“I have been struggling to show the light flashes, constant motion, and ever-changing edges of forms due to the changes in my vision. In creating a record of my visual changes, I hope I will better understand why these changes occur so rapidly and give my doctors a better understanding of how I see.”

Catron Peterson graduated from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and has also studied animation at Walt Disney’s MGM Studios. After discovering she had ocular histoplasmos in 1998, Catron feared she wouldn't be able to draw or paint again; she therefore changed her pre-veterinary major to fine arts. "Scott Westerfield, my mentor who also had visual problems, was introduced to me by our eye doctor. I figured if he could overcome his visual impairment, so could I." Catron grew tired of trying to verbalize the effects of her disability, and began to illustrate the unique perspective through her paintings. Her technique requires her to flip from observing with her unaffected right eye to the distinct vision of her left eye. "In this diptych self-portrait, I am standing by a door ready to take a road trip to my grandparents' house. The doors take on a symbolic meaning; I refuse to let the disease confine me, and anxiously travel to make new discoveries." Catron believes that art is a never-ending learning process. "I have grown the most over the past year trying to express my visual perception of the world that others might take for granted."

Self Portrait Diptych, acrylic on wooden door panels (68" x 60")