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In the Loop: Acclaimed painter is legally blind
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Jim Hansel is famous for his beautiful paintings of nature, landscape and wildlife. He also happens to be legally blind. A new documentary chronicles how he continues to put paint to canvas.
If you're a fan of wildlife, nature and landscape art, you probably know the name Jim Hansel. The Chaska, Minnesota, native is one of the best, if not the best, in the country. He's painted, according to his website, 175 limited edition prints since 1987. Which is pretty remarkable — especially for a guy who's legally blind.
That's right. The beloved paintings were created by an artist with limited vision. And in a new documentary about Hansel's life and art, his eye doctor at Mayo Clinic, Raymond Iezzi Jr., M.D., says that should be a lesson in resiliency for us all.
"One of the most remarkable things about you, Jim, is that when I look at your retinas, as a retina doctor, I often scratch my head and try to understand how it is that you do the wonderful work that you do," Dr. Iezzi tells Jim about half-way through the documentary. "I understand on several levels just what you're dealing with in terms of your vision loss, and yet you've been able to do remarkable things beyond what most artists can do even when they're fully sighted." Read the rest of Jim's story.
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This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.
