Delta Center for the Arts
LH Horton Jr Gallery presents
Creative Vision: An Exhibition on Vision and Perception
February 26 – March 27, 2009
Reception: February 26th, 5 – 7p.m.
Artists' Talk: February 26th, 11:30a.m.– 1p.m.
SJDC Tillie Lewis Theatre
Sponosred by the Delta College Cultural Awareness Program
Free and Open to the Public
Thank You to Our Exhibition Sponsors:
San Joaquin Delta College
SJDC Associated Student Body Government
Delta College Cultural Awareness Program
Stockton Pacifica Lions Club
Taste of Heaven
Dr. Kathryn Beckman, Beckman Optometry
Mr. Alan Korsgaden, Image Connection
Dr. Stephen Itaya, Delta College Science Instructor
Dr. Judith Prima, Brookside Optometric Group
Note from the Gallery Director, Jan Marlese:
I first became aware of artists working with vision impairments through one of the exhibiting artists, Mr. Scott Nelson, through his work as founder and curator of the touring exhibition, Art of the Eye. Following in my mentor’s footsteps, this exhibition presents the art of blind and visually impaired artists working in a variety of mediums. The concept of the exhibition is to illustrate the influence vision impairments have on the artists’ creative processes. What may appear to be works of art about restricted vision is ultimately seen to be enhanced expressions of available sight, visual memory, imagination, and dreams. Limitations from the artists’ vision impairments are presented as an important, creative force—breaking the barriers visually impaired artists have faced to be defined by their work, not by their disability. The exhibition presents learning opportunities that support serious consideration of the importance of seeing differently. That vision exists beyond the physical capability to see.
Exhibiting Artists
Charles Blackwell
Berkeley, CA
I have been legally blind since 1971. My visual impairment is that I have no central vision, only peripheral vision 20/200. My blindness forces me to toy with imagination, pulling from experiences such as working with musicians and attending concerts, sitting close to the performance. I use memory, and put my face close to the paper or canvas while drawing or painting. Sometimes I have to invent new approaches: instead of drawing with pen or pencil, I use the ink dropper, the bottom of the brush, the handle, and sometimes my fingers.
I have been legally blind for about twenty some odd years. I have been totally blind for about half of this time. I lost my vision to Retinitis Pigmentosa. By memorizing the event of taking photos using sound and touch I have a clear minds eye view of my work. I could do conceptual art by showing the contact sheets and doing a write-up about the event of shooting the photos. This would eliminate sighted people from my process. I don’t. I want to interact with sighted people. I am trying to cut a path as a blind artist. By interacting with sighted people I am building bridges. It is also important for me to talk to viewers in gallery shows. My work makes people question their assumptions. By sharpening my other senses and translating what I hear helps my skills. I can see again. I am not trying to depict the sighted world. I am trying to show the world I now see using my other senses. My memories, emotions, as well as sound and touch play a part. Some people don't think I am blind after looking at my work. I am a visual person, I just can't see.
Carmelo Gannello
Oak Park, IL
Since I was 36 years old I have had recurrent retinal detachments that left floaters in my eye. I constantly see them in my vision. They come in various sizes and play a large part in how I see and create. At first I worked in a representational style, but with the onset of my visual impairment, I changed to a more abstract and symbolist style. The subject for my abstract work is based on the circles and orbs, which are actual patches of blackness that I experience – patches that are frequently illuminated by bright flashes.
I attended the National Academy of Design in New York City from 1937 to 1940. It wasn't until 1976, however, that I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. Through the years, I have worked with oil, conté, pastel, watercolor, linocut, and mixed media. My work can be found in the Museum of the City of New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Illinois, AMOCO, and in many private collections.
Michael Jameson
Santa Barbara, CA
I have had Retolental Fibroplasia since I was six months old. Fortunately, it left me with some vision in my right eye. My left eye is glass. As an artist I have adapted to accommodate the limitations imposed by my disability. I use special eyeglasses and need the best possible lighting to have adequate vision to create my artistic visions. Art has transformed me into the person I have always envisioned myself to be, in spite of everything that has happened to me on my journey to become a professional artist.
I began drawing at an early age. When my Mother and Grandmother noticed this interest they encouraged me with praise and art supplies. My first award for artwork was a blue ribbon from County Fair for a mural depicting Ranch life when I was in Second Grade. At the age of 25, I decided that I what I wanted to do in life was to be a Visual Artist.
I've spent years studying various art subjects, techniques, and tools in classes in and around Santa Barbara where I live and in my own Studio. I studied and created Stone Sculpture, Oil Painting, Pastel Painting, Water Color Painting, Drawing, Ceramics, and Book Arts. I have won awards in excellence in Oil Painting and Printmaking. Which are the two areas that I continue to work in today. In 2005 we built an Art Studio that is detached from our house. Before that I used a spare room in our house as my Art Studio. For printmaking I own a Whelan Express Printing Press for printing.
Work tables in the Studio are 38" tall to eliminate excessive bending, and I use rubber mats to eliminate leg fatigue at all work areas. I also use CS3 software, scanner, and printer to create transparencies used in some of my print images. I also use direct painting onto Solar Plates using printers ink, flash and Clove oil for corrections, oil painting brushes to paint image, under florescent lighting.
I use brushes, oil paint, ply wood panels, and painting easel, for Oil Painting. For subject matter, I enjoy creating portraits of people, and images of animals are a big area of interest to me. I also enjoy images of plant material. Still Life has been an area of interest to me. The concepts of Myth and Heros in Art are themes that come to mind in my art making.
One area that I utilize to enhance my art making ability is the use of glasses. I have glasses for regular walking around, glasses for reading, glasses for working in the Studio and looking at Art in Galleries, and glasses for working at the computer. Otherwise the way I use materials and tools in the Studio are almost like everyone working in that particular medium. I believe imagination doesn't have a visual component. So I don’t think about my physical vision when creating art images. There are other issues like transportation, and physical mobility from one place to another that impact my life as an artist in the real world.
To be honest, I am an example of someone who is visually impaired who is making their way through this one day and time as the best artist that I hope I can be and hope to become. To me it is my vision in art that is the most important concept to be thought about. Not so much my visual impairment that I feel is beside the point ultimately, but expressing myself through the medium of Art. Look. I'm not going to make Art that expresses to others how I physically really see things in the world. My art is about my mental views of the World around me. I do have a visual impairment and people seem to be aware of that when they get to know me. There is a level of giving people too much information about one's self that can actually put them off. If someone wants to know more about my visual stats I am not afraid of explaining myself further. I don't want to be a poster child for the visually impaired. I want my artwork to stand on its own up against any other Artist.
Living in a small city, I encounter very few if any visually impaired artists where I live and work. So it's only when I travel to juried shows and large cities that I might mingle with other visually impaired artists. One thing I notice at this time is a need for Gallery representation for Visually Impaired Artists to show case our work at a higher level in the Art World.
My finale statement: I am very happy about being an artist and ultimately this is a favorable time for visually impaired artists to showcase their artwork on national and global scale.
Scott Nelson
Minneapolis, MN
I am an artist and writer exploring changes in perception experienced by artists with vision impairments. I utilize a variety of mediums to illustrate my own diminishing eyesight caused by Retinitis Pigmentosa and Usher Syndrome. I also build boats.
In 1986, I created The Delta Gamma Foundation’s Art of the Eye, an exhibition on vision touring nearly 50 states from 1986 to 2000. I have worked with and advised the National MS Society’s Project Rembrandt, Art Education for the Blind, Museum of American Folk Art, Cooper Hewitt Museum, Very Special Arts, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota History Center and other presenters, including this exhibition at the LH Horton Jr Gallery, helping to develop accessible arts programming for visitors with disabilities.
As a legally blind photographer I have overcome the barriers, obstacles and challenges of producing and exhibiting my art. For the past several years, I have been experimenting with unusual and altered photographic "views" and "perspectives" that redefine and recontextualize, for both the sighted and blind communities, the very nature of seeing.
I entered the art arena as an accomplished photographer, incorporating extensive art education (Master of Fine Arts) with fifteen years of work experience as a fashion photographer. In 1996 I became legally blind due to an AIDS related condition known as cytomegalovirus retinitis. My limited visual acuity - total blindness in my left eye and limited peripheral vision with no central vision in my right eye - permits me to see the world much like it appears in an impressionist painting.
My “BLIND VISION” series of self-portraits represents the physical, psychological and emotional weight that sight loss has had on my life. The focus of this work is not only to illustrate physical vision loss, but also an inner journey involving my fears and emotions about becoming totally blind. This is a journey towards infinite darkness in which physical sight is diminished and obscured but artistic vision, my blind vision, is enhanced. I use the experience of blindness to expand my conceptual expression within the visual realm. BLIND VISION illustrates a synergy of the physical (corporeal) experience framed within the context of a metaphysical journey to form a unique vision beyond sight.
Seeing, as we all know, is a combination of all our physical, mental, psychological and spiritual states. We speak about "seeing" something clearly as seeing something accurately, truthfully and in its entirety. The luscious black and white photographs I have created during the past few years are truly breakthrough images that challenge preconceived notions of blindness and achieve a new context in which to view blindness in the visual arts.
I recently acquired my graduate degree, Master of Fine Arts, studying under nationally renowned photographer Eileen Cowin. I maintained a 4.0 GPA that earned me a membership in Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society. While pursuing my MFA I was able to enhance my conceptual abilities. As we enter the new conceptual age, I believe it is important for artists to create meaningful art that may at times encompass the pain and the needs of diverse and marginalized people. As one of the new breed conceptual artists I am committed to creating more than decorative art: I create art that tells stories and engages people emotionally.
As an artist living with disability I have been committed to the full inclusion and access to the arts for the disabled. I have participated as an artist and advisor with the national arts organization VSA arts, as well as the National Arts and Disabilities Center, and the California Arts Council. In 2003 I assisted with organizing the groundbreaking “Hire Value Conferences – Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities.” In 2005 I coordinated and curated the SHARED VISIONS art exhibition featuring the art of blind and visually impaired artists at the Southern California College of Optometry.
Alice Wingwall
Berkeley, CA
Stop Sun Time
The sun is really gaseous flaring flames, always darting, moving. The sun cannot stand still. The sun looms warmly near us, only 8.6 light minutes from the earth. Minutes, I repeat, so large, so near that we are hypnotized that it does not move during the four days we celebrate its solid sphere performance.
Big decisions seem as momentously solid when we take four days to make and announce such changes. To come out as a blind person, and to reemerge as a blind artist. I first bought a fold up cane so I could fold and hide it, not to be seen as needing it. When I came home with my first guide dog, I spent a day crying as I walked with him. I could not fold him up, not roll him into a large pocket. We would be seen, be known for my blindness.
The Berkeley art museum organized a six-month show, blind at the museum, and I was solicited to join. Longer than four days I stationed myself in fear. I had never been seen, photographically, as being blind. But I got some blind smarts and joined the group of blind and visually impaired photographers. In these three years I have worked with other stars such as the sun, looking and forming new constellations physically, mentally photographically. Now everyone knows. I am there with images, staring at and being stared at. Yes, a dog can look at a bishop.
