Tara (Arlene) Innmon

Born with glaucoma, I grew up knowing my vision was precious and fragile. In school I practiced drawing–I couldn’t see the blackboard well. Eventually my eyesight deteriorated. I had been working as an occupational therapist but quit my job to work full time in art. It was now or never to do the artwork I’d been dreaming of. I wanted to show how things look as eyesight changes.

I started with acrylics and watercolors. When I could no longer mix paints or see the end of the brush, I worked with pastels and sculpture. Pastels worked well to show the softness and blending of objects. Unable to get caught in detail, my art became flowing, spontaneous, and expressive of my feelings. I saw beauty in fog, in softness, and mystery. The work went from realistic to impressionistic to abstract, representing the loss. Some works were in a series that showed the fading of images into gray hues and subtle shades of color. As the outer world faded, my inspiration came from nighttime dreams and from visions.

These pieces expressed my feelings about loss, pain and growth. With more vision loss, I used devices such as a monocular, a ruler, dark paper, masking tape, stencils, or modeling clay to complete works. When totally blind, I went back to school and now write, using words to paint my dreams and stories. As a person experiencing loss through disability– both from fibromyalgia and blindness--my art, whatever form it has taken, gives purpose to my life. I hope it will be an inspiration to anyone facing loss.