<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:10pt;"><div>Hi Lynda,</div><div> You guys are getting some great coverage for your event. All my best wishes are with you tomorrow at your opening event. I hope you have a wonderful time and that the weather plays nice so that lots of people are there. I can't wait to hear how it goes, I wish I could be there. All the best, Ann</div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: andale mono,times;">Ann Cunningham</span></div><div><span style="font-family: andale mono,times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!</span></em></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: andale mono,times;">303 238 4760</span></div><div><span style="font-family: andale mono,times;"><a href="mailto:ann@acunningham.com">ann@acunningham.com</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: andale mono,times;"><a href="http://www.acunningham.com">http://www.acunningham.com</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: andale mono,times;"><a href="http://www.sensationalbooks.com">http://www.sensationalbooks.com</a> </span></div><div><br><br></div>
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-------- Original Message --------<br>
Subject: [Artists-making-art] (no subject)<br>
From: "Lynda Lambert" <<a href="mailto:llambert@zoominternet.net">llambert@zoominternet.net</a>><br>
Date: Mon, March 03, 2014 11:10 am<br>
To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"<br>
<<a href="mailto:artists-making-art@nfbnet.org">artists-making-art@nfbnet.org</a>><br>
<br>
<style></style> <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> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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 Gibsons paintings and Lamberts mixed-media bead works and pottery to bring hope to vision-impaired people.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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. Dont give up and hide, Gibson said.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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 Stargardts 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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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 Im now doing the best art Ive ever done; other people say its the best work Ive 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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;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 wasnt anything I couldnt 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></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Arial"> </font></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Arial" size="4"></font></o:p> </div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Arial" size="4"></font></o:p> </div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Arial" size="4">Lynda</font></o:p></div></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 target="_blank" 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> <div><font face="Arial" size="4"></font> </div> <hr>_______________________________________________<br>
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