Blind, Deaf Artist a True Visionary "Berenson's Corner" WDRB Louisville

July 2008

WDRB, Louisville

Blind, Deaf Artist a True Visionary
(transcript from television)

One Kentucky artist is giving new meaning to the concept of recycling.
Jessie Dunahoo is a man whose hands express his freedom and creativity, even though he lives in a dark and silent world.

Maybe you saw Jessie Dunahoo's environmental art being installed at the new home of Patrick Hughes on the Extreme Makeover TV show last February.
Mr. Dunahoo, at 76 years old, works with needle and thread, combining recycled materials into cocoons or spider webs of creativity.

Bruce Burris who works for Latitude, a Lexington organization for people with disabilities, says "It's been very successful. Last autumn he had a show in New York City in which his pieces were selling for between $5,000 and $20,000."

Dunahoo has been blind and deaf virtually all his life. He communicates Helen Keller-fashion, through letters drawn into the palm of his hand.

Crystal Bader of Latitude says, "And he's made a name for himself even before he stumbled upon Latitude. And he is unique, and I had heard it mentioned earlier that the word 'genius' has been thrown around, and he is a genius."

Dunahoo works three days a week at Latitude. To assemble his shelter-like constructions, he pins folded plastic bags to the knees of his overalls and painstakingly quilts them together with basting stitches.

The question about Mr. Dunahoo is, 'How does a visual artist find satisfaction in work he cannot see?'Burris says, "What I can tell you is that he is interested in his work, he's passionate about it. He works consistently, he's proud of what he does."
Dunahoo is living proof that an artist doesn't need sight and hearing to be a visionary.