The LightHouse for the Blind Gallery is an avenue to highlight the vast depths of creativity and talent in our community, through a series of rotating exhibits by blind artists. The gallery, which resides in the lobby of 1155 Market St., has held dynamic mosaic pieces, photography and multimedia art, and rotates about twice a year. Besides providing aesthetically poignant and culturally impactful art, we aim to challenge conventions of blind ability and ambition through the work on display.
If you are a blind or visually impaired artist, or know someone who is, and would like to show their work in our gallery, please contact Jennifer Sachs at JSachs@lighthouse-sf.org.
Ted Tahquechi
Blind photographer Ted Tahquechi shares the way he sees the human body. Art opening January 30, 5 to 7 p.m. at LightHouse headquarters, 1155 Market St. 10th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103. For more information please email jsachs@lighthouse-sf.org.
Ted Tahquechi explores light on human body curves.
Ted Tahquechi explores light on human body curves.
Ted Tahquechi explores light on human body curves.
Ted Tahquechi explores light on human body curves.
Ted Tahquechi explores light on human body curves.
Claire Spector is a legally blind contemporary textile artist. She sews by feel. Her latest exhibit, Blind Stitching: Vis-AbilityTM, is on display in the LightHouse Gallery. Claire’s work is up through December 2019.
Claire Spector photo by Gabriel Sakakeeny
Artwork by Claire Spector; Thangka patterns created with Perle cotton thread embroidery technique displayed in the LightHouse lobby. Photo by Sarika Dagar
Artwork by Claire Spector; Thangka patterns created with Perle cotton thread embroidery technique displayed in the LightHouse lobby.
Photo by Sarika Dagar
Kurt Schwartzmann’s pen, ink, watercolor and acrylic pen multimedia pieces, inspired by and depicting the SF MUNI system, are currently on display in the LightHouse Gallery. Kurt’s work is up through May 2019.
LightHouse CEO Bryan Bashin and Artist Kurt Schwartzmann stand in front of Kurt's work at the LightHouse Gallery.
A panel of eight hand-colored drawings in a yellow template depict a series of city bus drivers and details of the front of a bus. In a variety of styles and colors, ranging from a dreamy purple coloring to a terse red rendition, the images depict, at once, a sense of urgency, agency and calm.
Muni driver, friend and subject of Kurt's work, shakes Kurt's hand in front of one of the framed drawings.
A panel of eight hand-colored drawings in a yellow template depict a series of city bus drivers and details of the front of a bus. In a variety of styles and colors, ranging from a dreamy purple coloring to a terse red rendition, the images depict, at once, a sense of urgency, agency and calm.
In 2019, we’re thrilled to host a special exhibition of work by Bay Area artist Kurt Schwartzmann at the LightHouse for the Blind Gallery in our headquarters starting on Thursday, January 10. Please join us for the exhibition opening from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Kurt Schwartzmann
While most MUNI riders have less than flattering things to say about the Bay Area transport system, for LightHouse client Kurt Schwartzmann it was a refuge when he needed it most.
It was early in 2008, and Kurt was confronting homelessness in San Francisco. He was exhausted, cold and lugging a suitcase full of his belongings from one place to the next. All he wanted was a somewhere to sit down and get warm. While resting at a bus stop, a bus pulled up and he asked to get on: “I don’t have any money but I would love to be able to board your bus,” he said to the driver.
Without hesitating, the driver responded: “I have to drive anyway; you can keep me company.”
A small and everyday gesture from the driver was a pivotal life moment for Kurt, who was deeply affected by the humanness and compassion the driver showed him. It was the first but not the last time that Kurt found safety and a place to sleep on the buses that crisscross the city, from drivers who would accept whatever payment he could manage without humiliation or scorn.
“When I had nothing, MUNI offered me a ride and shelter,” he says. “This a great way to say thank you to MUNI. The compassion of that driver. I’d love to be able to find that driver and thank them.”
It’s a uniquely San Francisco tale — but it just barely scratches the surface of Kurt’s storied life in the city he loves so dearly.
Kurt, who grew up in Fresno, California, moved to San Francisco seeking the freedom to be himself as a gay man. He has been drawing since he was in kindergarten, but it wasn’t until after he went blind in his left eye that he took up art in earnest and discovered the unique composition that characterizes his series “Yellow Line”.
Kurt lost the vision in his left eye in 2006, due to a complication with AIDS. His doorbell rang and he suddenly realized that he could not see anything through the peephole. Unknown to him and his doctors, Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis had attacked his left eye from behind and his vision diminished slowly and painlessly. As he describes it, his field of vision is a long thin stripe, which allows him to narrow in on his composition while drawing.
Kurt got back on his feet and sought Counseling Services at the LightHouse in 2015 in hopes of dealing with some of the frustration and anger he experienced as a result of his vision change. Working with a Clinical Psychologist at LightHouse has helped him reframe his thinking and language around his vision.
“The LightHouse has been an integral part of helping me accepting and understanding my vision,” says Kurt. “Before doing counseling with her, I would just get so frustrated. Now I have the language to talk about it with people instead of getting defensive when people make comments about my eyepatch or call me a ‘pirate’.”
Just as the white cane is a useful symbol to communicate blindness to the outside world, Kurt wears an eye patch to indicate that he can’t see in his left eye — just in case he bumps into someone on the street or doesn’t see them waving.
Kurt is now happily married and living in Golden Gate Heights with his husband Bruce and their dog Louie. Bruce encouraged Kurt to pursue his lifelong love of making art — and to start by designing their wedding invitations. It was a fitting proposal, and led Kurt to City College of San Francisco where he took his first printmaking class in 2015. His art evolved, and as a frequenter of MUNI, he devised his “Yellow Line” series to honor the drivers.
In this series of 64 drawings, Kurt works with pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic pen, on cold press watercolor paper. His drawings are 3.5 inches by 16.5 inches. He describes his choice of drawing proportion as a “slice of life,” as he sees it. When he worked on the pieces in 2015, he would sit at the front of the bus, catty-corner to the driver’s seat. His favorite buses to frequent were the 6 and the 43. With his monocular vision, he could block out the entire world on the left side, focus in on the driver in vivid detail.
Kurt’s love affair with San Francisco doesn’t stop at MUNI — he also has a series of drawings of the Transamerica Pyramid. Check out more of his work on his website.
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Ted Tahquechi explores light on human body curves.
Claire Spector photo by Gabriel Sakakeeny
A swirl of pink, blue and orange glass beads flow through the center of a red, heart mosaic on a blue tiled background.
A portrait of artist Alice Wingwall.
A portrait of artist Charles Blackwell in front of his works.
