In an interview with Pramila Komanduri, Elsie Monthei shares her journey about her growing years, her life as an artist and contribution as an advocate. We had earlier published the first part of the interview- Early Years and this is the last part of the interview- Her life as an Artist and contribution as an advocate. Please find below the link to the first part of the interview.
http://www.eyeway.org/?q=elsie-monthei-%E2%80%93-early-years-pramila-komanduri-part-i
Elsie: When I was at the School for the Blind I did a landscape of a house on a hill and drew people. I enrolled in college classes in additional art including ceramics, drawing and painting. I focused more on elementary school levels. I received rehabilitation funds for my education from the Department for the Blind in Idaho and I worked very hard even then to be a positive role model for people who are blind. I got my teaching certificate and a teacher’s job in Ola, Idaho. I started an art class as something that I would give to the community which hired me before I left this rural area with 7 houses and 2 bars, one of which was in the post office! Things that you do for the community help your self-esteem. I was a single parent then and Arlo and I met at a convention for the blind at Minneapolis. He was my knight in shining armor. I moved from Idaho where I had a very close family to Iowa where my little girl and I were accepted in Arlo’s family.
Elsie: In landscapes you can always show the cycle of life or the living and the dead and I like to put something alive and something dead, like a dead tree limb, in my painting. I feel that oil painting is more forgiving than water colour painting. I just feel that it is my calling to portray nature. In some ways I look at myself as Mother Nature because I am a very nurturing person too as far as family goes. Art is like a part of nature. You always have hope in your garden that things are going to grow back and you plant new things. You always have hope with your art too. You hope that this is going to be something someone will like, or I’ll like it myself, or I’ll have a good time doing it, or I’ll be able to inspire other people with it, or I’ll be able to give back to God somehow. Even if it’s hard I still like to do it.
Elsie: It helps me use my creative ability to enhance my own spirituality. If it's really hard to do you do it anyway. It's like when you are given a task and they say you can't do it and you want to succeed! You learn through experience and when you have this aptitude you want to give back to God. I really think this is true of most people that do artwork. My daughter, Amy Monthei, has the same attitude as I do but she has been able to really make a living of her art because she does different kinds of things. She's pretty well-known now.
Elsie: Being an artist and trying to become one - these are two different things. I would give encouragement and say that there is another alternative to losing your sight. We have to think in terms of how it can be adapted to meet your needs. Don’t give up. Try different ways to do things. Find a new way to look at art, to look at beauty and try to have imagination and fortitude and desire to achieve what you want to accomplish. Try to use tactile means to do things. It is most important to learn from others and adapt it to your own methods. Keeping your heart and your soul and your well-being in mind is very important while you are getting into art. Well-being comes from within, but how other people around you treat you also influences you because you can really shoot somebody down by misunderstanding what they want to achieve and saying that they CAN’T do it. Don’t let people say “No” to you.
Arlo: Those that say this, are those that have never experienced being around someone successful. Be willing to learn from others but make it your own technique.
Elsie: I think art is important enough to share with others, share it with people who help others who are blind, and with people who want to be artists themselves. It’s really important to be an advocate and to share your technique with others. I think doctors sometimes make you worry so much about losing your vision and sometimes we have to tell the doctors that it’s not the worst possible thing to happen that you lose your vision. Just because you can’t drive doesn’t mean that you won’t have a fulfilling life.
I took Elementary Art for Junior High school certification from Drake University, Des Moines. I joined the National Rehabilitation Association through Art which supports artists. I got a job in Iowa state’s Department for the Blind and I became an advocate for one. I provided guidance and counselling and was a positive role model to the elderly people who wanted to give up parts of their lives that they felt unable to maintain as a blind person. I was also trained in Art Therapy which can be an important tool to help people get over crises in their lives. Children, especially, sometimes have no other way to express something bad that happened to them except through drawing.
Elsie: Right, just like we did for our children. We’ve learnt that the acceptance of the blindness and your ability to overcome things and not isolate yourself is a lifelong process that you use. It’s not something that you learn at birth, believe me. It’s due to the reaction that other people have towards you, how they believe in you and help you in believing yourself.
Arlo: We were both able to use that as a tool in our teaching and our therapies.
Elsie: As far as being advocates and helping people to understand blindness we have learnt about different kinds of blindness. No one is ever the same. There is NO ONE answer for everything. What works for me may not work for another person but if they know about it they can work towards making a negative thing become positive. You don’t necessarily have to have a computer to do everything. Now we have iPhones and we have a computer and we do some things with them. I know that technology isn’t always the answer, just because a person does artwork on their iPhone and they have wonderful programs that people enjoy.
Arlo: It’s hard to do gardening with a hand-held iPhone! (Laughs)
Elsie: We are more active persons than techie persons and that’s part of our philosophy of maintaining our own well-being. Sometimes I think, “Am I going to be able to get out into that garden and stay active?” You know, when I start walking around and doing a little bit I feel much better about things!
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