THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130682
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
AMID STACKED CARDBOARD boxes and bound canvases waiting to be moved to her new Norfolk apartment, French painter Suzanne Mazabras talked candidly one recent afternoon about her artistic inspiration.
Her vibrant watercolors of flower arrangements on white backgrounds, currently on display at Virginia Wesleyan College's Hofheimer Library, are gifts to the people who taught her to speak two languages, provided company when she was depressed and lonely, and protected her against harm and misery.
``They saved my life,'' Mazabras, a 61-year-old woman with a white ponytail, explained in a broad French accent. ``They are very good, loving people.
``I have never talked about this before. People may laugh at me; I don't care. Man and woman on earth are not always good to me. These people are my life.''
At the age of 1, Mazabras experienced a profound, bilateral hearing loss. Trapped in a near-soundless world, she soon turned to painting to communicate and express her feelings. No one ever expected her to speak. But to the amazement of her family, she began to talk at age 4. Then she learned to read lips.
``I was bored with my dolls,'' recalled Mazabras, who now speaks both French and English. ``I spoke to my doll, and my doll answered me. `They' teach me to speak . . . these people from UFOs. I did not understand . . . I could not tell my family.''
Mazabras said these ``people from another planet'' also taught her to paint.
``I always wanted to be a painter,'' she said. ``But my family did not understand my needs. Someone had hold of my hand . . . and soon I was painting.''
In the '50s, Mazabras moved from her home in Marseille to study art in Colorado Springs. A few years later, she settled in New York, which was to become her home for nearly 40 years.
After earning a degree in graphic design from the Parsons School of Design in New York, Mazabras was unable to find employment so she started her own business designing wallpaper, graphics, home furnishings and fabrics.
``People didn't want to give me a job because I was hearing impaired,'' Mazabras said. ``They admire me, yes, but at the same time, they're afraid.''
Throughout a failed marriage, the loss of a child and other personal traumas, Mazabras said she was able to cope because she had ``telepathic help.''
``They've been protecting me all my life,'' she said of her extraterrestrial friends. ``I thought it was my imagination . . . but now I know. They gave me a gift.''
Her gift was painting. During the difficult times, she continued drawing and painting. She found so much comfort in her art that she decided to use it to help others, working in her spare time as an art psychotherapist for the hearing impaired.
``People who have conflicts can see their problems in their art,'' she explained. ``I don't tell them about their problems . . . we just work.''
In 1991, Mazabras relocated to Norfolk after a spiritual calling directed her to Virginia. Since then, she has devoted herself full-time to her painting. Two years ago, Mazabras exhibited her work at Norfolk State University. About a dozen of her watercolors featuring bouquets of daffodils, rosebuds, tulips, pink cyclamens and anemones are on display at Virginia Wesleyan through Oct. 20.
Now she is eager to continue her work as an art psychotherapist. Her recent move to a new residence, she said, should give her more space in which to work and teach.
In the meantime, she's trying to find a publisher for a book she has written chronicling her experience with extraterrestrial beings.
``They gave me a fantastic life,'' she said of her ``protectors.''
``I want to tell others.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Suzanne Mazabras, whose floral watercolors are on display at
Virginia Wesleyan College's Hofheimer Library, says that ``people
from UFOs'' taught her how to paint.
Graphic
AT A GLANCE
Suzanne Mazabras' watercolors and the works of two other French
artists - Lucette Ritter and Nicole Jaquet - will be on display
through Oct. 20 in Virginia Wesleyan's Hofheimer Library.
Hours are 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and from 2:30 to 10:30
p.m. Sunday.
The free exhibit is sponsored by the college's Alliance
Francaise.
by CNB