Delora Bertsch This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. SILENCE SPEAKS

   www.dailybreeze.com/moresanped - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/20/2006   Last Visited: 5/20/2006

   Delora Bertsch has never heard any of the many praises she has received for her work. She wouldn't be able to distinguish her daughter's, husband's or son's voices from a stranger's.
   
   Born deaf, the San Pedro resident has never heard a decibel of sound in her life and has faced a life filled with difficulty for it.
   
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   Bertsch didn't learn her ABCs until she was 8 years old and didn't learn to write until high school. She spent most of her young life assuming she was the only deaf person in the world, and relationships with others always proved difficult.
   
   The Angels Gate Cultural Center artist has transformed her life's toughest challenge into motivation for her life's work -- art.
   
   In an interview that mirrored her frenetic life, More followed Bertsch as she moved from the Corner Store to her Angels Gate Cultural Center studio to two galleries in town showing her work. Throughout, she explained her life's tale, how it has influenced her work and her need to prove she's just as good as those who can hear.
   
   More: How did you lose your hearing?
   
   Bertsch: I was born this way. My parents didn't know I was deaf until I was three years old. It was the 1960s and my father was building a bomb shelter because of the Cold War. I was hammering away at his level and he yelled at me to stop.
   
   I kept hitting it until he touched me. Then he walked behind me and yelled my name. I didn't respond until he tapped me again. They took me to the doctor, and I turned out to be deaf.
   
   More: What was it like growing up deaf and how did that influence your art?
   
   Bertsch: My family moved to Houston and enrolled me in a school for the deaf when I was young.