COOL PEOPLE: JOHN BRAMBLITT

THE BLIND YET VISUAL ARTIST

John Bramblitt is not who you would call ordinary. After going blind due to complications with epilepsy in 2001, John, whose dream was to become a creative writing teacher, was crushed. Feeling deeply depressed John discovered the world of painting and the results have been quite impressive:

John had never painted before going blind. Yet after about a year of practice and figuring his way through, John has mastered the concept.

Sold in over twenty countries his art has appeared in print, television, and radio. It’s also been showcased in the CBS Evening News, ABC, BBC Radio, and featured in The New York Times and Psychology Today.

John uses brailed tubes to identify colors and preconceived recipes for color combination. He also paints using his hands as a guide for the paintbrush. By doing this he states that it helps put down better lines on the canvas. John has also used different types of paint and can figure out which is which by their texture. 

Though he is self-taught, he has learned to use raised lines to help guide him through the canvas, giving him a haptic visualization of what the picture looks like.

John Bramblitt is not what you would call ordinary. No, he is in fact exceptional. In his first art show John refused to tell anyone he was blind because he “didn’t want it to affect the way [people] perceived the art.” He has also embraced his condition. This is evident in how he signs each of his pieces where you’ll see two circles with “X’s” painted over them. Absolutely fantastic.

Here is an awesome CBS interview about the man himself:

Bramblitt has demonstrated to all of us that a set back (whether minor or major) does not mean you should despair because we are much more capable than we know. Sometimes it takes setbacks to discover what those capabilities are.

By: Oliver R. Pernt

Check out more COOL here: