ELLWOOD CITY — Lynda McKinney Lambert is proof that art is more than about vision.
Lambert, who is legally blind, recently received another award recognizing her full spectrum of creativity. She won first prize for “Evening Vespers,” a piece of jewelry she entered in the InSights 21 art competition.
The judges said, “We are grateful for your entry and excited to share your work with the world.”
A passion for art has always been a force in Lambert’s life. The retired professor of fine arts and humanities at Geneva College, Lambert’s creative nonfiction, essays and poetry have been featured in anthologies, academic books and journals, as well as literary magazines. She is also the author of the “Concerti: Psalms for the Pilgrimage.”
In 1976, Lambert opened her studio, River Road, and exhibited her paintings at juried shows in the United States and abroad. You can also learn more about Lambert at her two blogs, “SCANdalous” and Linda Lambert website.
Lambert creates art as a painter, writer, mixed fiber and sculptor, and does it all visually impaired.
On New Year’s Day in 2007, Lambert woke up with blurred vision and assumed she was unable to focus because her eyes needed a rest. Eventually, she was diagnosed with Ischemic Optic Neuropathy, which meant she would not regain sight in that eye.
She led her Geneva College students on an art and literature tour of Europe, not letting on that she was struggling to see. In October of that year, Lambert left for a sabbatical to explore the writings and visual art of Hildegard of Bingen and investigate the ideas of adornment for medieval women. While studying at museums in New York, Lambert lost the sight in her other eye and returned home.
She had to build an entirely new kind of life, and for her, it had to contain art. Lambert got help from Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, the Keystone Blind Association in New Castle and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services in Erie.
As Lambert’s confidence returned, she began knitting a sweater where she had left off when she lost her sight and has continued to take up challenges of life and art without sight.
“Most of the time, I forget that I can’t see. I don’t think of myself as blind. I just figure out how to do things. My life’s pretty normal,” Lambert said.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being completely blind, I am a 9,” she said. “I can see ghost-like images and movement and I depend on my sense of touch.”
By using a special closed-circuit television designed for blind people who work with their hands, Lambert is able to see the beads, but she cannot see color, so she selects the colors by reading the magnified names of colors on the bead packages resulting in her vibrant colored jewelry.
She describes her jewelry designs as ancient or medieval with layers of beadwork creating the type of ornate neckwear that was worn by royalty and priests. Lambert spends up to 10 hours a day, every day for about a month creating her neckpieces and talismans which also contain gemstones related to hearing or protection.
“Each piece is one of a kind and when I start putting together stones and beads that attract me I don’t know what the piece is going to look like when it is done. It is a sacred journey and when it is completed I know it,” she said. “The pieces in the art shows are exhibition pieces, and of course you can wear them. I don’t market them, but I have sold a few.”
Every day is an opportunity for creating and Lambert, who is also recognized as a talented potter and mixed fiber artist, envisions and creates in many art forms. Currently, she is working on a new series of wall pieces of the seasons in mixed medium and she is working on a new book that will be a companion to her “Walking by Inner Vision” stories and poems.
Lambert said she is a jewelry and makeup addict and started making jewelry in the mid-1990s after graduate school. While visiting her daughter Elsa Barry in Georgia they were shopping in a craft show when Lambert saw a shell that fascinated her and asked her daughter, who was making jewelry, to teach her how to make a necklace.
“I took the shell and some beads that attracted me and she taught me make a necklace, and I continue to create jewelry,” Lambert said.
“To me, creating art is the most sacred activity there is. It’s a calling, it’s a non-verbal prayer. It takes the entire being. That’s why, without sight, I could keep making art,” she said.
https://www.ellwoodcityledger.com/story/news/local/2021/10/05/former-geneva-professor-creates-art-despite-vision-impairment/5986286001/
