[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] Artists, Oregon State University fine arts student Sara Lindsey and Hy Snell

[Lisa Yayla]

Hi,
Three articles about 2 blind artists.
Regards,
Lisa

Sara Lindsey articles
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2005/02/12/entertainment/entertainment_roundup/brief06.txt
http://www.democratherald.com/articles/2005/02/03/lifestyles/family/fam01.txt

Hy Snell article
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/jc_local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_1114_3541527,00.html



Sunday, February 13, 2005   Last modified Friday, February
11, 2005 7:44 PM PST
Rice's hosts art of Sara Lindsey


 OSU student puts her ‘unhealthy obsession' with fantasy to
work

 By Wendy Geist
 The Entertainer 

 Corvallis resident and Oregon State University fine arts
student Sara Lindsey produces images that are
 brightly colored and full of detail — detail that she can't
see in real life without getting up really close to
anobject.
Lindsey, who was born with glaucoma, is legally blind. In
order to do her artwork, Lindsey has to hold the
paper up to her nose at a extremely close distance to her
eyes.

 Rice's Pharmacy, located at 910 N.W. Kings Blvd. in
Corvallis, will showcase Lindsey's fantasy and science
 fiction artwork from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11.

Her works of art feature fanciful fairies, spirits and
forest creatures. Inspiration for her images comes from
 what she calls "an unhealthy obsession" with fantasy books
and artwork. In her spare time, she also loves to
 dance, sing and watch art films.

 Lindsey works with paper and pencil to produce the initial
design, then puts it on a lightboard for tracing to  produce
an ink outline. She scans the image into a computer, then
uses Photoshop to add color.

"It's hard to judge what my own work looks like to other
people," Lindsey said. "Others say they see a lot of
detail. I don't think I put as much in as what other people
see, or maybe I do. But in the end, I like the product, and
I keep doing what I like."





Beyond the imagination

By Wendy Geist 
Corvallis Gazette-Times 

Legally blind artist brings fantastic visions to life in her
work

CORVALLIS — Sara Lindsey is legally blind. But the visions
she sees beyond the present world are vivid and full of
detail. 

Lindsey has been drawing fantasy and sci-fi images for three
years now. Her works of art feature fanciful fairies,
spirits and forest creatures — anything beyond the
imagination, as she describes it.

 
Lindsey works with paper and pencil to produce the initial
design, then puts it on a lightboard for tracing to produce
an ink outline. She scans the image into a computer, then
uses a program called Photoshop to add color.

In order to see what she is doing, Lindsey has to hold the
artwork right in front of her face.

"It might look like I'm sniffing and patting it with my
nose," Lindsey jokes.

Both Lindsey and her brother, who is one year younger, were
born with glaucoma. Doctors didn't catch the disease in time
to help Lindsey, but because of her, they were able to spot
the problem at a treatable stage in her brother.

The doctors stabilized Lindsey's glaucoma, but the damage to
her eyesight had already been done. Though she can see
things close up, her overall vision is extremely poor.
Neither glasses nor contacts can help.

"It's hard to judge what my own work looks like to other
people," Lindsey said. "Others say they see a lot of detail.
I don't think I put as much in as what other people see, or
maybe I do. But in the end, I like the product, and I keep
doing what I like."

The 25-year-old Corvallis resident is working toward a
bachelor of fine arts at Oregon State University. She
started classes this fall and has a part-time job at Rice's
Pharmacy, where she has worked for six years.

At home, Japanese animation and Spiderman posters line the
walls of the workroom Lindsey shares with her husband, Ben.
Her husband is a fan of the web-slinging superhero, while
Lindsey loves the crazy ideas and storylines that come out
in Japanese animation.

Inspiration for her images comes from what she calls "an
unhealthy obsession" with fantasy books and artwork,
although Lindsey admits it's difficult to find popular
authors in large print editions, which would be easier on
the eyes. In her spare time she also loves to dance, sing
and watch art films.

"I have had a love of art ever since I was young enough to
paint things with my food," she said.

Fitting in with the other kids throughout her school years
was not always easy.

Lindsey said she wore a pair of thick "horrible glasses" for
a while. In high school, she was often afraid to use her
monocular, a device resembling half a pair of binoculars, to
see what the teacher was writing on the blackboard, for fear
of ridicule. Because high school was such a confusing time
for her, she in turn became a difficult student.

"I didn't want to be different; I didn't want any help. I
was the most stubborn disabled person they ever had to deal
with," she explained.

Now that she is going to college, Lindsey said, her attitude
has changed.

"I grew up enough to get over the paranoia and pride, and I
stopped caring what other people thought," Lindsey
explained. She now uses her monocular in class on a regular
basis.

But the biggest issue on her mind right now is finding an
avenue for getting her art before the public.

Children's author Shannon Young of Oregon, who wrote "Little
Brown Shoes," came into Rice's to sign books for customers.
Lindsey met with her afterward, and Young gave her ideas on
how to look for publishers and provided connections to book
illustrators.

"The hardest thing for a beginning artist is to get somebody
to look at your work," Lindsey said. Rice's Pharmacy will be
holding a showing of her work in February.

Lindsey is keeping her options open for a career after she
graduates. She is considering everything from advertising to
art therapy.

Most of all, she said, she wants to inspire people to use
their imaginations to look beyond what is right in front of
their eyes.

"So many people have great talents and never show them," she
said.

"It seems selfish to me."

art on display

WHAT: A show of Sara Lindsey's fantasy and science fiction
art

WHEN: 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 11

WHERE: Rice's Pharmacy, 910 N.W. Kings Blvd., Corvallis






Neighborhood Notables: Artist's work displayed at book store
By Jeff Alexander 
staff writer
February 13, 2005

Hy Snell of Jupiter recently set up a display of his six
ceramic figures and one metal sculpture piece at Jupiter
Books and Art, Concourse Shopping Center, Alternate A1A and
Indiantown Road. 

"Everything in the world is for sale," said Snell, 86, who
is legally blind. "It's to sell them and it's to get a
little better known." 
    
Nelson and Milda Enos, owners of Jupiter Books and Art, set
up the venue for original art by members of the North County
Art Association and other local artists, Snell said. 

Because of his visual impairment, Snell can no longer create
the metalwork he's worked on for many years and for which he
received several awards, he said. 

Snell studied at the Art Students League in New York City
and worked for many years in structural display. He also is
studying at the Lighthouse Center for the Arts in Tequesta. 

He mostly works in ceramics because the "beauty of shape and
color" fascinate him, he said. 

The displays at Jupiter Books and Art, which has new and
used books for sale, change every six weeks. 

For more information, call 747-3407.