And now a word from Ruth...

I've been away, (and out of it for various reasons 😃), and Ruth has kindly stepped into the breach!  She has this to say:

Blind artists as creators are as heterogeneous as any other group of visual artists.  We are, however, inherently political.  The politics of blindness, of blind art, and the diversity of either are not the purpose of this blog post, however.  That said, I ask the reader to keep these points in mind.

Horse Power by Ruth Bieber

Under the Argentine Moon by Ruth Bieber

After 30 years of theatre arts submersion, I found myself in Kelowna, British Columbia attending a program called HeART Fit.  At that time the program was run by Karen Close, editor of the Sage-ing online journal; the process was referred to as ‘spontaneous art’.  One of the primary HeART Fit gurus was artist academic Dr. Lisa Lipsett.  Lisa claims that true creativity comes from using non-dominant hand, with eyes closed.  This philosophy opened up my world to becoming a blind artist.  Many of my creations were created alone, but my most enjoyable artworks have been created in collaboration with other sighted artists.  That might sound straight forward, but again, my experience has been as diverse as the artists I have collaborated with.

Alchemy by Ruth Bieber and Cheryl Hann

My first artwork was created with Rena Warren from Kelowna.  We sat on either side of a canvas, and just began.  Before long I was in that right brain place of the imagination working with my hands, placing colour and texture onto the canvas.  I was rendered unaware of what my artist partner was herself, doing.  Turns out she was painting me.  When time was up, we shared the most interesting conversation about the process.  Were we finished?  I suggested the image of the woman, ‘me’ needed some feathers adorning her ‘my’ head.  Then it was finished.  

Dancing Shaman by Ruth Bieber & Rena Warren

This artwork has been described as powerful; somewhat shamanic.  For this reason, I created a number of deeply textured and colourful artworks that Rena then simply added some subtle and tiny shamanic images to, in way of motif.  

A second strategy has been to simply pass a canvas back and forth with my sighted collaborator.  friend and artist from Kelowna, Cheryl Hann and I have done this.  Originally, the idea was to pass back and forth several times, but twice seemed to be quite enough.  Once, I started the process, and another, Cheryl began.   A third canvas was created in tandem, but Cheryl decided to be blindfolded while painting; too much fun!   

During the six years living in Kelowna I attended the weekly HeART Fit program at the Rotary Centre for the Arts.  All of my creations during these sessions were painted independently.  Many of these paintings were sold in various exhibitions; some mine alone, others group exhibitions.  While painting often another HeART Fit artist would spontaneously come over to take a quick look at what I was painting.  Often this same artist would make a comment, “Oh, such a lovely green!” or “Such a fascinating shape.” Or “I love that texture!”  I loved these comments from sighted artists, which often resulted in next steps with my otherwise spontaneous art process creations.  Intuitive art, anyone?  

Blindsided by Green by Ruth Bieber and Cheryl Hann

Enter move to Creston and the creation of the ‘Beyond the Horizon’ art exhibition.  Win and I have been hard at work (Win would say play) for several months now, and it is safe to say we have settled into our own collaborative rhythm; again, a different experience for me, and one I love.  Win appreciates spontaneity and the magic of intuitive art, but she combines that with skill, creativity and enthusiasm for the creative process.  Case in point, we have at least two series of paintings that neither of us could have imagined when we started.  One series features, what I refer to as ‘feet intelligence;’ something I have coined originally, as a result of traveling the world as a blind woman alone, hiking and climbing mountains internationally.  I love this series; one we just arrived at, with my inspiration, and Wins endless willingness to humour.  

Foot mapping, in progress, by Ruth Bieber

A second series relates to colour (my favourite) and more.  This series highlights my joy of intense colour and Win’s endless patience and love of the artistic process.  

I’m quite certain, at this point, win wishes there weren’t so many colours in the spectrum. 😊   I can’t wait to see what other spontaneous series unfold as a result of our ‘hard at play’ together! 

The process I most enjoy so very much with Win is one of layering, layering and more layering!  We have several paintings on the go at once, and she works meticulously with me every session on every detail.  The layering adds more and more creative depth and energy to each creation; it’s me, it’s Win, it’s us, it’s incredible!  

Before concluding this blog post, I would be remiss if I didn’t make reference to a Win exclusive.  Never before have I experienced, what I refer to as hand over hand painting.  We don’t do this often, but when we do it is an incredibly intimate, nurturing and caring experience; one that results in soul-mapping.  Stay tuned for Braille in art, or the ‘big deal!’