[accessibleimage] color blind, scratch board, Michael M. Michaelson, artist,comics

Shedding Light on an Old Art Form in Essex, Connecticut
Local Scratchboard Artist Shows Love of Lighthouses and Trains
By Corey Sipe
Takeaways
Artist William Kusche is a retired draftsman. Kusche had a long love affair with lighthouses, boats, and trains This inspired him to take photos to turn into scratchboard drawings ESSEX - The lighthouses are welcome landmarks and beacons to boaters on Long Island Sound.
Crisply detailed black and white renderings of the familiar beacons line the walls of this Essex artist's home. And, unlike typical marine art - done in paint or pastel on canvas, these are created on scratchboard, an art form and material dating back from the early and mid-20th century, used and known for its graphic qualities.
Artist William Kusche, a retired draftsman, has had a long love affair with lighthouses, boats and trains, which have inspired him to take photographs to turn into scratchboard drawings. Kusche always loved art but decided to go into the black and white format after discovering he was partially color blind when attempting to enlist in the Navy.
As a draftsman who designed circuit boards, the incredible detail work was appealing to Kusche. 

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/420447/shedding_light_on_an_old_art_form_in.html



director, comics

http://www.sightunseenpictures.com/about-joe/about.html


article

Visually impaired artist uses painting for expression

Tuesday, Oct 16, 2007 - 09:55 AM
Charlotte Legare doesn’t know the meaning of quitting. She’s faced many obstacles head-on and comes out on top each time.
While working at an optometrist’s office five years ago, she kept walking into doorways and corners.
“He said, ‘We need to check your eyes. You’re walking into too many columns and things.’ He checked them; and then I had to go all the way to Birmingham,” she said.
After a few tests on her eyes, doctors discovered that she has severe tunnel vision. There is nothing medically science can do to help her. And there is no way to stop her eyes from eventually going completely blind.
“But not knowing — it could’ve been anything from a brain tumor or anything else that would cause that loss. So it was a relief to know what it was,” she said.
Through the encouragement of her son, Legare submitted six works of art for a competition held by the Guild for the Blind. Out of 140 other applicants, Legare’s painting was chosen to be showcased at an art exhibit in Chicago. Her son flew to Chicago with her this September so they could attend the special event together.
“It was held at an absolutely beautiful gallery. Several of the other artists were there. It was neat to actually meet other artists who are visually impaired and have different kinds of vision loss,” she said. “It was one of the most exciting things in my life to go up there and be chosen. It was just a pat on the back from strangers, not from people who love me.”
Legare’s piece called “Moonrise,” one out of 40 others chosen for the art show, is a bright red-orange harvest moon over brown swirls of water. Her inspiration comes straight from nature. She said she loves watching the moon and water. As she was painting the picture, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was happening in the news.
“It made me think about how there’s still hope after. It had that impression to me and that’s what I was thinking about as I was doing it,” she said.
Her other works, done mostly in acrylics because it dries quickly and she can add texture, make use of bold colors. She explained that she used to shy away from color, but since her eyesight has diminished, she thought, “why not?”
Legare has never taken any formal art classes, but her technique and style are very refined. Some of her works just happen when she’s sitting down painting. She planned others from photographs she’s taken.
“I can’t just go out and find a lovely landscape and sit down and paint it. But I can take pictures, take them home and print them out. And I use those to draw from,” she said.
To get around, she used to use a cane. She explained that she had to be trained with the cane and it was very frustrating at times.
“In a way, it was nice to know I could go up and down stairs without being terrified about falling because I could feel where I was going. It was freeing in a lot of ways. But it also made me very self-conscious. People would just look at me,” she said.
On her first visit to learn how to use the cane, her instructor told her to get a guide dog. He said it would be the best timing, too, since she still had some vision left and could adapt to a guide quickly.
She thought about it, considering the big commitment, and decided to apply for Leader Dogs for the Blind in Michigan. Leader Dogs are free to those who qualify because of donations. The Dothan Wiregrass Lions Club helped Legare get her guide dog Tobias.
In early summer, Legare flew to Rochester, Mich., and stayed with Leader Dogs for three weeks. They taught her how to work with Tobias. She also met several others who were getting guide dogs.
“I’ve made some lifelong friends. Even though all of our vision is a little bit different, and all of our situations and ages were different, it was a wonderful experience,” she said.
Legare has faced many obstacles, but always prevails. Sometimes she is misunderstood. People often think she is training Tobias and not that he’s a working dog. Sometimes she is able to share with others. Like the time she was at a ball game and a boy came up to see Tobias. She thought he just wanted to pet the dog like other people. But he really wanted to find out how to get a guide dog for himself. He was legally blind, too.
“I want people to know that just because you’re visually impaired, it’s not a disability. I don’t want them to think, ‘Oh poor thing.’ It’s a fact of my life. I’ve got to live with it. I can’t change it. So let’s do something,” she said. 
http://www.dothaneagle.com/content/gulfcoasteast/dea/lifestyle.apx.-content-articles-DEA-2007-10-16-0023.html

article extract

http://smartflix.com/blog/?p=123

Interview with Michael M. Michaelson,
Legally Blind Artist and Founder
of Out Of Sight Creations
SmartFlix: Your website, OutOfSightCreations.net, is the first place I ever saw art created by a legally blind artist. Tell us about when you decided art was what you wanted to spend the rest of your life doing.
Michael M. Michaelson: Well Hello there all dear companions in art and those who appreciate creative thinkers, no matter what medium they come in. To begin with, I would like to express my appreciation for having been asked to participate in the SmartFlix blog interviews; it is truly a valuable resource for those seeking a means to better their skills and enhance their knowledge. And I hope that I might somehow bring insight to everyone who might read this interview.
My website, OutOfSightCreations.net was born out of a need. As most artists know, it is not easy to transport your works around to show to those that might be interested in looking. Therefore, a portfolio of an artist’s work helps in easy display for those who might be interested. And as you might imagine, as a partially sighted artist, it is very difficult for me to just get up and go somewhere. It takes arrangements, planning around schedules and having to ask someone to assist me, and so came the website born of convenience. The site is basically an evolving portfolio. The really neat thing is that my webmaster, Alan Zygaitis, is near deaf and almost totally blind, how he does it baffles me. The site itself has a long ways to go and I hope to one day make it a major resource site for anyone and everyone seeking ideas, resources and answers.
How I came to dedicate myself to art is a very long story. But there is a saying that sort of tells the tale in a simple manner; “Necessity is the mother of invention!” This means that from the age of 5 when I was found to be partially sighted and my site began its slow demise from there, the creative process began its growth. For someone with limitations is somehow forced to invent, work around and better said, to create his way through life. Without knowing it, my imagination and mind took on a whole new direction and I just went along imagining things that others were actually seeing. I did not know this was called art!
In my time of growing up, there were no programs of assistance or guidance and school was very tough for me. I could not see the board or read a book, and therefore spent most of my time drawing crazy pictures, how I made it through was due to pure struggle and inventiveness. Slowly, as art classes came along, I found myself better enjoying life and found that to work with my hands and actually create something brought real satisfaction to me. But the word Artist was not yet in my vocabulary.
I did win a few art ribbons with a couple of my strange pieces; one being a shiny black and exact replica of the human hand as if crawling along all on its own.
It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I actually began to paint, sculpt, and make things out of wood, cement and iron. However, because of my failing sight I decided to travel because I knew that one day I would not be able to see anything. Therefore I felt it important to begin filling up the libraries of my mind with every picture, every possible scene and set out on several world tours. I ended up living in Hawaii for three years, where I met a “black velvet” painter who tried teaching me a few things but my mind was elsewhere and missed that opportunity. While working for the “Mafia” in one of their finest hotels, and which was filled with some extremely expensive paintings (some of the frames alone were worth more than my entire life) and along with my regular duties as a combination guard-waiter-tour guide, I was assigned in making sure the paintings were kept clean and well-watched over. That is another story in and of itself, those Italians were really great people to work with, and to have on your side, but you don’t want to mess with their art, no, no! Thus my art career sort of came to a temporary halt when someone within their organization walked away with several valuable pieces, and I had to then hide out on another island for a few years until several of the missing paintings were eventually found in one of their X-enemies apartments!
For about 10 years I did visit and live in over 40 countries. I lived in and out of just about every condition, and boy, did those scenes, pictures, sights and experiences ever stack up on the shelves of my brain, and my art work was all piling up inside me, with no where to go! Wait a minute, I did have one opportunity in Afghanistan where I got to scratch a few scenes on a jail wall with a key before they ran me out of the country. I wonder if my pictures are still on those walls?
So now the time of life has come upon me, meaning that it is near impossible for me to travel like I use to, plus I am broke, and those scenes and pictures are screaming inside me and they want to get out and live again. I do not know how much time I have left allotted in my hour glass, but I have dedicated myself to trying to express and produce all my visions and experiences into a form that others might be able to enjoy. There is a problem with this, though. I have so many pictures and ideas in my Smithsonian memory bank, I am afraid the world is going to miss out on some really great art, never to be finished! Oh well, maybe another blind man might come along and pick up the brush where I leave off? 

(I will insert a few of my personal sayings throughout this discussion)

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