Britain's first blind glass artist

7 July 2008

Glass artist Julie Coakley has graduated from the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham in Three Dimensional Design (specialising in glass).

Julie lost her sight after contracting meningococcal meningitis in January 2008. She spent 12 days connected to a life support machine at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, and a subsequent two and a half weeks in a special rehabilitation unit before returning to her studies just seven weeks after her initial collapse.

Julie's illness has left her completely blind, and even unable to distinguish dark or light. Julie has total deafness on her right side and 30% deafness on her left. She also sustained nerve damage to both hands and suffers from chronic headaches.

Initially, doctors did not believe that they could save Julie's life, and after she regained consciousness she had paralysis in much of her body and was told to expect to spend at least five years in a wheelchair unable to walk at all.

Julie said: "I felt invisible and alone in a vacuum, trying to comprehend what had happened to me: Was I really totally blind and profoundly deaf?"

After five months of rehabilitation Julie is now able to walk unaided and speaks without a slur. She has to take 84 tablets every week to maintain her recovery from Meningitis and its subsequent ailments.

On returning to college some seven weeks after her initial collapse Julie continued her artwork. The Three Dimensional Arts Department adapted machinery and the art workshop area to meet her disability requirements.

She is assisted in much of her work and has devised a system of cutting glass using the undamaged second finger and thumb of her right hand to score and then snap the glass into small pieces. Since her illness, she has cut more than 2,000 pieces of glass.

Julie was originally scheduled to be showcasing her artwork in the New Designers Show in Islington in July. She decided that she would attend the show despite her disability.

She said: "I started to adapt my designs for the work that I would be exhibiting at the Design Centre in Islington in July. I had to turn this negative situation around."

Julie began working on a blind trilogy in March which consists of three screens each measuring 2m x 0.5 m. Each screen depicts a stage that she experienced in her initial weeks of blindness.

She explained: "The first screen Blind Fear incorporates dark reds, blacks, and shadowy greys. The second screen which is called Blind Courage is made up of blues, turquoises, and greens: colours which come from my memories of beach holidays in which I felt rejuvenated. The last screen is made in the most beautiful array of spring flower colours and is called Blind Love."

She added: "Every day as I work I am developing new methods that enable me to work with my disability. I truly feel that I am learning every day."

Julie's husband and two sons aged 19 and 17, have supported her with in her return to college. Her eldest son Patrick assisted her in collecting her graduation certificate.

For further press information please contact: Media Relations Office