced a single drawing. I never gave up. Every chance I got, I bought art supplies, took an art class, and worked at my art.
In 1991 I moved to Arizona to finally realize my dream to be an artist. I was going to paint the wilderness. It was the first time in my life I didn’t have 150 items a day to do. While working on a painting near the Verde River, an image of a little girl with black eyes, bloody nose, and a fist aimed at her appeared in my line of vision. It was very clear as it stared at me and I stared back. I looked at my painting. The image was gone. I returned to the site I was painting and the image reappeared. It was as if the vision were saying, “Remember me.” I did remember. I was that little girl. I had long forgotten her. I was so shaken I packed my equipment and returned home. Just as I was about to fall asleep, the vision reappeared. Once again I could hear her saying “Remember me.” For over forty years I had not thought of that little girl. Why at that stage in my life had she come to me. The next morning I painted the vision on rag paper with acrylics, stuck it on my wall, and forgot about it. Though the vision never again returned, it began an entire new body of art work which led to the concept of a new kind of museum.
A few weeks later a neighbor came to my door with a friend with a child about the age of five. She asked if her friend could see my paintings. Always glad for an opportunity to show my work, I welcomed them. As they looked around they spotted the child with the bloody nose painting. They both stared wide eyed for several seconds at that painting. Finally the woman asked if that child were I. She asked if I ever got therapy as an adult survivor for child abuse. She then told me about a therapist she was seeing who was a specialist in the field. The rest of her visit was spent telling me her story about spousal and child abuse. It was unbelievably horrible. In my heart, I knew she had told me the truth.
Through therapy with the wonderful lady she recommended, years of confusion, self hatred, suppressed pain, and ignorance cleared. I began to discover how vast and devastating the practice of child abuse is. Each time I experienced a break through or discovered a new fact about child abuse I either painted or wrote about it. The work grew. Art is one more way to tell the story of child abuse to the world. At the age of 12 I knew I wanted to be an artist. At age 49 I painted my first picture about child abuse. That time gap represents over thirty years of denial and suppression of the crimes committed against me by my parents. What a difference it would have made in the quality of my life if I had dealt with my child abuse sooner. What a difference it would have made in the quality of my daughter’s life and our relationship today, if I had known the full impact of the wickedness of my father.
Since then I have had the opportunity to exhibit my work. People who had suffered from abusive parents loved what I painted. Many viewers came to me after looking at the paintings, threw their arms around me, began crying, then said “Thank you.” Child abuse is about the only subject society refuses to acknowledge in an open way. Society pays dearly for the luxury of ignoring the practice of child abuse. Almost every day there is a new item about domestic violence, child abuse, or heinous crime against the innocent. It is a constant reminder to me how ignorant the vast majority remains about the most commonly practiced crime on the planet. I began to imagine various methods to bring information to the public about dysfunctional families and what help is available. I was going to create a web site called “Too Painful” and ask for donations so I could build and create a small museum about child abuse. Around that time I began telling some business people my idea for a museum. With some of their suggestions, advice, and much needed encouragement, I conceived a plan that could make a difference in the world. The Museum of Innocence, a non profit corporation was founded to build a masterful cultural center to acknowledge the victims, research the causes, offer choices to heal, enlighten the public and bring comfort to millions and and become an asset to the planet for many generations. My work has led to my creating this site. Now its time to make the Museum of Innocence a reality!
Therese Daniels |
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| Therese & Arnold Scharzenegger & Al |
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| Therese & Buzz (real estate partner) |
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| Therese & Joe Gold (founder of Gold's & World Gyms) |
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From Child Abuse Survivor to Advocate
If you didn't know my background, the last person you would suspect as a child abuse victim would be me. It seems by dumb luck I found the ideal empowering circumstances to help me over come almost impossible obstacles. Once I over came so many of the obstacles, happiness became mine almost every day the rest of my life. There's nothing more special about me than any other child abuse victim. I tell you this in hopes if you have not already done so, you too, will over come your obstacles and find daily happiness the rest of your life.
Like most children who suffered abusive childhoods, their adult life is equally tumultuous. Broken marriages, career failures, and economic struggle were the patterns that followed my life for many years. During most of that, I lived nearly twenty years at Venice Beach, California which literally became my womb, my university, my survival, and ultimately my inspiration. The years working, living, and playing at Venice Beach were among the most productive, fascinating, healing, and unique experiences of my life. I passionately loved it there and would never have moved away had it not been for my mother's need for me to care for her in her ailing years. I worked out for eighteen years at World Gym owned by Joe Gold known for founding the world famous Gold's Gyms and later World Gym. During those years I was privileged to work out at the same time of the morning as Arnold Schwazenegger who was gracious enough to talk to me every morning. Joe Gold listed his properties with me and I became his real estate consultant.
I had the pleasure of meeting many body building champions,celebrities, and eventually met my husband at World Gym. While living at the beach I was a political activist and often an advocate for many different causes. In between all my civic activities, I continued to study art (did lots of photos and drawings of Venice life on Ocean Front Walk) designed original jewelry in precious and semi stones. made several lithographs from lime stone blocks and a few Venice Beach paintings. I studied metaphysics, philosophy, art, and sold apartment buildings. Life for me in Venice in those years was like being Alice in Wonderland. Currently, I am working on writing a book about those magical times in Venice.
For the past thirty years, I supported myself as a realtor facing many hot and cold markets. The hot markets carried me through the cold ones. The cold markets taught me how to adapt to change. Real estate is a wonderful background to develop the business Knowledge to coordinate a project such as a cultural center. The combined experience of art, living at Venice Beach and business seems to be the ideal background to conceive the Museum of Innocence! I hope it will lead to making it a reality!
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