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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4>This appeared in the Ellwood City Ledger (PA) last
week. The focus is on rehabilitation for blind people.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4>Quote:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 20.25pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-outline-level: 1"
align=left><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">Sight
fades, but vision remains strong<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">By
Louise Carroll For The Ledger | Posted: Monday, February 24, 2014 12:15
am</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">NEW
BRIGHTON — The art show “Vision and Revision,” an exhibit by Suzanne Gibson and
Lynda Lambert, opens on March 7 at the Merrick Art Gallery and brings a message
of hope. Both artists are legally blind but continue to
create.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">When
the show opens, the artists will be there to greet visitors and give a short
talk.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A
year ago, Lambert, who uses a voice reader to read to her any electronic
message, email, newspaper or website, read Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention statistics that said 3.4 million people will have sight loss in
2014.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“As
I read this, it made me think of how, as an artist, I could bring a positive
message through my own work,” said Lambert, whose vision is 20/700. “I got the
idea to develop a traveling art exhibition that would be on view in six
galleries over a two-year period. I called it ‘Vision and Revision,’ because we
have lost our sight, but we have not lost our vision. We have just refocused it
and continue to create.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">When
Lambert met Gibson, whose vision is 20/200, Lambert helped her get
rehabilitation and mobility training, and now together they have created an art
exhibition of Gibson’s paintings and Lambert’s mixed-media bead works and
pottery to bring hope to vision-impaired people.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“We
want to share our positive story to show that life is not over. Find a way to
keep doing what you love to do, just rethink it. Don’t give up and hide,” Gibson
said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lambert,
of Ellwood City, had been in exhibitions all over the United States, Japan,
Austria and New Guinea for nearly 40 years. She was a college professor of fine
arts and humanities at Geneva College when she suddenly lost her sight in 2007.
She was diagnosed with ischemic optic neuropathy, a strokelike
condition.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“Everything
in my life changed when I lost my sight,” Lambert said. “At first I was stunned,
but after going away for several months for rehabilitation at the Blind and
Vision Rehabilitation Services in Homestead, I learned to do the simplest tasks
but in a new way.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lambert
learned to use adaptive technologies for the blind. As she learned these skills,
she again began to dream of making art. In 2009, when she had been through
rehabilitation for the blind, she expanded her talents to make exquisite beaded
jewelry pieces. She created encrusted beadwork using Swarovski crystals, natural
gemstones, freshwater pearls, fragments of pottery shards, cabochons, other
objects.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“The
things I love most are the powerful talismans that I imagine would be worn for
spiritual and healing purposes in ancient and medieval times. A talisman is an
object that dates back to pre-history — used for healing, safety and protection.
They are precious treasures that harks back to the ancient to medieval world
that I used to lecture my students on in the humanities courses I taught when I
was a professor. They carry the magic that we experience when we look at great
works of art from another time,” Lambert said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“My
goal was high-quality art that could compete in art exhibitions,” Lambert said.
“It took me about five years to get back to where I was, but I got
there.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
Lawrence County Blind Association is making Braille labels for the
show.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Gibson,
of New Brighton, is a painter who has owned and operated Rivers Edge Studio and
Gallery in New Brighton, for four years. About six years ago, she began losing
her sight due to Stargardt’s disease, which has caused her to lose most of her
central vision. She was inspired by an exhibit by John Bramblitt, a totally
blind artist.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“I
had to find another way to make my art. I thought ‘How do I get you to feel what
I want you to feel?’ “ Gibson said. “My work has become much more abstract, and
I use color in a much different way to emphasize mood and depth. I feel I’m now
doing the best art I’ve ever done; other people say it’s the best work I’ve ever
done. It has taught me a lot artistically, because I have to think about the
essence of something without the detail. Less is more.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Currently,
Gibson is developing a series of acrylic paintings on canvas. She is doing
commissions for the aviary in Pittsburgh, teaching art classes and managing the
Rivers Edge Studio.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“With
the right help, we were able to continue our creative lives,” Lambert said.
“With the help I received at BVRS, I learned there wasn’t anything I couldn’t
do, other than drive. I could look at anything and figure out the tools and
methods to make things work.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face=Arial> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Arial
size=4></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Arial
size=4></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Arial
size=4>Lynda</FONT></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4>Lynda McKinney Lambert, MFA<BR>Artist, Educator,
Author<BR>104 River Road, Ellwood City, PA 16117<BR><A
href="http://www.lyndalambert.com">http://www.lyndalambert.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4>"Human beings are creatures who conceal an interior
of uncharted chaos which lies beneath the surface reality"James Baldwin, The
Creative Life (1962)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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