CLEVELAND — The Kennedy Center recently brought an annual conference to Cleveland that focused on expanding inclusive arts experiences and environments.
It is especially meaningful as the number of Ohioans with vision loss is increasing, according to Prevent Blindness Ohio.
Several Northeast Ohio artists were on display at the conference, including Owen McCafferty.
McCafferty creates mostly in acrylic, oil pastel, and digital art, and like any artist, he has a signature style,
“Bold you know, bold lines and colors, and I think that’s a way people could recognize, ‘That’s an Owen McCafferty artwork,’” said McCafferty.
Bold and bright images of sailboats, cityscapes, and birds, all a reflection of how McCafferty experiences and shares the world.
“It’s a way of expressing myself,” he said.
What makes his artwork even more remarkable is that McCafferty is legally blind.
“I was born visually impaired and also slight cerebral palsy with my face,” said McCafferty.
The 62-year-old has been creating since childhood.
“I’d get really close up to the chalkboard, put my face up to it, and draw,” he said. “That’s how they first knew I had some artistic talent.”
Bold lines and bright colors are easier for McCafferty to see.
He said it’s meaningful to have his artwork recognized and wants to be seen for his art, not his disability.
“I want to be an artist and express my artwork, get it out there, and disability should be just secondary,” he said.
McCafferty was among seven Northeast Ohio artists whose work was displayed during The Kennedy Center’s annual Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability conference in Cleveland, a global meet-up with a goal of designing more inclusive arts experiences and environments.
An example of that is happening at Future Ink Graphics, a screen printing and digital arts studio in Cleveland.
“It’s really about having these inclusive programs for artists with disabilities, and without disabilities all within the same space,” said Stephanie Kluk, owner and director of Future Ink Graphics.
She said that it is important because she believes there are a lot of wonderful artists who are not getting the opportunity to create work.
The artists who were on display, including McCafferty, are alumni of FIG’s creative residency. The Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities provides funding for the program.
“The artist can really get experience working in a studio space and as a professional artist,” said Kluk.
To make the artist exhibit during the conference accessible, FIG partnered with Clovernook Center, one of the world’s largest producers of braille, based in Cincinnati, to create accessible signage that told each artist’s name and artwork in braille and had a tactile QR code with an audio description.
There were also tactile graphics of the pieces and a braille booklet explaining the exhibit.
Kluk said it’s all about making every voice heard in art.
“I think sometimes artists with disabilities may not be looked at as creating wonderful art and being professional artists,” said Kluk. “I love that this can showcase that that’s not true and that art is for everyone.”
“I’ve heard people say that, like, you can’t get a job as an artist because you’re visually impaired, or it’s not realistic,” said McCafferty. “I’ve heard comments like that, but I’m just trying to prove them wrong.”
McCafferty recently started a new job in retail, joking that there is such a thing as a starving artist, and he needed to eat!
He said he loves making art because it makes him happy, but that’s not the only reason.
“It makes people happy, not just me, and as long as they appreciate my art that’s all that matters,” he said. “I feel blessed.”
Creating and living, bold and bright.
McCafferty said he hopes to show what’s possible.
“Just to encourage others to be creative even those who may be disabled,” he said.
McCafferty wanted to give a shout-out to Regina E. Dorfmeyer, a visually-impaired Cleveland artist, and John Bramblitt of Texas, as his inspirations.
