Viewers are captivated by Lisa Fittipaldi’s lively, colorful canvases.When they learn that she is blind, they are astounded. Fittipaldi was declared legally blind in 1993, and in the ensuing years her vision dropped below measurable levels. She cannot see color or distance, dimension or print. A blind painter? Until they see her work for themselves, people think it’s impossible. Clearly Lisa Fittipaldi is doing something quite extraordinary, seemingly beyond the normal range of human capability. It appears that she is the world’s only profoundly blind realist painter. Since 1997, her complex scenes of diverse cultures and everyday life have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Why, of all things, did she choose to paint? Vision is our main source of sensory information. Without constant visual input, the brain begins to “forget” the world, losing track of whatever it cannot hear, touch, or feel. It is only through constant visual reinforcement that reality does not fade away. In addition, this constant stimulation is as necessary to the survival of the brain as water is to the body. When you are blind, you must find alternative sources of nourishment for the brain because the mind no longer receives imagery from the eye. Lisa began painting in 1995, two years after she lost her vision. Painting was one of several avenues that Lisa explored as a way of finding her place in the world after losing her sight. She quickly understood that painting her storehouse of memories was both a source of nourishment and a way to keep her world alive in her mind. As she began to paint, she also realized that the principles of art gave her a system for comprehending and navigating the three-dimensional world she could no longer see. Whatever she learned in her painting studio, working on a two-dimensional canvas, could be applied to her understanding of the vast dark world she now lived in. After she understood spatial relationships and the principles of art, she could make her own way in the world as both an artist, and a human being. How does she do it? Clearly for Lisa Fittipaldi the loss of her sight was a challenge to her formidable intellect, one that she knew she must meet in order to keep her spirit and vitality alive. With no prior art background, she had to start from scratch. A former CPA with a photographic memory, Fittipaldi recognized that she would have to build her knowledge of line and shape, contour and color, step by step, and meticulously store it in her internal filing cabinet. Unable to learn as others do, through viewing paintings and watching demonstrations of technique, she had to develop her own language, and her own perceptual system. Thus began an odyssey to learn her new craft. She listened to hundreds of books on tape and traveled with her husband to museums around the world that she’d never taken the time to visit when she could see. She tackled each new aspect of art with fervor, each time mastering a new theory and adapting it to her use, rigorously practicing each new technique. Eventually she could envision her compositions so well that she no longer needed the grids of string or rows of staples that oriented her to the canvas. A deep understanding of color theory supplanted her need to “feel” the consistency of the paint to know what color she was using. Colorful abstract paintings gave way to still life and landscape, and ultimately to complex figurative paintings of a teeming marketplace or a crowded jazz club. Moving from watercolor to oil painting meant learning yet another system of color theory and application. Texas. vision-impaired and hearing-impaired children. from former Governor / President George W. Bush. It is her way of validating the reality of her inner vision. It's the question everybody asks and one that confounds even her. A half-dozen people buzz around him. To learn more about Lisa Fittipaldi.Fittipaldi delights in giving her viewer the visual experience of color and energy that she sees in her mind’s eye. Last update 18 March. drawing pictures of hammers and mugs and animal figurines on a special clipboard. may remain a mystery. speaking engagements and demonstrations. Please inquire at info@lisafittipaldi. by setting out new artistic and technical problems to solve. With her husband Al. by mixing media. she runs a bed and breakfast in San Antonio. the man at the centre of all this attention. cracks jokes that keep everyone tittering. She entertains herself by trying new textures. Her wideranging choice of subjects and locales is culled from memories of her own past experience and travels. a non-profit organization that she founded in 1999 to provide adaptive computer technology to blind. The elaborate ritual is a practice run for an upcoming brain scan and the researchers want to get everything just right. fully reclined.and . IT IS an odd sight. which is balanced precariously on a pillow atop his ample stomach. One adjusts a towel under his neck to make him more comfortable. Meanwhile. She paints vignettes of life from the ambience of the new locales she visits. another wields a stopwatch and chants instructions to start doing this or stop doing that. 2007. her art and her foundation we invite you to explore her web site." Lisa Fittipaldi was highly honored to have received a gubernatorial appointment. And he is here in Boston to see if a peek inside his brain can explain how a man who has never seen can paint pictures that the sighted easily recognise . All rights Reserved. and runs the Mind’s Eye Foundation. A small group convenes in a corner to assess the proceedings. and trying not to get in the way. a blind painter. Lisa Fittipaldi is available for commissioned artwork. How she paints. In addition to painting. and yet another translates everything into Turkish. to the Texas State Independent Living Council. Fittipaldi gives speeches and demonstrations. A few of us just stand around watching. To quote The Austin American Statesman: "Lisa Fittipaldi lost her vision but not her determination to express herself artistically. The painter is Esref Armagan. A middle-aged man. however.com Copyright 2007 by Blind Ambition Studios. a psychologist at the University of Toronto. Armagan. and to pass the time. who is something of a celebrity in Turkey. for a forum organised by a group called Art Education for the Blind. he turned to drawing. And when he asked him to draw a cube.showing a perfect grasp of how horizontal and vertical lines converge at imaginary points in the distance. One of his eyes failed to develop beyond a rudimentary bud. But Armagan's blindness isolated him. has become used to touring with his canvases to the Czech Republic. stretching off into the distance. he drew it in three-point perspective . And his skills are formidable. then on canvas with oils. it raises big questions not only about how our brains construct mental images. "and I have never seen a performance like his. the other is stunted and scarred. Kennedy put Armagan through a battery of tests. Armagan drew a scene with all three cubes. He paints houses and mountains and lakes and faces and butterflies. He paints houses and mountains and lakes and faces and butterflies." Kennedy's first opportunity to meet and test Armagan in person was during a visit to New York last May. and then further to the left. In fact. Astonishingly. a cone and a ball all in a row (dubbed the "three mountains task") . How does he do it? Because if Armagan can represent images in the same way a sighted person can. but he certainly never saw normally and his brain detects no light now. but he's never seen any of these things His paintings are disarmingly realistic. He has shown that people who are congenitally blind understand outline drawings when they feel them just as seeing people do. But by age 6 he was using pencil and paper. For instance. It is impossible to know if he had some vision as an infant. first on paper. China. and like them. shadow and perspective. "I have tested blind people for decades." says John Kennedy. he presented him with solid objects that he could feel .even admire. Few of the children in his neighbourhood were formally educated. He depicts colour. Italy and the Netherlands. At age 42 he discovered fast-drying acrylics. Representing this kind of perspective is tough even for a sighted person.and asked him to draw them. At first he just scratched in the dirt. but also about the role those images play in seeing.a cube. but he's never seen any of these things. Do we build up mental images using just our eyes or do other senses contribute too? How much can congenitally blind people really understand about space and the layout of objects within it? How much "seeing" does a blind person actually do? Armagan was born 51 years ago in one of Istanbul's poorer neighbourhoods." Kennedy says.both Kennedy and a team from Boston. What made this visit different was the interest shown by scientists . At 18 he started painting with his fingers. across from himself. blind . Kennedy has spent much of his career exploring art from the perspective of blind people. he spent his early years playing in the streets. "My breath was taken away. They understand and can draw in three dimensions. then to his right and left and hovering overhead. but it is not clear how he could have witnessed these things either. Kennedy asked him to draw two rows of glasses. and then to rotate it to the left. He then asked him to draw them as though he was perched elsewhere at the table. but all too few blind children ever get the opportunity to explore this ability. married with two children. He has appeared several times on television and in the press in Turkey and has been on programs of the BBC and ZDF. the current president and current prime minister. He needs absolute quite when working. when he is drawing a picture of the sea. This method of painting is entirely unique to Mr. he must wait two or three days for the color to dry before applying the next color. He receives no assistance or training from any individual. Mr. using a Braille stylus. First. he has taught himself to write and print. . He asks a sighted person to draw around a photograph. In this manner. he often wonders if he should wear a life jacket so as not drown! When he is satisfied with his drawing. He has displayed his work at more than 20 exhibition in Turkey and in Holland and the Czech Republic.children develop the ability to draw." Biography Esref Armagan was born both unsighted and to an impoverished family. however. he has come to believe. He draws and paints by using his hands and primarily oil paints. Because he applies only one color at a time (the colors would smear otherwise). "Where a sighted person looks out. Armagan has been perfecting his art for the past thirty-five years. he transfer what he feels onto another sheet of paper. Armagan. He has also developed his own methods of doing portraits. a blind person reaches out." says Kennedy. he starts to apply the oils with his fingers. much as sighted children do . He needs to feel that he is "inside" his painting-. As a child and young adult he never received any formal schooling or training. Even knowledge about perspective. and they will discover the same things. He has done portraits of the former first lady of Turkey. is acquired in similar ways for both. "The geometry of direction is common to vision and touch. later adding color.in fact. then he turns the paper over and feeling it with his left hand. He also learned to draw perspective. he etches an outline of his drawing. Mr. Armagan is currently forty-one years old. he has found.
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