
Please join us on Friday, November 1 for our annual Gallery Night event! This year’s edition takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. at our offices located at 754 Williamson Street in Madison. This year’s exhibit will feature the work of nine artists from across the state who are blind or low vision working in a range of media, including paint, photography, ceramics and crochet. If you are unable to attend in person, you can still check out the featured pieces in our online Virtual Gallery.
This year’s Gallery Night artists are Evelyn Becker, Richard Berkholtz, Illana Dehoyos, Rosemary Fortney, Duncan Hamilton, Janae O’Connell, Lynn Olson, Albert Schmiege, and Nicole Wolf.
For illustrator and photographer Illana Dehoyos, inspiration came through her family. From a young age, Illana watched cartoons and anime with her dad, leading her to create pixel art and cartoon drawings ever since she could remember. “Both my parents used to draw, so I got to see all of their work all the time, which influenced me from a very early age,” Illana says.
Illana got her love of nature from her mom, which eventually became the focus of her photography. While Illana has very limited vision due to optic nerve hypoplasia, she says her photography allows her to show the world through her eyes. “I had participated in the Council’s Gallery Night around a decade ago, before I had started photography,” Illana says. “I am very excited to showcase my new skills and how I’ve grown as an artist since then. It’s an opportunity to show that even though I have limited vision, I can still do the things I enjoy.”
Painter Janae O’Connell followed a different path to becoming an artist. Janae’s artistic journey began in 2021 after she inherited a painting by her grandfather that needed to be restored. “The painting was beautiful, but it was very chipped up. So, I decided to try and repair it,” Janae says. “I got the paint and successfully fixed it up and found that I really enjoyed it!” With her new paintbrushes in hand and legendary TV art instructor Bob Ross as a guide, Janae began to paint. Now in 2024, her oil paintings will hang in the Council’s halls.
By the time Janae began painting, she had already been diagnosed with advanced macular degeneration. But thanks to some trips to the Council and our Sharper Vision Store, she was able to obtain the lighting and hands-free magnifiers she needed to create her art. “I’m not so set in my artistic ways, and I consider myself an adaptor, so I’m having fun finding new ways to create my paintings,” Janae says
We’re grateful to the generous sponsors whose support is helping us present Gallery Night this year: Associated Bank, SVA Consulting, Numbers4Nonprofits, Kwik Trip and Community Shares of Wisconsin. You can learn more about Gallery Night and check out last year’s Virtual Gallery at WCBlind.org/Events/Gallery-Night.