Passionate Focus 2010 Artists
Linn Sorge
I was born in a small community in central Wisconsin. I spent my first four years loving my family's farm. When it was time for me to go to school, we should the farm and moved about one hundred miles to the city where the residential school for the blind was located. There was not a mainstreaming program available back then. I loved the school and gained an excellent education there. I was an avid Braille reader before finishing first grade. I was highly involved in the music program and had taken three college-level music courses during high school. I earned my undergraduate degree in music education with a major in piano. I then earned my master's degree in teaching the visually impaired from Northern Illinois University. I coordinated a service unit for persons with disabilities at that same university for over 20 years. Then I decided I wanted to try a slightly different career in the teaching field. I have been a full-time instructor at the Hadley School for the Blind for over nine years. It was a big decision to make a career change after such a long time, but I haven't had any regrets. Sometimes the idea of "transplant and grow" can work out very well!
My interests include reading, listening to and playing music, outdoor activities such as canoeing, going birding, collecting seashells, and swimming with dolphins. I also have designed a small-scale children's book project which I do out of my home office. Volunteers join with me to create print/Braille books for youngsters who are blind or for family members who are Braille readers who enjoy reading to the munchkin patrol.
The other project within my adult life that has meant a great deal to me was to spearhead the organization of the first-ever benefit concerts for The Hadley School for the Blind. Tow very skilled and caring folk artists, Anne Hills and David Roth, have provided moving and memorable April evenings for all during the spring of 2007 and 2008 at performances we called "Spring from Darkness into Light." The shows were held in the concert hall at the Music Institute of Chicago. Our third benefit performance will be there on April 24 so lots of my volunteer time is currently going into helping to make it a memorable night for all who attend.
I began taking weaving classes about fifteen years ago. I have had the joy of working with two excellent teachers at the Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles, IL. It is a wonderful place to learn new art forms to love. One's teachers, classmates, and others at the center are all very supportive of each other as we gain success with new goals and skills. It was challenging to figure out ways to create complex Braille weaving patterns and work out techniques so that I could do the entire weaving process independently--measuring the yarn, threading the loom, and finally having the joy of throwing shuttles and having my fingertips discover the patterns coming alive on the loom.
Variations in Blue
