Hello friends! I hope everyone is doing well! Today, I thought it would be interesting to talk about how beneficial certain art forms can be for certain disabilities. To be more specific, how beneficial ceramics has been for me, a legally blind artist. 

I began to do ceramics at age 10 at a local summer camp. I instantly loved it. I continued to participate in that specific class at the camp for years, until my TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). The summer after my injury, I had no idea what classes, if any, I could still take at the camp. My mom and I decided to enroll me in ceramics and just see if it worked. To my surprise, it did!

I fell in love with ceramics all over again that summer. It was so moving and beautiful to me that I could still make art without relying on my sight. I took the same class every summer for years after that. When I was 15, and about to age out of the program, the instructor asked me to return the next summer as her assistant! I did, and I couldn’t have possibly made a better choice! I worked with kids grades 3-9 and helped teach them the art of ceramics, as well as had time to independently work on my own pieces. I continued to teach with her for the next 3 summers! In my senior year of high school at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for The Arts, I made a series of ceramic pieces that I am still immensely proud of today. I tried to specifically rely on my hands and what the clay felt like, rather than straining my eyes and trying to see it. It was a huge success for me. I made a teapot, an arm, candle trays, a large chip platter, and an elephant. These pieces were all featured in my senior show, and 4 of them were sold! My senior show was all about my visual impairment, and making pieces that felt accessible. My paintings were bright, colorful, and vibrant, something that my eyes are extremely good at seeing. My ceramics were textured, realistic, and interesting to the touch, something I didn’t even need eyes to notice. The show was life changing for me. 

After starting at Marywood University, I instantly declared a minor in ceramics. I wanted to finally have a chance to not only practice, but learn about the art form I had fallen in love with so long ago. Mark Chuck has been my ceramics instructor and mentor for the last 3 years and I could not possibly be more grateful. He is the most incredible teacher I could ever ask for. He gives me the freedom to explore any interest I could possibly have and gives me creative control over all of my projects. He teaches me something brand new every time I see him. He is full of talent and knowledge and is so eager to pass that onto his students. 

I think it is safe to say that I will be pursuing ceramics for the rest of my life for a number of reasons, but the main reason to me is the sense of accessibility and equality it gives me. I do not feel less talented than anyone else with the ability to see when I do ceramics. I do not feel less capable than anyone else when I do ceramics. If anything, I feel like I have an advantage because I feel the clay differently than everyone else does. 

I hope you enjoyed reading more about my story! Talk soon!