Artist Statement
Here’s my short Artist statement for the 21st anniversary of The Americans with Disabilities ACT.
My name is John Ross Quevedo (JR), I’ve been legally blind my whole life. Growing up, I can always tell I was different from other kids just because everything was harder for me in the classroom, like, reading the white board, or just not knowing my surrounding as well as others. Also, for the most obvious reason, my left-eye was shut-closed before I got my prosthetic eye. I went to a regular public school system and wasn’t aware of any help that was available for me. Switching school during 5th grade, my teacher noticed I was having difficulty with my vision even after sitting in front of the classroom. That’s when she introduced me to my first vision teacher, which gave me the awareness that such help/program existed.
Art has helped me level out the field to this world, the vision world we live in. Its something I’ve done for myself since I was a child. Since I couldn’t see anything far, having a pen and paper to draw gave me the freedom to just create what I couldn’t see. Since drawing and doing art is something I can do like the other kids, it gave me this sense of security that I’m “normal” and one of them. Its not the easiest task to answer, “What’s wrong with you” to everyone. I remember I used to lie to see things, so I wouldn’t get the attention that I was different.
Urbsters (Urban Monsters) is what I called a lot of my monster illustration. They get a bad rep for being different, weird, and not normal. At time, I felt like I was the monster who was different from everyone with just having one eye, and not being able to see very well. That’s why I like to create striped horn to represent my one eye that people would always notice before anything else.
Fast forward to now, I’ve been affiliated with the Lighthouse for The Blind for a couple of years. (other lighthouse post) With only one eye, and 20/400 visions remaining, learning new techniques was something I learned from them. The blind community was so easy for me, because there was no need to explain. Everyone just knows how hard it is. It built my confidence that even though having visual impairments; I can be productive in this visual world we all live in. It might just take me longer and in an unorthodox way, but I will get it done. I’ve also realized that since I never had good vision on my right eye or sight on my left-eye, I wouldn’t know what I’ m missing since I never had it. Overall, I still feel blessed and proud of the way I’ am. I wouldn’t change anything.
The dates will be pushed back till Deceber and I’ll be refreshing my art pieces every two months or so. If you have time, please visit the exhibit starting next week. If you want to come with me< I’ll be gladly to see it with anyone.
