By Linda Conlin, Pro to Pro Managing Editor
In 2022, I interviewed Trebs Thompson, an artist who had recently completed a three-panel stained glass room divider, Losing Sight (Going Dark Triptych). The panels take viewers on Thompson’s now eight-year journey of vision loss. She has Type 2 parafoveal macular telangiectasia (MacTel), a rare, progressive disease that causes loss of detail and central vision. Loss of central vision progresses over a period of 10 to 20 years, and Type 2 MacTel affects both eyes. To date, there are no treatments that significantly improve vision. (https://www.2020mag.com/article/when-art-imitates-life)
This year, she won an Art Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts for her panel. In honor of that, it was displayed at the Biggs Museum of American Art, in Dover, DE. She and I met there for the opening. She walked confidently with a white cane, navigating the corridors and even the stairway to the site of her panels prominently placed on the second floor. I stood before them. For the first time, I was inches from them. The details--from the eyewear to the eyes taken from dolls, were amazing. Thompson explained the process, the frustration of finding adhesives, the mistakes resulting from her poor vision, the reassembling, and the success of the final piece. It was awe-inspiring to stand with the artist as she spoke about her work.
The first panel uses a background of textured glass to represent distorted visual images. Interspersed are thirteen pairs of glasses through which lenses are the only clear spaces on the panel. The second panel is darker with muted colors, except for the pair of blue eyes staring back. Thompson says this represents the time the reality of her progressive vision loss began to “sink in.” The last panel, although slightly lighter indicating hope, uses more grey tones than colors, and features a distorted eye chart and clocks disguised as spiders that steal her eyesight over time. The piece will be on display at the Biggs Museum through June, after which it will move on to other exhibitions. Thompson plans ultimately to donate the piece to an eye hospital.
To continue her art, Thompson has not only used adaptive vision aids, but has adapted her work as well. She works on a larger scale, trying new techniques and materials to produce pieces that have both tactile and visual appeal. But that’s not all. In spite of never having been a farmer, in 2001, Thompson purchased fifteen acres that became Whimsical Farms. She continues to work the farm that offers ethically raised local meat, free range eggs, and heirloom produce. Thompson also is a member of the Forgetful Squirrels, a local improv troupe, and as a lover of storytelling in word and art, she wrote a collection of humorous essays about her life as a farmer. She travels, and last summer took her storytelling to the Moth Radio Hour in Minneapolis. Thompson believes that “attitude is everything,” and notes that she has had some time to adapt to a life changing event, as opposed to others who have sudden debilitating events. She will never give up. Her courage and determination are incredible. In that vein, we as ECPs, in addition to visual aids, need to dispense hope and encouragement. By the way, Trebs Thompson gives the best hugs!
