We recently connected with John Bramblitt and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

A few years ago I became the world’s first blind muralist after completing a mural in New York in celebration of world sight day. I had been contacted by a multi-national film crew that had been hired to film something to help raise disability awareness and celebrate world sight day, and they wondered if I would be able to paint a mural for them. I told them I could and we picked New York to be the city I’d do it in; after getting off of the phone I wondered how in the world I would ever be able to paint a mural. See, being a completely blind painter I use my hands to do the work that my eyes used to do – I navigate around a canvas using my sense of touch and similar techniques as when I use my white cane to navigate myself around a room or a city. With a large mural I knew that I would have to come up with some brand new techniques becuse I would only be able to feel small parts of the painting at a time. The project opened up lots of challenges like finding new ways to make lines that I can touch and feel, but won’t interefere with the longevity of the mural, normally I mix paint so that each color actually has a different viscosity and texture to it so that it is becomes easy for me to distinguish between the colors through touch alone. The paints that I would have to use for the murals though would require different types of paints where working with these types of textures wouldn’t be an option, so I would have to find new ways. I was very motivated to figure out how to do this though because even though my professional career is being a painter I also do a lot of public speaking and teach workshops through schools and museums to children and adults. Most of the people that I speak to or teach workshops to do not have a disability, but a huge number do, and I do a lot of work with schools for the blind and charities that help children with all types of disabilities. I always tell the kids that they can do whatever they want with their lives and to not limit themselves; that they had to challenge themselves from time to time, and that even if they failed they would be the better for it. These kids were amazing and pushed themselves surprising both themselves and their families by what they could accomplish, so the least I could do was follow their example and push myself to create a way for me to paint murals. The mural in New York was a success, and that led to far larger murals such as two four story murals in Dallas and even a 737 for Delta. The murals are in neighborhoods where people live their everyday lives and I hope they serve as a reminder to believe in yourself and what you are capable of.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a fine artist, and at least when I first began, people were surprised that I am completely blind. The vast bulk of the work that I do is commissions, and I have been fortunate to work with some incredible groups and people. I do a lot of public speaking as well, such as key notes and the like, but since I’m a painter my talks are usually much more interactive – it may be a gala or a normally stuffy corporate function, but I’ll have people from the crowd up on stage painting with me, and we are all laughing having a great time. I also work with museums helping them become more inclusive and teaching art workshops. Whenever I lost my eyesight in college I thought my life was over; I didn’t see how I would be able to do anything or accomplish anything with my life. Painting became my way of dealing with the anger and depression, and my way of reaching out and connecting with people. Painting has come my way of visualizing the world around me and also it has become my voice. My artwork has gone to over 120 countries, and I have had to fortune to work with museums such as the Met in NY, the Guggenheim, the Dallas Musuem of art, and dozens of others, with celebrities such as Jeff Bridges, Tony Hawk, and many more, on huge projects with large companies such as Delta (I painted a 737 for them), the Rock in Rio Concert (the largest convert in the world), and many more, and have been featured in news stories and documentaries all over the world. A couple of years ago I was named as a cultural ambassador for the United States which was an incredible experience.

I am astounded at how much my artwork has allowed me to connect with the people around me, and it really feels like it is just getting started. The artwork is getting bigger and better, and the types of artwork I can do and the events are just expanding.
What I love most though is really two things – I love working with clients; we talk and go back and forth and always create an idea for a work of art that I can work on for them and or help plan an event with them that is exciting to all of us. I’ve never done the same thing twice and I love going into a meeting with a client not knowing what amazing thing we are going to come up with together.
The other thing I love is teaching workshops – I’ve worked with museums and schools all over the country, including many schools for the blind. Almost all of the workshops I do are completely free, but it has to be some of the most rewarding work I do.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first lost my eyesight I thought it made me different from everyone else. Over time I came to realize that everybody has something in their life that seems bigger than they are, that is overwhelming to them, And just seems insurmountable. instead of my blindness making me different from everyone, it actually made me more like the people around me. All of us have to deal with big issues in our lives, and even though we deal with different challenges the emotional struggles are so similar that we can learn from each other and help each other out. One person may be dealing with a disability, someone else may be struggling with the loss of a loved one, another person could be dealing with a financial crisis, and even though all of these challenges are very different, pain is just pain and we can lend each other a helping hand. Whenever I lost my eyesight I thought that my life was over, I didn’t see how I would be able to do anything or accomplish anything with my life. Of course this was the anger and depression talking and I was lucky that I had good people around me that believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself, and also that I had artwork that allowed me to find my way out of the darkness. This was over 20 years ago and there wasn’t such a thing as blind painters, artwork at always been my way of dealing with health problems while I was growing up, whenever you’re painting you’re not thinking about the past, or any problems in the future, it is like taking a little mini vacation, you’re only focusing on the paint on the tip of your brush. Art became my way of helping to deal with a bad day, or celebrate a good day. After losing my eyesight I thought this was lost. Whenever you lose your eyesight you learn how to do everything in new ways including traveling independently, you learn orientation and Mobility training, this is where you learn to use a white cane. It was using these techniques that I started to work out ways that I would be able to drive again. I figured if I could travel across the city and cross streets all by myself, surely I would be able to navigate around a canvas as well if I used the same techniques.
Art became my life line, if you came my way to reach out and connect with other people. I didn’t tell people that I was painting it first, and even during my first art shows I didn’t tell people I was Blind, but the shows did well and some stories were written about my artwork and my blindness. this was the best thing that could have happened because I started to be contacted by different Charities and nonprofits who heard about my artwork and wanted me to come and talk to their clients And to teach some workshops. I started working with children with autism, adults with Alzheimer’s. Even though We were facing different struggles and problems we all really understood each other on a deep level and were able to help each other heal. As my artwork continued to expand and reach more people I became more and more like my old self. Today my artwork is a celebration of the people around me, And all of the wonderful people that I have been able to meet throughout the years.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Creating artwork allows me to connect with people on a deeper level that I have been able to in any other way. The bulk of my work is commissions which means that I get to explore creative ideas with people combining their ideas with mine to come up with something completely new that we are both excited about. Even with the gallery shows that I paint for they are inspired by the people that I meet, Most of the people in my paintings are friends of mine or wonderful acquaintances and I have the most wonderful job of taking the unusual, interesting, and amazing aspect of these people I’m trying to capture them into my art.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bramblitt.com
• Instagram: @bramblitt
• Facebook: @bramblitt
• Twitter: @bramblitt
• Youtube: @bramblitt

Image Credits
Jacqi Serie