Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gary Jackson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Gary, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis in October of 2013. Soon after being diagnosed I started to lose my sight through out the day due to muscle weakness. In 2019, I stumbled into a Hobby Lobby in Houston Texas, purchased a pack of five canvases, oil paint kit and brushes. Today my favorite past time is painting and writing poetry to share with the world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a native of Chicago. I live my life one day at a time, with family as my inspiration. At home, I can be found in my comfy chair with my fingers covered with paint, writing, or gathering with family and laughing over shared meals. People assume I’m an extrovert, and I do love people. But I recharge in solitude. Quiet moments of reflection. Praying. Dreaming. Grieving. Asking. Processing. Thinking. Breathing it all in, and then exhaling just as deeply.

Home is where broken moments of life are put back together.

In 2014 I wrote my first of two books, Stroke.

I began writing my second book The message Art of Poetry in 2019, along with discovering a passion for painting. Due to being sight challenged, life served me a canvases, oil paint and a brush to create art. I discovered I could create my best art with my fingers. Now I prefer painting with my fingers, because there is something about the way a canvas feels to my finger tips that stimulates my mind to paint what I imagine through touch. I have no specific style of art, because I love painting and the challenge of creating the impossible. I place no limits on my ability to create and I view the world as a canvas of beautiful and unique art.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The ownership of knowing what I have created is a one of a kind, unique to my personal imagination. I like to engage in conversation with those who admire art and poetry, Art lovers and Curators, to share what inspired a specific painting or poem. There is nothing like the astounding look of interest, and studious attention to detail when someone is admiring one of my paintings or poems. It’s absolutely heart warming and breath taking at the same time to witness. There are time when I have to pinch myself, and it’s at that moment I know it’s real, I am an Artist.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Myasthenia Gravis is a autoimmune disease that impair the communication between the nerves and muscles in the body, causing muscle weakness. All of my doctors informed me that my past physical lifestyle is no longer physically sustainable. Lost, I could not wrap my mind around physically collapsing to the ground after walking thirty minutes and limited eye sight through out the day. I was so focus on what was taken away from me that I didn’t appreciate what remained. The thought of never driving, sewing, skating, running, bike riding, training or hiking, was devastating. Who new. Who new that God had a better plan for my life. He showed me a different way of seeing life that spans far beyond what I can see with my eyes. Welcome into the mind of a blind artist who creates Art with his fingers and a brush, who inspires to create beyond what he can see, so he dreams. I am a artist from Chicago, who’s art is an unapologetic celebration of life, culture and vision through self-expression that impacts people lives in various ways, some are moved, some respond and other just react. When one door close, look beyond what you can see and trust God to guide your steps.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.themessageartofpoetry.com
• Instagram: @teamabadabado
• Facebook: Art of Poetry
• Linkedin: abs daba do
• Twitter: @Abadabadoart