Stacey has a vivid image of the Barnegat Lighthouse in her mind that’s untainted by the degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa that makes everything look fractured. “Like a broken mirror,” Stacey explained. Stacey worked for weeks to bring her sunset Jersey Shore memory to life on a large canvas with vivid colors, soft fabrics and plenty of glitter to make her ocean sparkle.
“That’s all her in every way,” said Marisa Juliano, one of three Caldwell University art therapy graduate students interning with Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey’s art therapy class. Juliano helped Stacey consider her options for materials, offered encouragement, and brought supplies to Stacy, who has health problems that make it hard for her to get around. “I asked questions that led her to her own discoveries,” Juliano said.
“The intern program really benefits the students, giving them the extra attention that, as a solo group leader, I can’t give,” said Vision Loss Alliance art therapist Traci Bitondo, a Caldwell University alumna. Jen Albright became the program’s first intern last winter, and is now in her third semester. She has worked for months with David on his Gothic cathedral model. “Jen has helped me take it from the mind into the three-dimensional,” said David, an architecture buff who was born without sight in his left eye.
“We act as the third hand. We assist without being too intrusive,” Albright said. She has been impressed with Vision Loss Alliance. “It offers so many different modalities for wellness,” she said. Intern Alyssa Udijohn added, “We act like vessels to help them create what’s in their heads and make it real. They know what they want to do.”