Capturing the essence.

Bojana Coklyat is an artist, and has been for more than half her life. She calls painting "just part of my soul."

But when diabetes took away much of her eyesight about a year ago, she stopped painting. "I was terrified of what would happen," she said. "I didn't think I could do it. I just decided not to paint, instead of being disappointed and sad and scared."

As she adjusted to being legally blind, Cokylat, 29, came to the New Jersey Foundation for the Blind in Denville and signed up for a variety of classes to help her learn new skills that could help improve her mobility and orientation and teach her how to work with adaptive technology on computers. On a whim, she decided to try an art class.

Today, Cokylat is painting again. Last week, she even opened her own gallery, Odd Box, in her hometown of Jersey City. This weekend, her work will be among those on display at the foundation's second Founders Day Celebration. Her confidence, she said, has returned.

"It was just such a relief to talk to people who understood where I was coming from," she said. "After that, it was just like a switch was flipped."

The visual arts class at the New Jersey Foundation for the Blind is an elective course, supplementing the core curriculum that focuses on the activities of daily living, said Executive Director Iris Torres. The elective program, which also includes the performing arts, yoga, fitness and horticulture, reinforces skills learned in core classes.

An art class helps you "use your hands to see things," she said, while music can "improve your listening skills. As you travel out in the street you become more sensitive to the sounds around you to supplement your orientation and mobility skills."

Cokylat said that comes through in her painting as well.

"I think before when I was painting, it was all about how I saw things with my eyes," she said. "Now, it's become more capturing the essence of what I'm thinking or what I'm seeing. ... I'm seeing with every cell of my body."

Her work is different now, she said, brighter than what she painted before she became visually impaired. "I feel like the colors are so much more alive and vibrant and fresh. There's a lot more contrast, which helps me see better."

One of her pieces that will be on display at the foundation this weekend is titled "Self Portrait," an acrylic on canvas. The image of a young girl takes up most of the space, but along the sides are whimsical and telling quotes. One of them is a variation of a line from a Harry Potter movie: "I've learned even in the darkest of times you can find happiness if you know how to turn on the light."

Starting next week, the exhibit will be open to the public throughout the summer on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., and by appointment.

SAHA, P., ‘Like a switch was flipped’, The Star Ledger, 29 mei 2008.