[Artists-making-art] Hello fellow artist

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Dear List,

I'm Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter and live in Omaha, Nebraska. I'm
30-years-old, a writer and live with my husband, Ross, and our chocolate
labradoodle, Nessa. We also consider ourselves the surrogate parents of
a two-year-old, Penny, who just celebrated her second birthday this past
Sunday. She's technically our niece on my side, but my sister was very
young when she had Penny, and my husband and I have helped. Pen calls me
mama, and we have her almost every weekend. She's been a huge joy to us,
and I can't imagine loving a person so much, and yet I do. I'm a mother
in every way but biologically to her.

My art is writing, but since childhood, I've been drawn to any artistic
expression. I have a deep appreciation for the arts and arts education,
and I think everyone should be exposed to art regardless of a
disability.

Growing up, I danced (ballet, pointe, tap and jazz) as well as was
involved with music and theatre. I found ways in which to incorporate
visual media along with physical expressions. I did not lose my sight
until I was 22, but I continue to find ways in which to incorporate a
visual element with other expressions. I not only want to learn, and
share, how others view, create and incorporate artistic expressions into
their lives, but I want to learn how to make art accessible in a
nonvisual way, and how we, as blind artist, can experience different art
formats.

I recently had an idea and have started working on fusing an essay I
wrote with a visual element. The visual aspect isn't exactly accessible
however, but I'm, well not actually me, but a friend, is handwriting, in
a silver ink, an essay I wrote onto old vinyls. The essay weaves music
lyrics throughout connecting different sections of the essay. We're
trying to find vinyls with album titles that fit the theme of the essay
too, which is about acceptance and bullying, in a nutshell. I invite
suggestions of how something like this can be more accessible. I have of
course thought of Braille, but this then makes it readable only to those
who can read Braille. I've also considered adding audio with the actual
installation so viewers could hear me reading the essay as well, which
would at least make the written part accessible to everyone.

I'm excited to meet others and learn what you're doing. Whether for fun
or professionally, art is a representation of beauty, and everyone
should experience this beauty. In past generations, it was the artist
community that affected the most change in terms of pushing for equality
and demanding rights for a minority. The Harlem Renaissance, the Beat
culture, Civil Rights- we still feel the power and influence of the
artistic expressions blooming from these eras. Race, ethnicity, gender,
war, sexual-orientation- change happened when various artist forced the
world to view equality and suffering through art. Perhaps it's time the
disabled community followed suit and let our artistic expressions rise
up in a harmony that is so beautiful, so powerful, so gritty, so
poignant, the world has to stop and finally, truly notice us.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan