WOODLAND HILLS : Blind Woman Traded Artwork for Activism

Helen Harris took up the paintbrush within weeks of learning that she would spend the rest of her life walking with a white cane.

It was an act of rebellion, the Woodland Hills resident said, against a disease that had tunneled her visual field down to two tiny dots, and within 20 years would obscure her eyesight completely.

“I decided I was going to do something so visual that the white cane would become meaningless,” said Harris, who finally stopped painting several years ago. She has a condition called retinitis pigmentosa and is a leading activist in the fight against the disease. “I was going to prove to myself that I wasn’t blind.”

Because she could see only a small spot on the canvas at a time, Harris’ colorful still-lifes and family scenes evolved slowly. When the paintings were finished, Harris, 57, was often surprised that they consisted of anything more than a jumble of images.

“People would tell me that everything looked good, and that the painting made sense,” she said. “I was always so worried that I was going to paint someone’s nose on the wrong place or something.”

Six years ago, she put away her brush and took down her paintings, as if putting them away would stow away her disappointment when her remaining vision clouded.

She devoted her time instead to the organization she had founded in 1974, Retinitis Pigmentosa International.

The group operates the Center for Visually Handicapped Adults of the Valley in Van Nuys, and claims to have raised more than $8 million for the effort to find a cure for retinitis pigmentosa, which affects an estimated 3.5 million Americans.

During the past several years, Harris has testified about the needs of the blind three times before the congressional Committee on Health and Human Services. She has tapped various celebrities for her cause and published a book and cassette on dealing with the degenerative condition.

All the activity, she says, has helped her cope. This spring she took her paintings out of storage and rehung them.

“Even though I can’t see them at all anymore, I know they are there and they make me stronger,” Harris said. “You need strength against this disease, because it doesn’t go away.”