00:09Sculpting is an obsession to me. I have to do it. It lives inside me, and it has to come
00:17out.
00:19That magical moment, when I get an idea, it's frightening because I'm afraid to start.
00:25But once I start, it's like magic. And then it happens. It's like a baby that has to be born.
00:34My sculptures are my children.
00:38People are drawn to Michael because his work is more than sculpture.
00:42It's a story about a person who succeeded in doing what he was told he couldn't do.
00:49I was 22 and drafted into the Vietnam War.
00:56I had made it into the jungle and saw a Viet Cong.
01:01Suddenly, he turned towards me, and our eyes met.
01:04For a split second, we looked at each other, and I shocked.
01:08I felt this ball roll into my hand.
01:13It exploded, and I never saw the light of day again.
01:23About two weeks after the grenade blast, there was a fly that landed on my face, and I thought,
01:30that fly can see. Why can't I?
01:34And I shed a tear, but that was it.
01:43I was laying in a hospital bed, and a volunteer asked if there was anything I wanted.
01:49After three days of laying there, bored, I asked for some water-based clay.
01:53I used to play with my mother's clay.
01:55And I thought, if I can still make something, I can still be a sculptor.
02:01So I thought, what do I make?
02:04What do children make when they're starting?
02:07They roll out a little ball, and they pinch out the ends.
02:17And I thought, I'm going to make an inchworm.
02:20But that magical moment, I found myself again, and I knew what I was going to do with my life.
02:31I was going to be a sculptor.
02:35Still.
02:39When you can see, a blink of an eye tells it all.
02:43When you can't see, it's my thumb, my point of finger, and my middle finger that are my eyes when
02:50I work.
02:52Whenever I'm sculpting or looking at anything, there are tens and thousands of touches being relayed to my mind's eye
03:00as to what my fingertips are seeing.
03:02So it's like a picture puzzle being put together.
03:08It's not just about the sculpture.
03:10It's about what it stands for.
03:12It's not just the motion in the pieces.
03:14It's the emotion that comes through the pieces.
03:17When you love something, and you take care of it, and you work at it, you nourish it, and it
03:24grows.
03:24It's like anything else in life that you take part in.
03:29When I met Michael, I was 25 years old, and within a year, we were married.
03:35I've been so fortunate to not only win this, but to be part of this journey.
03:39I wouldn't trade anything in the world to see again.
03:42My life as I have it is the life that I've always wanted.
03:47So why would I change anything?
03:50Being blind is of no consequence.
03:55Living my life as a sculptor is like nothing else in the world.
04:03It's magic.
04:06It's ecstasy.
04:09It's a beautiful, wonderful life that I have.
04:44It's a beautiful home.
04:44For me, I have ever made it.
04:44You
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