You do not need to see to believe!

A blue sky hovering above green grass is a simple scene for an artist to paint, unless the artist is colorblind, like Michele LaComb. Uncooperative blues and greens haven't dulled LaComb's creativity, however -- her paintings encompass all the colors of the rainbow.

Despite vision and hearing loss, LaComb will soon share her artistic talents and skills with others through an art class. This Monday, she is offering an arts and crafts class at the Art School in Endwell to visually impaired students. The 44-year-old Conklin resident hopes the class will be a learning experience both for her and those who attend.

"This is something I always thought I would want to try doing. I feel I can relate (to others) because I do have vision loss," LaComb says of her desire to teach. "I think it will be a two-way street. Maybe being around other people with similar disabilities will help me to understand what I'm going to have to experience someday."

Hearing-impaired since she was a toddler, LaComb was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at age 34. Her visual impairment is slowly decreasing her peripheral sight, and it makes it hard to differentiate between blues and greens. She also describes her condition as having tunnel vision.
"It's like looking through a toilet paper tube," she says.

With a lack of sight above, below and to either side, LaComb, who has taught art classes before, but not for the visually impaired, still manages to capture depth in her paintings. She compensates for her colorblindness by using acrylic paints instead of pastels, which have their colors clearly labeled.

"If it wasn't for my art, I don't know what I'd be doing. It's been very therapeutic for me," LaComb says.

She remembers starting her first sketch book at age 10 and first learning to draw from comics before moving on to muses outside her home. When her vision loss became apparent, it propelled LaComb to capture moments through art as often as possible, to try to record the visual world through art while she still can.

"It's something I always liked doing and wanted to continue, but it just made me do it now instead of later," LaComb says of her artwork. After her diagnosis, husband Stanley LaComb brought her drawing table out of the basement so she could use it more frequently, instead of just for the usual one painting a year.

Her need to create and the satisfaction and therapeutic value of it has inspired the award-winning artist to share the experience with others who are visually impaired. She wants them to experience ways they can be creative, even if it involves using different skills or senses such as touch instead of sight.

An article about world famous blind artist Lisa Fittipaldi, of Washington, D.C., also served as inspiration for LaComb. Like other impaired artists, Fittipaldi has used other senses to help her create, and it is this principle that LaComb has adopted and hopes to pass on.

"I think the class will make people more aware that they can be creative, too. They can have skills; they will just be different, that's all," she says.

The project for the pilot class at the Art School will be a clay relief sculpture in a frame. Students will have various subjects, such as half an apple or a pear, to touch, determine shape and texture, and then recreate.

"I tried creating a sculpture being completely blindfolded and I was surprised with what I could do just by feeling. You'd be amazed how much information you can get just from touch. That's why touch is so important for people who are visually impaired -- other senses are more intensified because you are using them more," LaComb explains.

LaComb also says she must be careful about how she words her instructions in the classroom. Research and experience have told her phrases such as "over there, you will see," can be insensitive to those who are impaired.

The Association for Vision Rehabilitation and Employment Inc. in Binghamton supported LaComb's idea for the class.

"Michele came to us and said 'do you think this is a good idea,'" says Rick McCarthy, director of program services, "and I said 'absolutely.' There's an artistic component to it as well as a social component," he says of LaComb's program.

The class might be particularly advantageous for senior citizens who can feel they are becoming less independent when they start to lose their vision, McCarthy says.

"You might be dealing with folks who haven't done this in 50 years and it can take them back to an earlier time in life and rediscover an activity," he says.

It's also an opportunity to meet people with visual impairments and similar concerns.
"Anything that gets people out and gets people to exercise their minds and creativity is a good thing," he says, "It's the opportunity to exercise some creativity and see you can learn things even if you lose your sight."

Mainly, LaComb wants to give her students the chance to become empowered through art. She eventually wants to start a program for children if Monday's class has a successful outcome.
"I'm hoping that they will find joy in creating and in the opportunity they have, and that they will want to explore other mediums," LaComb says, "I think if they enjoy it they will want to share their work and that will be rewarding."