Legally Blind Artist Continues To Paint, Hosting Gallery This Weekend

Steve Childers has been a painter since he was a child. As an adult, he has dealt with the loss of his vision but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to do what he loves. 

“I just have to get a lot closer to something than you do,” said Steve Childers, who is legally blind.  

He was born with a hereditary eye disease, a condition his father and uncles all have.  

“I have glaucoma, but the main problem is hereditary optical atrophy and it’s something you’re born with,” said Childers.  

Even though he’s always had vision challenges, his vision over recent years years has declined; however, doctors say his vision at this point is stable.  

“Like I’ve got 2200 in my best eye and 2400 in the other eye,” said Childers.  

Though the disease has taken away his ability to read and to drive it has not taken away his ability to do what he loves.  

“The type of art I do is perfect for someone with limited vision like me because it’s just dots, little blobs of color,” said Childers.  

Dot by dot he creates his masterpieces.  

“I usually only paint with one or two or three colors at a time. I might sit for hours at a time putting green dots on a canvas or white dots on a canvas and that way I don’t have to try and match colors and things,” said Childers.  

In addition to his near blindness, Childers is also colorblind.  

“If things don’t look exactly right, because I’m not sure exactly what colors I’m using, it doesn’t matter because it’s not supposed to be realistic anyway,” said Childers.  

How long does it take him to complete one painting?  

“The longest I’ve ever spent on one is 120 hours, but that’s very rare. Most of these are like 30 or 40 hours,” said Childers.  

Childers will be the feature artist for June at the In Your Eye Studio and Gallery in the Paseo Arts District.  

“My artwork will be featured so I’ll have about, probably 30 or 40 maybe 50 paintings,” said Childers.  

Childers will be in the studio on June 3 from 5 to 9 p.m. showing and signing his work. 

“For me it’s kind of therapeutic, it’s just relaxing. You don’t have to think about things, it’s just putting dots on the canvas,” said Childers. 

For information about Childers and his work visit his Instagram page @stevechildersart