About the Cover Artist, "Untitled" by Norman Greenstein

Norman Greenstein had wanted to be an artist long before he became known as “The Parkinson’s Painter.” As a teenager in Philadelphia, Greenstein routinely filled his school notebooks with drawings. A friend recognized his interest and arranged for him to meet with the dean of an art school. The encounter did not go as hoped. Greenstein was discouraged from pursuing art, and the experience stayed with him for decades.

Life subsequently took him in other directions. Greenstein married his wife, Phyllis, in 1971, and they raised 3 children, Michelle, Gabe, and Steven. Although he continued to flirt with art over the years, the responsibilities of work and family repeatedly took precedence over his creative ambitions.

In 2008, at age 65, Greenstein noticed a small twitch in his leg and was diagnosed with Parkinson disease (PD). The diagnosis eventually altered not only his professional life but also his relationship with art. Around this period, Phyllis developed brain cancer, reversing the caregiving roles within their marriage. Greenstein has recalled that caring for his wife gave him little opportunity to dwell on his own diagnosis. Phyllis subsequently went into remission.

A pivotal moment came during a hike with his son Gabe at Crystal Mountain. Their conversation returned to Norman’s long-deferred desire to paint and helped persuade him that there was still time to pursue it. He began taking art classes at a community college and painting regularly, eventually developing a prolific practice. His sons later created an online gallery for his work, and Norman began exhibiting and selling paintings in 2018. His family also collaborated with him on the memoir Spit on a Canvas: The Journey of The Parkinson’s Painter—a title that reclaims the criticism that had discouraged him as a young man.

For Greenstein, exhibiting his paintings brought an unexpected form of validation. In galleries, he found that viewers encountered him not primarily through his diagnosis but through his work. He was being treated, as he has put it, “as an artist.”

Greenstein has since used that recognition to encourage others with PD and other challenges to remain creatively engaged. He has taught painting to seniors and people living with Parkinson disease and has supported Parkinson disease organizations through his artwork.

His message is ultimately the same one embodied by his late arrival to a professional life in art: a creative ambition does not necessarily have an expiration date.