Photo By E. Joan Rohrer

E. Joan Rohrer was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" to create "Sunny Day," one of 150 works on view at Art Beyond Boundaries.

No matter the timbre of other celebrations, Dec. 24 will probably always evoke a pain-filled memory for Wayne Hambrick. That was the day in 2003 that his employer told him he no longer had a job. The problem wasn't that the graphic designer was less committed to his work. At an uncharacteristically young age, 47, Wayne Hambrick was dealing with the loss of vision engendered by macular degeneration: His altered vision had stepped between him and his design screen.

Not surprisingly, Hambrick was engulfed in a tide of depression and self-doubt. His lifelong love of drawing, however, and a unique group of artists "saved my life." At the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Hambrick was evaluated and trained to use lighted magnification devices and adaptive techniques. There he learned of a Mount Adams group called Studio 23. Led by local artist, Ruthe Pearlman, the group is comprised of artists with visual impairments. There, Hambrick says, he has received a lifeline of encouragement for his art and support for the new challenges life tosses his way daily.

He uses special light and magnification tools to do the drawing and painting that he once saw with the naked eye. The approach is different, but the pleasure and resulting beauty have not been compromised.

"I'm not really a political person," Hambrick protests. "I only create pictures of things that have touched me deeply, and sometimes those are political."

Indeed, his multi-level portrait of Rosa Parks, his poignant reflection on the Iraq war and his depiction of Katrina victims wading through water with the helicopters overhead all seem to emerge from a depth of compassion and insight. Where he'll go with his art in the long haul remains to be seen. He's still sorting out his future. But for now, painting or drawing daily is his anchor, his key to survival.

Hambrick and Pearlman, his mentor, are just two of the 30 artists featured in a new downtown art gallery, Art Beyond Boundaries, opening this week at 35 E. Seventh St. It starts with a "cocktail and conversation" reception on Thursday. (The original opening, planned for Dec. 8, was postponed due to a snowstorm.) A program of VSA arts of Ohio and the Center for Independent Living Options, Art Beyond Boundaries features some 150 pieces of work in an array of media -- including oil paintings, acrylics, ceramics, pencil drawings, photography and more -- all created by talented artists with disabilities. Following the opening, regular hours will be 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 5-8 p.m. Thursday and noon-5 p.m. Saturday.

While some of the artists will be on hand this evening, Mary Ann Lederer is one who probably won't. When, at age 35, she became paraplegic the instant a bullet entered her spine, Lederer decided she wanted to paint. She laughs at herself now, saying the decision was largely due to her sense that "that's just what a person in a wheelchair would do." While the stereotype itself is silly, the idea turned out to be a great one for Lederer, who has been painting ever since. Frequently out and about in her early post-injury days, she is primarily housebound these days due to additional health problems. Yet, the self-proclaimed philosopher-painter maintains an upbeat attitude in her art and her daily interactions with others. She can't go out much, she says, "but I get lots of company."

Her deep convictions regarding protecting the earth and its creatures is reflected in much of her painting. "I paint the world I'd like to live in," she says, referring to her works that include people of all ethnicities happily engaged with one another and with the plants and animals she loves. At 64, Lederer displays an energetic spirit undaunted by a less than cooperative body. Two hours of painting is all she can physically tolerate these days, needing to lie down after that. But there's a lot she can accomplish with the phone and the computer while her body catches up to her mind. It's a circumstance that's OK with her.

"I paint and I work with EarthSave," she says. "I don't need to go anywhere. At this point, I've already gone just about anywhere I'd want to go." The sincerity of the attitude is in her art.

Other artists featured in the initial exhibition at Art Beyond Boundaries are diverse in every respect -- from the medium of choice to the years of experience to the type of disability that qualifies them for inclusion in the show.

E. Joan Rohrer, for instance, has been drawing for 40 years, about the same length of time she was on 32 doses of medications daily to control her psychiatric disabilities. Today, at 70, she is completely free of prescription drugs, as enthusiastic and energized as a woman decades younger. She says that while she is still working out of a home studio, her interests are moving more into the realm of writing than visual arts.

Gregory Soellner Jr., 28, creates airbrush drawings by scanning his own pencil drawing into a computer program for colorizing. Born with cerebral palsy, Soellner says the condition has affected every part of him from the neck down, and yet he finds no difficulty creating his pencil drawings with his left hand. He's developed a few recurring characters in the last seven years, and he has considered creating a story for them suitable for a comic book or cartoon strip. It hasn't happened yet, Soellner says, "because I'm incredibly lazy!"

With work to fit every taste and every budget (prices range from $25 to $1,500), Art Beyond Boundaries is an unexpected gift to Cincinnati that will run through February, when a new show will be installed.