She thought her career as an artist was over. "I became very depressed. I was suicidal," said Schonbach, of King of Prussia. "I hit the bottom."
Four years later, she discovered a whole new style and subject. She used those despised spasms to create gnarled branches, shimmering gardens, splashes of leaves. In a two-month frenzy, Schonbach painted 100 such paintings, impressionist watercolors of nature, and then founded NuVisions, a nonprofit group that supports disabled professional artists. In 1989, she began graduate work at Lincoln University.
She is a survivor. Yesterday, the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society said as much. Schonbach received the 1991 Achievement Award from the group at the chapter's annual meeting and banquet at the Twelve Caesars.
"It acknowledges her perseverance and her dedication to overcoming the obstacles and hardships of living with MS," said Amy Serafino, a spokeswoman for the chapter. "She refuses to give up."
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In her Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, Schonbach grew up drawing pictures of pretty girls. It fascinated her classmates and her teachers.
The daughter of an artist, she attended the Tyler School of Art and married young. In 1960, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. "It was scary," she said. "They can't tell you much about it."
MS scars the myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibers. The attacks came periodically, causing her muscles to deteriorate over time. Still, she could create her trademark photograph-quality portraits.
Schonbach raised two children, and in the 1970s she discovered mall shows, traveling the country and painting portraits. "It was like being in a circus," she said, laughing.
It all ended in 1980. After the accident, she was paralyzed for a time and then left with spasms in her arms and legs.
