| | Artistry Beyond Blindness Lisa Fittipaldi December in Paris "The images in my mind's eye became clearer as my sight diminished. Now, by hearing or experiencing something, I can picture it in my head and paint it." —Lisa Fittipaldi Lisa Fittipaldi is an incredible artist who just happens to be blind. Art was not Lisa's first career choice—quite the opposite! After establishing herself as a successful certified public accountant and leading a very full life, Lisa began to lose her vision. She had to learn the world anew from the perspective of being blind and the path she took led her to art. Clearly an intelligent person, Lisa's intellect needed sustenance, and having lost the visual influx of information all sighted people receive continuously, Lisa had to find new ways to receive stimulus. Lisa had to learn color theory, composition, medias, painting techniques, and all other aspects of art intellectually and internalize it. Lisa's accounting background also seems to have helped her cultivate a photographic memory. No one really knows how she does it, but we're all glad she does, because Lisa's paintings contain beautiful, bold colors and scenes of people all over the world, brimming with vitality. Lisa paints ambient scenes from places she and her husband visited before and after she lost her sight. Lisa uses her mind's eye. Today Lisa enjoys a reputation as a world-renowned painter who receives commissions from all over. In addition to painting, Lisa has appeared in the media. She gives demonstrations and delivers speeches, as well as runs the Mind's Eye Foundation, a cause very close to Lisa's heart. Adaptive Practices Unable to learn as sighted persons do, through viewing paintings and watching demonstrations of technique, Lisa had to develop her own language, and her own perceptual system. Lisa 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. |
