Saturday, November 15, 2014

Jeffrey Owen Hanson: Painter, Philanthropist -- Includes Updates



Artist Jeffrey Owen Hanson is legally blind. 

On his 19th birthday, he set a goal to reach a million dollars in charitable donations of his artwork by the time he was twenty years old, and he made it with two months to spare.

Jeffrey's paintings are in the homes of Sir Elton John, Warren Buffet, Susan Sarandon, Billy Joel, Bill Gates, the late Harold Ramis, Olivia Wilde, and many others.

When I photographed Jeffrey, he showed me his 30" x 30" acrylic painting on heavily-textured canvas titled, "One Night in Nice."

His loss of sight is attributed to an optic tumor, neurofibromatosis, which was diagnosed when he was 12 years old.

* Update 2015: CBS Sunday Morning included a segment about Jeffrey in late March, 2015. 

* Update 2021: Jeff was diagnosed with a newly-found brain tumor in October, 2020. He passed on December 20, 2020. He raised millions of dollars for charity by donating his award-winning artwork. You will be missed, Jeffrey.

Photograph © 2014 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

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