Intro: 00:00

Welcome to the Heard & Empowered podcast presented by National Industries for the Blind. We’re on a mission to empower people who are blind, low vision, or visually impaired to build fulfilling careers, gain personal independence, and take the next step toward achieving their own American dream. Guests from all walks of life share their journeys and how they overcame challenges they faced along the way. Whatever your interests, experience, talents, or career goals, listen to discover important connections and unlock the resources and inspiration you need to chart a new path. Ready to be heard and empowered?

Dean Thompson: 00:35

Hi there and welcome back to the Heard & Empowered podcast. I’m your host, Dean Thompson, and today we’ve got a treat. We’re going to be talking to a blind visual artist. Today we’re talking with Heather Bergerson. I’m pronouncing that right, Heather?

Heather Bergerson: 00:46

Yes. Thank you.

Dean Thompson: 00:48 

Heather. Who, among other things, is of and from New Mexico and is an artist, and is one of the most interesting people I bumped into in a long time. Heather, how are you? Welcome to the podcast.

Heather Bergerson: 00:58  

Thank you Dean. I’m happy to be here.

Dean Thompson: 01:02 

Likewise. Let’s backtrack a bit. First off, you, what level of sight do you have?

Heather Bergerson: 01:07  

So, I have a couple visual impairments. I am sighted and unsighted. One of my impairments is called a retinal ischemia. And that is induced by a traumatic injury to the head. And I have multiple undefined neurovisual disturbances as well.

Dean Thompson: 01:34 

All that coming from the auto accident?

Heather Bergerson: 01:36  

That’s right.

Dean Thompson: 01:37

Wow. Okay. You were not to get too personal, you were not a kid when this happened. You were an adult person when you had your accident, am I correct?

Heather Bergerson: 01:44 

That’s correct. Actually, I. This was in 2020, and I was 30 years old.

Dean Thompson: 01:52

Okay. I’ve often thought, I mean, like so many people watching the podcast or listening to the podcast and myself, I lost my vision slowly and through some kind of a natural disturbance. If, if if a retinal deterioration is natural at all. You, it happened all at once. How did that, how did you deal with that?

Heather Bergerson: 02:10

Oh, that was incredibly traumatic. And I think given the circumstances, I’m really proud of myself. I definitely, you know, this was during the pandemic time, too. I’m also a mother. My son was five years old at the time and he’s ten now.

He wasn’t in the car with me, thankfully, but it was it, it shifted my entire life. Everything that I knew and loved all of a sudden was, it just seemed like my world was falling apart.

Dean Thompson: 02:48  

Yeah. When did you finally grasp how little sight you were going to have going forward? Was that the first day after the accident? When did it? When did reality set in?

Heather Bergerson: 02:56  

Yeah. So actually, the accident caused my vision loss. So I endured multiple strokes and suffered a traumatic brain injury. The doctors, and I was out for about five days, and when I woke up, that was just incredibly, it was just a very wild experience.

So I did have a near-death experience during this time. And the vision loss was immediate. And I remember being in the hospital and not being able to see really any faces or, or really anything. I could still see to an extent, but like, I could not, I could not make out whose face was who. It was just, it was a very surreal experience for me.

Not to mention that I had memory loss as well, so I didn’t even know what happened until, you know, all the flashbacks started flooding in, which was terrifying. I also was not able to move my body, and so that was really surreal as well, that I, my brain seemed to be recovering quicker than my body. And so I couldn’t understand why the doctors confined me to the bed and that I was not allowed to get up. Or like when the nurse brought my breakfast to me and asked me if I could feed myself, and I was like, well, duh. But then I realized I couldn’t even, I couldn’t even hold the fork, which, it was a very weird experience.

And I kept telling them, I said, I can’t see what is going on. And tthey just kind of, they didn’t address it right away. Actually, it did not get undressed until a couple of weeks after I came home. And I, my mom at the time she was living in Germany and flew, flew back to the States to take care of me for a while. We got an appointment with a neuro ophthalmologist and, and with with just with quite a few eye doctors.  I’ve seen a lot of eye doctors and just doctors in general after this accident. And that’s when I finally got my diagnosis. But while I was laying there in the hospital, it just didn’t seem like that was the main concern. The main concern was keeping me alive.

Dean Thompson: 05:39  

Yeah. Wow. I won’t dwell on this much longer, but one more question. When did you finally accept the fact that Heather wasn’t going to see, like Heather saw before?

Heather Bergerson: 05:50  

Oh. I think when I finally accepted it, I want to say, maybe it was about a year after my accident, a year or two. And the timeline is kind of all cloudy to me, but it really didn’t start, I didn’t start accepting it until I got in touch with the New Mexico Commission for the Blind, who just welcomed me with open arms.

And, and I had an amazing vocational rehabilitation counselor who just thoroughly believed in me and was my champion through all this, because I was always already an established artist before this accident happened. And when it happened, all of a sudden I couldn’t create anymore. And that was terrifying to me. And, and I felt like if, if this accident hadn’t killed me, me not being able to create anymore would. And so, having a VR counselor that really was my backbone and really advocated for me was incredibly crucial to my, you know, for me to get back up and, and, and keep moving and keep creating.

I didn’t start creating again until I reached out to a couple of blind artists, actually. So I was determined. I was like, because nobody ever talks about blind visual artists. At least it wasn’t known to me.

And I really, truly feel that not a lot of people know about us. And that’s when I started to feel empowered and realize, okay, wait, this isn’t the end of my creative career. This is, this might actually be like a big part of it. This is going to be big.

Dean Thompson: 08:04 

Let’s talk about your art. What kind of art were you creating before the accident? What kind of art are you creating now?

Heather Bergerson: 08:09 

So I, before the accident, I, and I still am actually, a painter and a printmaker. And before the accident, I was really invested in feminist concerns, which is still a big part of who I am and what I care about, what I value. But my focus has shifted, and even my printmaking process has shifted significantly because with printmaking, typically you’re making smaller works of art.

They’re meant to historically be able to be put in a drawer and tucked away and pulled back out and traded with other artists or with consumers. It’s not, prints aren’t necessarily made to hang on the wall that came later on down the history. I won’t go down an art history route, but typically the way that prints are created, they’re 2D and they, but the process itself is very hands on. And I was a very proud and intaglio artist. I love copper etching.

And so I think the biggest change in my now artistic practice is that things have to be bigger than before and I cannot, well, I won’t say I cannot, I just, I have a very hard time and it doesn’t bring me joy anymore to create copper etchings. It’s too small. It’s too hard to see. So there’s enough, ut what’s really beautiful about printmaking is that there’s different processes. And so one of them that I’ve really gravitated towards is called collagraph printmaking. And that is where you gather material and they’re, they can be natural material and it becomes, you put a matrix together and a matrix is something that you print off of, and it’s very tactile. So I use like, kitchen twine and eggshells and all kinds of materials to create this matrix, which ends up being very tactile, very easy to feel. And even when it’s printed, when it runs through the press, it leaves a beautiful embossment in the printmaking paper that is also very tactile itself.

So, having said all that, I guess my practice has reverted to creating bigger, larger works of art that are heavily tactile and with the huge focus on accessibility in the back of my mind. So whenever I create artwork now, I think about people who may be interested, like who, who is able to enjoy this art piece, will they understand it? Whereas before that wasn’t so much in the forefront. And, and, and I could argue that it was also tactile, but definitely that has definitely shifted.

Dean Thompson: 11:29 

It sounds like you were, people always ask everybody, why do you fill in the blank, paint a painting, write a book, create a film? Were you doing it for an expression you want to make? But it’s also for others. It sounds like you’re now more concerned about how others see your art, as opposed to before the accident. Or am I being too simplistic here?

Heather Bergerson: 11:46

No, no, that’s exactly right. So now, you know, after my accident, I still tried to visit art museums. And you know what, what really frustrated me is that whereas before, when my vision was fine, you know, I could go to art museums and I could say, you know, at that far distance away and observe the artwork and appreciate it.

And now I have to get up real close and personal. And so often I get stopped at, yeah, there’s a security guard that says, don’t get too close. And I’m like, well, I can’t see, what else am I supposed to do?

Dean Thompson: 12:28

Let’s talk about, you had the accident. How long after the accident did you actually feel a, begin to create and feel confident enough to begin to create more art? How long was the interim?

Heather Bergerson: 12:40

That’s a good question. I would say with pride to start creating again. And I ended up, I feel like my, my, my outing, my coming out of the closet as a visually impaired person, visually impaired artist, would have been last year in February, I believe, was the opening.  I put together an art show with one, two, three other visually impaired visual artists, and I created this piece called Symbiotic Serenity. And it’s a massive matrix of approximately three, three feet by three feet big. And it was a, it was, it was actually meant, it was meant to be a collagraph print itself.

But I had trouble. Printmaking doesn’t always go the way you think it’s going to go. So instead of presenting the print itself, I presented the matrix, which ended up being a tactile wall piece. And that, this show specifically was, just brought me so much joy working with these other visually impaired artists whom I met, because I did my research, and trying to seek out artists with visual impairments. And it was the show, was really about it was really just a celebration about who we are.

And we really felt seen and heard, and there was a huge turnout that came to the opening. It was, it was amazing. So I would say even though my accident happened in 2020, it’s been a long journey since then. I didn’t come out with pride with regards to my limitations and my new creations until last year, about a year ago.

Dean Thompson: 15:05

So this first piece, it was a, what was it meant to be touched? Did you want people to run their hands over? And did they make pieces of the eggshell off? And did you care?

Heather Bergerson: 15:15

They did not. So I sealed the piece with an acrylic matte medium. And so it was meant, so originally it was meant to be print off of, so and through the printing process you apply ink and then you have to, like scrub up, scrub it with this, like almost cheesecloth thing.  It’s what we call it a tarlatan.

And so it can, it can take quite a bit of abuse. And if an eggshell fell off, it wouldn’t have been an issue, that would have been okay.

Dean Thompson: 15:49

What was the reaction, what people think of it going up and touching a painting as opposed to just looking at it?

Heather Bergerson: 15:53

Oh, they loved it. They, so many people were just so thankful that they could finally go up and touch artwork and that they were invited to touch the piece. And, and my, you know, and quite a few kids came, too, and for the parents, it was just such a relief for them to not have to be like, ‘don’t touch this, don’t touch that.’ You know, and so it, was it was really fun.

Dean Thompson: 16:23

So you’re doing art now. Were you working before? Well, I guess you were you working? Were you making a living before you had the accident, might I ask.

Heather Bergerson: 16:31

I was making a living. I wasn’t making a living solely based on selling works. I actually worked at an art department at the University of New Mexico in Taos, and I was assistant to the art department chair there. And so the two of us, we just really revamped the entire department. And it was honestly probably the best job I have ever had.

And I absolutely loved it. And throughout my entire adult life, too, I’ve always maintained an arts career. And so this is something that I’ve always known since I was a little child that this was my path, what I was going to do.

Dean Thompson: 17:16

I assume that job was not available to you after the accident.

Heather Bergerson: 17:19

Correct. Actually, yes. Yep.

Dean Thompson: 17:21

What did you do then?

Heather Bergerson: 17:23

Oh. That was, that was really hard. It was a very hard time. I feel very fortunate, t the time I was living in a subsidized housing and so I reached out to the management right away. The housing management, I told them, you know, all the circumstances. And so they were willing to work with me on rent. The Commission for the Blind really supported me tremendously through that process. Friends and family, I really felt a lot of love and community and support by everyone, and at the same time I felt so, I I was the darkest I have ever been in my life. But, I think the reason that I was able to come out of that so well was because of the all the love and support that I had.

Dean Thompson: 18:25

I’m assuming you had a good VR counselor. Is that a presumption on my part?

Heather Bergerson: 18:29

Yeah. No. Yeah. It was tremendous. Incredible.

Dean Thompson: 18:32

He points you toward NSITE initially?

Heather Bergerson: 18:34

He did, actually, yes, he absolutely did. I, so I would spitball my ideas with him as well. And he, he knew that I had always wanted, that I always was, I think if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re always an entrepreneur. It’s not, I think that’s just a characteristic.

You can learn how to become a better entrepreneur, right? And that’s what NSITE brings. But you have to have it in you in order for it to actually work out in your favor. So he had helped me get through my bachelor’s degree and with, in fine arts.

So I have a bachelor’s in fine arts. And, and along with that I did a minors in arts leadership and business. And so after I graduated, I was still struggling to figure out how to put my business together, even though I was a, I was a GPA, y GPA was a 4.0, like I was a top notch student. I understood everything, but you know, there’s theory and then there’s practical.

So.

Dean Thompson: 19:52

Like, what is this business of yours? What did you want it to be and what does it become today? Tell us about your business, please.

Heather Bergerson: 19:56

Well, yeah. So it has, it has morphed a bit, and and I think that that’s how businesses thrive is that they’re always evolving and they have to evolve. Otherwise you have to like, view it as a living entity, right? So my business first started off actually, I still own it. So I currently own two businesses. The first one that I started with is the Meandering Artisan LLC. And so that’s what I started off with was the Meandering Artisan. This one was meant to facilitate art workshops and with accessibility in mind. So I did a workshop at one of the NIB conventions here in Albuquerque a couple years ago.

And so this, so this business is very service based, right. And that one since then has, has transformed a bit more into more focused teaching artists within, within those public schools around here. Working with NSITE, I realized that, and then and then also, you know, through with help from the Commission for the Blind, because I’m constantly talking to people, Dean, all the time. And I think that’s a really important thing that people need to understand, too, is that you have to keep talking about what you’re trying to do and not be embarrassed about it.

Because the more you talk, the more you’ll realize that people will potentially have answers or leads for you. So that’s how my newest business, Sticky Murals, came to be. And so this one is more of a product-based business. And this came to be because, as the Meandering Artisan, I wanted to get into mural making, and, which is what I do now currently, like that is still happening. So the Sticky Murals are tactile and with the Meandering Artisan I am promoting tactile murals as well. And so, not just mosaics and ceramics that people you know, typically gravitate towards, because that’s the typical tactile mural that you, that you experience. And so different innovative ways of incorporating sound and, as well as textures and potentially smells as well. So that one, that one’s still, that one’s still in, you know, in the research phase of various things that I could do with that one for this sticky mural specifically, and this is the one that I’m working with NSITE on, is actually a it’s a reusable adhesive mural. So, it’s it’s basically like, you can think of it as a giant wall decal, except it’s not a decal, it’s actually artwork.

So you take an artwork style from the streets, let’s just say street art, right? And now all of a sudden you can have it in your living room and, but in your living room, you don’t want to destroy your walls. Or maybe, maybe you rent, which is what I do. I rent, I don’t own at the moment.

And so there’s real potential to move. So if you, if you install a permanent mural, it’s always going to be on that wall and if you move it has to stay. You can’t take it with you, right?

So with Sticky Murals you can actually take that with you. It’s a reusable adhesive. You can peel it off the wall, roll it up, take it with you and seal it back on again.

Dean Thompson: 24:04 

Let’s double back here. When your VR counselor first introduced you or mentioned NSITE, how was it presented? What did you feel about it and what was your first experience with it? With NSITE.

Heather Bergerson: 24:14

So when he first told me about it, it took me about a year to finally decide to say, okay, now I’m ready for NSITE now, because now I have this vague idea, which was the Sticky Murals concept. And so now I’m ready for NSITE. And so that was just, that was really wonderful. I got in touch with Marianne and the, her whole eexcitement and enthusiasm and support for my business concept was just so contagious.

And it felt really good. It felt really good to, to hear that this is something that can actually be done, you know? Now, finally, I have a business idea that can really come to fruition and I won’t exhaust myself. And in that process, I mean, no, I’m super exhausted, actually. But, you know, it’s sustainable.

Dean Thompson: 25:14

You never work harder than when you work for yourself.

Heather Bergerson: 25:18

It’s so true. Yeah.

Dean Thompson: 25:20

Exactly. How did she help specifically? Let’s be specific. How were the first steps that you felt Marianne, in the, in the program helped you?

Heather Bergerson: 25:27

Yes. Well, so first off, NSITE just really has, is so resourceful. They if they don’t know the answers to something, they know someone who knows the answers. And what was really neat about it, too, is that there, there weren’t, the visual arts isn’t all that well known for, you know, low vision people, low vision business owners, sorry. Because it’s just not, I think it’s just not out there enough. It’s not as common. I think ultimately what it is, it’s not that people with low vision don’t want to have an arts business. I think it’s just a lot of times frowned upon because, and actually, I’ve heard that myself. I’ve heard people have told me like, ‘why do you want to do that? You can’t see very well. Why would you want to start a business that relies on vision?’ And, you know, it was just very, there was a lot of discriminating, hurtful comments with that. And I felt that Marianne and everybody that works with her and or who partners with her, they, they disagree with all of those comments. And I’ve made a lot of wonderful connections through the NSITE program as well, with other entrepreneurs who are also in agreement that, like we, we should be able to, to follow our own dreams. And, you know, the limitations aren’t there because of us. They’re there because, you know, just all around it hasn’t been normalized yet. And I think that’s the biggest problem. So NSITE normalizes your own limitations, your capabilities.

They, they highlight your, the strengths that you have. This program NSITE and everybody involved in it, it made me feel like there’s really no stopping me. I can do whatever, whatever I want. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I, for any, anybody listening to this and thinking about, you know, ‘oh, should I join NSITE. Should I take their courses?’

I honestly just, just try it out because you’ll see what I’m talking about. There’s so much love and encouragement and support and there is no limit to what you can do.

Dean Thompson: 28:20

So, NSITE, you, how long did it last? Let’s talk about those who don’t know. How long were you involved with them? What courses did you take and what happened at the very end?

Heather Bergerson: 28:29

Yeah. Well, first off, I’m still involved with NSITE. But because I feel like, you know, once you’ve actually. This is very true. It’s not, I feel like this is very true, that once you’ve graduated, like, the the support is still there.

So Marianne and I are continuing to have conversations and she constantly has potential leads for me. And so that is a, that is a partnership that does not just end after you finish the courses. They will always be there to support you further and get you connected with people.

Dean Thompson: 29:03

Let’s, let’s talk about specific classes that you took within NSITE. What were they and how did they apply to your business now?

Heather Bergerson: 29:10

Yeah. So I took multiple classes.

Heather Bergerson: 29:13

One of them I’m actually still finishing up the capstone for, but I took Business Essentials and LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs and Customer Centered Communications. And I’m currently still finishing up the Wharton School of Business.

Dean Thompson: 29:30

How’s that going?

Heather Bergerson: 29:31

It’s going really well. That one, that one’s exciting. Because I feel like, the first three classes that I mentioned, they, they were like the building blocks to get to this point with the Wharton School. So with the Wharton School, Wharton Online is is what it is, and so they just kind of do another recap over everything that we already went over in the other courses. And, but with just more of a Wharton understanding. The Wharton way is what Wharton says. And and then, the the capstone is a conclusion. It’s basically your pitch deck that you can then present to other potential stakeholders.

Dean Thompson: 30:17

What about entrepreneur skills? Have you dealt with those within the NSITE program?

Heather Bergerson: 30:22

Absolutely. Yeah. So the Business Essentials are, actually all three of them. So the Business Essentials is, really taps into everything you need to sort of know and understand about business itself. How do you come up with a business idea and how do you put, like what are the blocks to putting a business plan together?

What does that look like? And really the big picture, like if, it feels so daunting to try to put a business plan together because it is a lot of information, there’s a lot that goes into it. And so the Business Essentials Program kind of like, breaks that down for you. And then of course, you have to go back in and do your own research and dive into it deeper, which is really the word. An Wharton online school helps with that process as well.

It is still, so you do have these courses and you do have a lot of support. But I will emphasize that you have to be willing to put in the work and do your own due diligence for the courses as well. So Business Essentials was very much like, you know, the business understanding of things, and then you have to dive into it deeper based on what it is that you are, what startup you’re trying to create. Then the Customer Centered Communications course, that one I felt like I was naturally good at already. I love marketing and sales.

Once I realized that marketing really is just talking passionately about the thing that you’re trying to promote, that that’s pretty much what marketing is. That course, to me personally, came easily in the sense that it really was about practicing. Talking about what it is that you’re trying to create and, and I needed that course. So while I had fun with it, and while I did feel like it came easily to me, I learned a lot through that, just about how to talk about Sticky Murals, for example. And this is where I also gained some more knowledge talking and pitching to other students within my cohort about my business idea.

And we would give each other feedback and, you know, kind of critique, do a sandwich critique of each other’s presentation. So that was very, very helpful.

Dean Thompson: 33:09

This has been wonderful. Thank you. How much, if people want to get in touch with you going forward, how would that be? And can you share your reach info to us, please.

Heather Bergerson: 33:16

Absolutely. So my artist’s website is heatherbergerson.com and that one is still in the making. And we’ll branch into Sticky Murals soon. But that domain name belongs to me and it is not going anywhere.

So heatherbergerson.com.

Dean Thompson: 33:48

Thank you ever so much. We’ll stay in touch. Okay?

Heather Bergerson: 33:50

Yes. Thank you Dean, this was fun.

Outro: 33:52

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