Lisa Fittipaldi blind artist
Lisa Fittipaldi blind artist
Cheerful paintings by Lisa Fittipaldi are usually very popular with viewers. But to the simple pleasure of staring at pictures adds the astonishment and even shock, when people find out that the author of these paintings is blind.
According to her biography, Lisa began painting in 1995. However, two years after she lost her vision. Painting was one of several avenues that Lisa explored as a way of finding her place in the world after losing her sight. Meanwhile, she quickly understood that painting her storehouse of memories was both a source of nourishment and a way to keep her world alive in her mind. According to the blind artist, the images in her mind’s eye became clearer as her sight diminished. “Now, by hearing or experiencing something, I can picture it in my head and paint it”. Lisa Fittipaldi
As she began to paint, she also realized that the principles of art gave her a system for comprehending and navigating the three-dimensional world she could no longer see. Whatever she learned in her painting studio, working on a two-dimensional canvas, she could apply to her understanding of the vast world she lived in. Besides, she understood spatial relationships and the principles of art. So, she could make her own way in the world as both an artist, and a human being.
Fittipaldi delighted in giving her viewer the visual experience of color and energy that she saw in her mind’s eye. It was her way of validating the reality of her inner vision. Meanwhile, she entertained herself by trying new textures, by mixing media, by setting out new artistic and technical problems to solve. Her wide-ranging choice of subjects and locales came from memories of her own past experience and travels. She painted vignettes of life from the ambience of the new locales she visited, and visual images given to her by others.
Lisa Fittipaldi blind artist
In 2005 Lisa Fittipaldi elected to move to South America in order to undergo a series of surgeries to partially restore her vision. After making this decision she donated all of her art supplies and the contents of her studio as a first attempt to regain her privacy. The surgeries were moderately successful, however, still unknown how to stop the progression of the disease. After several years in The Republic of Panama, she temporarily returned to the United States to pursue a new career as an author.
In addition to painting, Fittipaldi is a world renowned author. Her books have been published in German, Spanish and Turkish as well as English. She runs the Mind’s Eye Foundation, a non-profit organization that she founded in 1999 to provide adaptive computer technology to blind, vision-impaired and hearing-impaired children. With her husband Al, she is presently a resident of The Republic of Panama.
Lisa Fittipaldi was highly honored to have received a gubernatorial appointment, from former President George W. Bush, to the Texas State Independent Living Council.
lisafittipaldi.com