Deaf Art Collections: Matteson, Theresa

This video is available courtesy of Patti Durr's Deaf Art, Deaf Artists website. Theresa Matteson (formerly Theresa M. Coughlin) is a case manager at the  Southwest Washington Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She is also an art quilt designer. She creates American Sign Language (ASL) Deaf wall art quilts for sale by commission or via gallery showings. She attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and graduated in 1994 with a BFA from the weaving and textile program. Dragonfly depicts a person signing the American Sign Language symbol for dragonfly with her hands. Also pictured is open hands with eyes on the palms, and swirling around a dark center. Black triangles of various sizes are placed around the outer edges. The backing is maroon cloth with metallic gold swirls. "HOPE is what we have for accessibility. ASL is visual, like our eyes on the hands. The whirlwind is the unseen force from the eye of the storm as we take action to go through the barriers and overcome them. Triangles at the edges present our stronghold to protect Deaf Culture".