[Artists-making-art] (no subject)

[Lynda Lambert]

This appeared in the Ellwood City Ledger (PA) last week.  The focus is on rehabilitation for blind people.

Quote:




Sight fades, but vision remains strong

By Louise Carroll For The Ledger | Posted: Monday, February 24, 2014 12:15 am

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.

When the show opens, the artists will be there to greet visitors and give a short talk.

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.

"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."

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.

"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.

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.

"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."

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.

"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.

"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."

The Lawrence County Blind Association is making Braille labels for the show.

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.

"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."

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.

"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."

 





Lynda

Lynda McKinney Lambert, MFA
Artist, Educator, Author
104 River Road, Ellwood City, PA 16117
http://www.lyndalambert.com

"Human beings are creatures who conceal an interior of uncharted chaos which lies beneath the surface reality"James Baldwin, The Creative Life (1962)

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