Profile: Teresa Chestnut, digital artist

A rendering Teresa made on request for her cousin who asked for a medieval theme. “On the computer she’s like everyone else,” said her mom Becky of how the computer is her outlet and common denominator.
[Image © Teresa Chestnut/Redding Record]

Every now and then I run across someone so inspiring it makes me appreciate my life, and everyone in it, even more. I am totally addicted to a tv show called Deadliest Catch, and through my discussions with other DC fans came across the story of a fan named Teresa. Although what she creates has nothing to do with deliberate fakery, I thought her story – and how she uses Photoshoop to express her creativity - was interesting, compelling, and worthy of posting about here. Earlier this month, an article was published on her in the Redding Record…

Teresa Chesnut, a quadriplegic, creates pieces of art on Internet
Betty Lease, Contributing writer

Teresa Chesnut and her mom Becky sit in front of one of her favorite renderings which she created. Teresa uses a device that allows her to work on the computer and create artistic renderings through head movements and puffs of air. “If she wasn’t here to help me and be my side I wouldn’t be able to do what I do,” Teresa said of the close relationship she shares with her mom. Teresa was 18 when she was injured by a drunk driver.

Becky Chesnut leans in to watch her daughter’s lips as the young woman carefully mouths the words she wants to say. No sound comes from Teresa’s mouth because her vocal cords are paralyzed, along with the rest of her body except her neck and head.

Teresa is so good at enunciating that she makes herself understood most of the time. When her mom is stumped on a word, they quickly switch to an alphabet routine, with Teresa blinking when Becky says the right letter out loud. They continue until she knows what word Teresa is saying.

The two Redding residents have fine-tuned their communication, something that became necessary after Teresa was in a car crash, the victim of a drunken driver, and became paralyzed from the neck down at age 18.

Now 32, Teresa — who goes by Reesa online — has learned to create graphic art online with Photoshop, snipping images she likes from free sites and pasting them onto her own creation. It’s a painstaking process for Teresa, who slowly and meticulously outlines each image with a head mouse that is directed by a tube she holds in her mouth.

[read the rest of the article]

Tagged as: Categories, Deadliest Catch, digital art, quadriplegic, Redding Record, Teresa Chestnut