The images you see here are original sketches by J.A. Engman.

For many years I believed Art for the Blind to be an impossible ideal. I know firsthand that the loss of sight makes it easy to dismiss the visual arts as a visual experience that has no relevance for people like me, the visually impaired. But eyesight, like light and life, falls on a spectrum. Visual impairment comes in many varieties. Seeing less is not seeing nothing. And art is more than vision; art is a communion of expression that changes our experience of the world forever, for the better. 

When I began sharing the idea of Art for the Blind with others, I was stunned by the number of people I met who were like me, people with vision loss who still longed to embrace art as a way to reclaim something once loved and thought lost, to redefine what blindness truly means, and to build a community that fosters hope and healing through expression. Together with my artist friend Cheryl, I applied for a Research and Development Grant through the Big Field Fund, which we were awarded at the end of 2024.

Thus began Visual Spectrums, a collaborative arts project working to curate and create a visual arts exhibition for people with visual impairment. We thank you for your support, and we hope you will join us in our journey to bring this exhibit into existence by the end of 2025!

-- J.A.