1. RAY/ENGL
313/Final
Draft
Personality
Profile
April
19,
2015
The
sunlight
is
beaming
through
an
opened
window
in
her
perfectly
arranged
studio,
Laurie
stands
closely
to
the
canvas,
stopping
occasionally
to
tie
back
loose
wisps
of
her
gorgeous
red
hair.
You
can
see
her
mind
racing
with
each
stroke
of
the
brush,
paying
close
attention
to
every
line
and
form.
She
is
working
on
a
painting
of
a
freckled-­‐faced
young
girl,
as
she
fills
in
intricate
details
with
tiny
white
strokes
around
her
eyes,
you
can
almost
imagine
her
coming
to
life.
“To
me,
the
world
is
made
up
of
art
and
that’s
how
I
want
to
see
it,”
Laurie
states.
Some
might
argue
that
the
most
intriguing
aspect
of
art
is
perception,
having
the
opportunity
to
create
your
own
ideas
of
what
a
piece
represents
through
your
own
interpretation.
For
Laurie
Hartranft,
a
legally
blind
artist
and
painter
based
in
Philadelphia,
perception
is
her
art.
Laurie
is
a
self-­‐taught
artist
that
suffers
from
a
rare
ocular
disease
that
has
caused
albinism,
which
is
loss
of
pigmentation
and
extreme
light
sensitivity,
and
nystagmus
or
called
“dancing
eye”,
which
causes
uncontrollable
rapid
eye
movements.
Ocular
Albinism
according
to
the
U.S.
National
Library
of
Medicine,
affects
1
in
60,000
men,
the
signs
and
conditions
of
this
disorder
are
significantly
less
common
in
woman.
The
disorder
can
severely
affect
depth
perception,
which
is
the
ability
to
see
the
distance
of
objects,
and
see
in
three
deminsions.
Nystagmus
causes
an
inability
for
the
eyes
to
focus
on
a
single
object,
the
eyes
are
rapidly
moving
in
a
side-­‐to-­‐side
motion,
which
makes
everyday
activities
very
difficult
for
those
suffering
from
the
disease.
Dr.
Eric
Selvey,
an
optometrist
from
Lancaster
stated,
“Ocular
Albinism
can
cause
a
decrease
in
the
vision.
Most
folks
with
that
condition
would
most
likely
need
low
vision
aids
just
to
be
able
to
see
a
limited
amount
of
distance.”
Laurie
was
declared
legally
blind
in
the
fall
of
2006,
following
her
diagnoses
she
was
forced
to
leave
her
job
at
the
bank
where
she
worked
for
many
years.
Laurie
claims
that
losing
her
job
brought
her
back
to
art,
for
that
she
considers
herself
lucky.

2. Although
an
optometrist
would
argue
that
Laurie’s
impairment
could
dramatically
affect
her
ability
to
create,
she
feels
as
though
it
enters
the
equation
very
little,
“my
perceptions
continually
grow
based
on
myself
as
an
artist,
as
a
person.
I
honestly
don’t
really
think
about
it
or
consider
that
anything
is
holding
me
back.”
Laurie’s
art
is
inspired
largely
by
her
collection
of
vintage
photographs
and
ephemera,
she
uses
her
love
for
Victorian
and
early
century
style
photography
often
as
references.
“I
look
at
these
photos
as
art
pieces
themselves,
I
am
drawn
to
certain
things
about
an
individual
or
scene.
Sometimes
it’s
an
unexplainable
aesthetic,
a
facial
expression,
film
flaws,
or
even
strange
lighting.
There’s
usually
some
emotional
attraction
there
that
I
want
to
pull
from
and
accentuate
in
my
own
way”
Each
piece
of
her
art
has
a
somewhat
daunting
appeal
to
it,
her
portraits
focus
on
the
purity
and
rawness
of
a
person
rather
than
the
expected
beauty.
Her
portraits,
much
like
herself,
have
a
timeless
authenticity
to
it.
“I
have
kind
of
an
obsession
with
post
mortem
and
morning
photography,
I
also
find
medical
photographs
and
diagrams
fascinating.
There
are
so
many
aspects
of
life
that
were
approached
and
handled
in
a
way
that
is
so
foreign
to
us
now.
“
Laurie’s
love
for
vintage
started
in
her
early
years
of
growing
up
in
her
great-­‐grandparents
farmhouse
in
Pottstown,
Pa.
Laurie
was
surrounded
by
old
things,
because
of
this
she
developed
an
appreciation
for
making
things
last,
and
a
fondness
of
things
that
were
built
to
last.
“The
old
has
a
lot
to
say,
there’s
history.
Things
were
made
so
much
more
eclectic,
unique
and
beautiful
back
then.”
Aside
from
creating
art,
Laurie
also
owns
and
operates
an
ecommerce
vintage
retail
business,
Dear
Macy
Vintage.
Dear
Macy,
named
after
her
Cairn
terrier,
sells
a
variety
of
vintage
photography
including
snapshots,
ephemera,
cabinet
cards,
and
other
miscellaneous
treasures.
Throughout
Laurie’s
younger
years
she
had
only
sketched
and
drew
faces
and
portraits,
although
she
had
a
strong
admiration
for
her
younger
sister,
Holly,
that
painted.
Laurie
wanted
to
learn
how
to
work
with
oils
and
paint
the
portraits
she
grew
up
drawing,
but
after
many
unsuccessful
attempts
she
put
painting
on
the
back
burner.
Black
Eye,
2014

3. Throughout
that
time
she
began
to
explore
different
aspects
of
art,
she
worked
with
mixed
media,
abstract
acrylics,
paper
collage,
digital
art
and
textile
designs,
but
she
still
wanted
to
find
herself
in
oil
painting.
Laurie
became
obsessed
with
studying
several
oil
figure
painters;
she
was
on
a
search
for
her
own
vision
through
painting.
“I
followed
their
process
and
finally—to
frustrated
to
not
try,
I
started
experimenting
with
oils
and
faces,
utilizing
the
right
tools
this
time
from
what
I
had
learned.
After
that
very
first
night
in
2012,
I
knew
I
was
finally
doing
what
I
wanted
and
that
I
actually
could
do
it.”
Now
three
years
later,
Laurie
has
mastered
a
style
of
art
that
is
truly
unique
to
her
own
personality.
She
has
crafted
the
ability
to
combine
her
perfectionist
side,
along
side
her
chaotic
side,
to
create
a
vivid
interpretation
of
emotion.
Laurie
does
not
allow
her
vision
disability
to
define
her,
nor
does
she
intend
to
give
up
on
her
true
passion
of
art.
Although
Laurie
explains
that
her
perfectionist
side
often
wins,
she
states,
“My
intent
as
I
move
forward,
is
for
that
to
continue
to
gradually
change
as
I
break
through
the
barrier
that
seems
to
naturally
block
the
chaotic
part
of
myself.”
Holly,
her
younger
sister
whom
Laurie
was
once
envious
of
states,
“she
doesn’t
seem
to
realize
how
incredible
her
work
is
and
the
depth
of
emotion
she’s
able
to
convey.
The
paintings
are
always
a
little
mysterious,
and
the
subjects
all
seem
to
have
a
secret.
“
Holly
jokingly
adds,
“I’ve
always
told
her
she’ll
be
famous
after
she
dies.”
Blindness,
2015