THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407270117
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Pictures, images crowd his head.
``It's always up there,'' says Leonard K. Danley, gesturing in the air. ``I just bring it out. The Lord's the master artist.''
At 34, Danley can claim several talents. Neatly sandwiched between each one is a little modesty.
He doesn't know why he can draw, paint, make pottery or sculpt. But he can and does, almost constantly.
The fact that he is gradually going blind doesn't stop him from creating. It just makes him modify the way he does things and plan ahead for when he won't see anything. Except in his mind.
He's been legally blind for five years, and all he sees now are fuzzy, distorted shapes.
Danley lives with his mother and father, Jewell and Russell Danley, on Constitution Drive. The ranch house is full of their son's creations.
He started making things in his childhood, shortly after he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at 5. Right away, Leonard and his family were told he would eventually lose his sight.
``His third-grade teacher noticed his artistic ability,'' said Jewell Danley. ``He always drew and made things with his hands.''
When her son was 7, he drew a picture of tulips in class at Pembroke Elementary School that was entered in an art show.
``I felt like I was Leonardo da Vinci,'' said Leonard Danley, grinning widely. ``Mine was different from the other kids' drawings. Theirs were flat and my flowers were sort of in front of and behind each other to show depth.''
Since then, Danley has lost his depth perception, though his drawings still show perspective.
Three years ago Danley's drawing of a seaside scene was entered in an exhibit at the State Fair in Richmond. The colored pencil drawing of the ocean and a house in the background is titled ``Ocean Emotions.'' It hangs in his mother's kitchen.
Participating in the exhibit was a thrill for Danley for several reasons. He felt his art was being valued. He also felt he was doing something to help people with disabilities like his.
``I was glad to be able to show the public what visually impaired people can do,'' he said. In his art, he constantly adapts to the changes in him brought on by diabetes.
``I'm losing my sense of touch,'' he said rubbing his legs and the tips of his fingers, ``and I have a tremor in my hand. But I use it. It's good for putting the bark on a tree or waves in the ocean and I just do that until the tremor stops.''
Along with a magnifying glass he calls his ``eyeball,'' Danley always keeps a pen or pencil in his pocket. He's constantly looking for objects to create something with. While at a softball game, Danley listens to the game's progress and keeps his hands busy making doodads that amuse youngsters, drawn to him like to a magnet.
``Sometimes I'll make a little something out of a pine cone or take a rock, stick and some mud and say, there, it's a pterodactyl.''
``He's always making stuff and helping me make things,'' said Danley's daughter, Nicole, 11, visiting from Michigan where she lives with her mother.
``I just see things differently,'' said Danley. ``Like a kid.''
Danley also gardens. He's taking horticulture classes at the Norfolk Zoo.
And he's started volunteering and taking ceramics classes for the visually impaired at the city-run Therapeutic Recreation Center in Norfolk.
``His work is unique,'' said Cindy Smith, a recreation supervisor at the center. She described Danley as an ``encourager,'' someone who is always urging others to try something new. ``I see him as being very talented; a talented artist who happens to have a disability.''
Danley enjoys working in clay and has gone from making simple coil pots to hand-sculpted figurines and cache pots for plants. His favorite motif lately has been swans.
``They're free. They can go anywhere they want, no obstacles. If they hit a cloud, they keep going,'' he said.
To get a feel for what life will be like one day, Danley sometimes works clay with his eyes closed.
``I do a lot of practicing,'' he said. ``I've been told since I was 5 that I will eventually be blind. So it doesn't overwhelm you when it does happen.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Leonard K. Danley shows off some of his sketches. He also paints,
makes pottery and sculpts.
by CNB