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The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Alumna with disability channels pain through art

    Though the physical limitations of living with a disability can be difficult, it is the emotional pain that hurts Heather Vallaire the most.   
    Vallaire is an alumnus who earned her degree in visual arts with a concentration in sculpting in December of 2013. She lives with a disability affecting her hands, sometimes making it difficult for her to perform simple tasks such as opening a jar. Despite her creative talent and friendly personality, many people are unable to see past her disability, earning her unwanted attention in public. Since her youth, Vallaire has used her passion for art to express the despair and isolation that comes with having a disability.
    “I think the theme [of my art] would be struggle, spiritual survival and strength,” said Vallaire. “There is a dismal overlay to what I do. I spent a long time of my life very frustrated with my adversity, and I didn’t really have a way to express that. As I started to create work that conveyed the struggle that I felt inside, I became happier as a person, and I find that sometimes when we can admit that things are hard, they become easier.”
    Though she often received help from peers and faculty members, Vallaire received no official accommodations from the Office of Disability Services. Because of her “unique” disability, there are no legal accommodations to suit her needs. Despite this, she was able to complete her work with little assistance and no deadline extensions.  
    Vallaire’s work was featured in last semester’s senior art exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery. Her biggest piece was a collection of photographs depicting her sculpture made of plastic molds of her hands. Her goal was to instill the same feelings in viewers as those she experiences when faced with alienation due to her disability. According to Vallaire, many audience members were able to feel her pain after viewing the piece.
    “There was one strange gentleman in particular that stood out that night, and it was because he stumbled in from the football game,” said Vallaire. “He came into view, and he noticed me, and he looked at the images and realized that me and that art were related. He grabbed his chest, and he looked at me and said, ‘I would like to pray for you. This is so painful.’ That was the reaction that I wanted because it is a painful existence to deal with.”
    For Vallaire, the process of evolving as an artist was just as frustrating and upsetting as the pieces she produced. She cited her greatest inspiration as one of her sculpting teachers, who pushed her despite her disability, often upsetting her to the point that she had to leave. However, this teacher helped her grow as an artist and ultimately convinced her to take a sculpting concentration.
    “Jeff Mickey had a way of pushing my buttons that would enrage me to the point that I would usually have to go home for the day,” said Vallaire. “He would say ‘Hey, you should do this,’ and I would get insulted because I had to deal with my disability, and I’d go home. I’d come back the next day and kind of see a way, not doing what he said to do, but going somewhere in the middle. He tended to have a way of pushing me out of my comfort zone, and that’s actually why I switched my major. To me, it wasn’t about learning how to make art, it was learning about how to think about art. I think if you can think as an artist, the work makes itself.”
    Mickey feels it is his obligation as an instructor to push his students to excel by whatever means possible, including tough love.
    “I believe that we [teachers] wear many hats. We sometimes play ‘the devil’s advocate’ or act as a coach, or a gatekeeper, or a cheerleader, or a drill sergeant or one of a hundred other roles to get our students to achieve things intellectually,” said Mickey. “One of those roles may be a button pusher. We often find ourselves taking the other side of the argument to facilitate the comprehension of an idea or theory. The intention is not to make the student angry, but to provide a safe forum in which to understand, test ideas and consider their own work critically.”
    After watching Vallaire’s progress as an artist, Mickey has faith in her capabilities. He is able to look past her disability to see her potential as a creative individual.
    “I do not see Heather as disabled or differently abled. I see her as a young artist who can competently express herself in several different types of media,” said Mickey. “I can intellectualize her particular situation in her physical ability and make accommodations for that in the classroom, but what I am most concerned with is her ability to think critically, compose competently and to create art with conviction. She has proven that she can do that.”
    Since graduating, Vallaire spends her time caring for her 10-year-old son and creating new pieces of artwork. She hopes to attend graduate school in the future, but in the meantime has started a collection of drawings and paintings to add to her portfolio. She has risen above her disability to create a fulfilling life for herself. She hopes to continue to inspire others through her artwork and  the success she has had as a person with a disability.
    “Life is a little bit too much fun to not want to embrace it,” said Vallaire. “As difficult or as alone as you might feel in your own situation with a disability, the drive is that I don’t want to miss anything, and I don’t want to look back and feel that I didn’t love myself enough to do what I love.”
     

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