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.

The exhibit will present 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 at first glance appear to be works of art about sensory restriction are ultimately seen to be enhanced expressions of available sight, visual memory, imagination, and dreams. Limitations, restraints, impairments and handicaps evidenced in the works of art are presented as an important, creative force—breaking the barriers visually impaired artists have faced in being 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

Pete Eckert became legally blind about twenty years ago. He has been categorized as totally blind by doctors for about four or five years. He states that he still views the world visually, but now uses his remaining senses and memory to formulate an inner vision in his mind’s eye. Losing his eyesight has not diminished the clarity of his internal vision. He has worked hard to sharpen his other senses and learn what objects sound like. These efforts have sharpened his internal vision. This process is similar to a baby learning to see. A baby has to learn to comprehend vision. He is learning to comprehend sound, as he actively researches sounds and how sound interacts with objects to be able to make better photos. Sound, touch, and memory are events in the photographic process that result in a visual product. The graphic product he views as conceptual art that he can't see.

Pete's photos intend to graphically represent his inner visual world as a blind person. He uses film as a canvas to depict what his remaining senses bring to his mind’s eye.  He incorporates phantom imaging from the effects of his eye disease and past memory. Graphic representations of the enhanced senses felt by the blind find a place in his work. The results often have a mixture of the real and surreal. He finds the challenge of photography an enjoyable test of his creativity.

Carmelo Gannello attended the National Academy of Design in New York City from 1937 to 1940. It wasn't until 1976, however, that he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. Through the years, he has worked with oil, conté, pastel, watercolor, linocut, and mixed media. His 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.

At first, Carmelo worked in a representational style, but with the onset of his visual impairment (retinal detachment), he changed to an abstract style. The subject for his abstract work is based on the circles and orbs that are actual patches of blackness that he experiences – patches that are frequently illuminated by bright flashes.

Scott Nelson is an artist and writer who explores changes in perception experienced by artists with vision impairments. He utilizes a variety of mediums to illustrate his own diminishing eyesight caused by Retinitis Pigmentosa and Usher Syndrome.

Scott is a boat builder, lecturer and creator of The Delta Gamma Foundation’s  Art of the Eye, an exhibition on vision touring nearly 50 states from 1986 to 2000. His work is the inspiration for the Creative Vision exhibition.

He has 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 helping to develop accessible arts programming for visitors with disabilities. He is a project advisor and the keynote speaker for the Creative Vision exhibition.

Kurt Weston is a legally blind photographer and video artist, whose work focuses on cultural stigmas and how these stigmas affect people personally. His portraits speak on many levels – disability, mortality and loss. An AIDS patient diagnosed with CMV retinitis in 1994, Kurt is an award-winning photographer committed to his art and activism.

Prior to his loss of sight, Kurt was a high-profile fashion photographer. Although he learned to negotiate his visual loss fairly well, Kurt never dreamed he would ever be able to peer through a camera lens again. But he nervously accepted an invitation in 1998 to do the photography for an art calendar to raise money for a non-profit organization called Asian Pacific Crossroads. Using magnifying devices and special glasses, he achieved some breathtaking shots.

Kurt states, “My view of the world is similar to looking at an impressionist painting. It is blurry, speckly, out of focus. Nothing is clear,” he explained. But with characteristic determination, he attended the Braille Institute in California and the Foundation for the Blind, learning how to use visual assistance devices. “Even though I don’t see the subject in focus at all, a combination of the visual aid devices and my years of experience allow me to take a good picture. I can just tell when the image is in focus.”

Alice Wingwall was a photographer for many years prior to her gradually decreasing sight due to Retinitis Pigmentosa. Her “subversive” photography, videos, and installation works have been extensively exhibited, including the Berkeley Art Museum, and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Alice defies the notion of being unable to “see” her subject by the use of her guide dog, auto-focus camera and human helpers to keep her physically lined up with the vision of her inner eye. She is particularly intrigued with photographing public buildings. In an excerpt from her statement she claims, “My camera clarifies my thoughts about buildings and records my designs on their existence. The photographic image is a special, perhaps mysterious, surrogate for the building itself, the place itself.”