Blind Painter Bojana Coklyat…Be Inspired

I see that Yahoo News just featured blind painter Bojana Coklyat in a story. And as a result a lot of web searches are leading people to my blog at website to find out more about her.

I’ve interview Bojana twice, most recently last year for ON THE SCENE. In fact our interview was nominated for a New York Emmy Award a couple months back.

Bojana lost her much of her eyesight due to diabetes when she was in her late 20s. She’s legally blind. Yet she doggedly learned to paint again. To see her story please go to the Credits page of this website.

Do something for yourself today. Watch Bojana’s story and feel inspired about life.

New York Emmys Are Tonight

In just a few hours we’ll be headed to the Marriott Marquis in Times Square for the Emmy Awards.

It’s a big, black tie gala with close to a thousand people filling the ballroom. TV professionals, people who talk for a living, so the room can get LOUD.

Wish us luck. As I’ve mentioned ON THE SCENE is nominated in the Arts category for a beautiful piece we did called “Through Bojana’s Eyes” a profile of painter Bojana Coklyat who suffered vision loss and a life and death battle with diabetes.

 

ON THE SCENE Is Emmy Nominated Once Again!

ON THE SCENE Is Headed To The Emmys!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s time to celebrate! ON THE SCENE received a New York Emmy Award nomination for coverage of the arts. The piece selected for this honor by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is entitled “Through Bojana’s Eyes” and you can watch it on the Credits Page of johnbathke.com. It chronicles how painting helped bring artist Bojana Coklyat back from the brink of death.

Wish us luck!

On To The Next Show, Always…But First

I try not to spend time in the past. Even if the past was just yesterday.

But before I move on and start talking about the next ON THE SCENE episode, I want to thank people who watched and noticed so much about this past weekend’s show with Christine Ebersole and Bojana Coklyat.

It means a great deal to me when I hear what I did today…emails from viewers and comments from my colleagues who appreciated the revealing, personal nature of both interviews and wanted to ask me more about what I thought of each artist.

What I noticed is how Christine Ebersole can intellectualize her art, and then turn around and be pure emotion on stage. That’s a quality surprisingly few actors possess when you start to closely watch their work and listen to what they have to say about their performances.  I had wanted to interview her since she starred in “Grey Gardens” on Broadway, but the truth is, I never asked her for an interview until last month.

Bojana is a story that I needed to tell again. Two years ago when I first interviewed her for ON THE SCENE I felt that there  was territory left uncovered. And since then her life has taken such unexpected twists and turns that it was so important for me to revisit her. She doesn’t hide her heart, her humor or her drive and that makes her compelling. And real.

Now, on to the next show and we have some great interviews in store…

Ebersole, Coklyat Next Weekend ON THE SCENE

I can’t lie, it’s been a grueling week of writing, editing, taping. GRUELING.

But now the show is finished and a new ON THE SCENE airs next weekend featuring my interviews with Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole and painter Bojana Coklyat.

It’s an emotional and revealing episode. Christine Ebersole describes her pivotal moment when she packed up and left Hollywood. Her agent had told her that, at age 45, she was too long in the tooth to get work. She didn’t believe him, moved East, and has built one of the most enviable stage careers around…”42nd Street, “Grey Gardens,” “Blithe Spirit” and concert tours.

Bojana’s story blows people away. She paints but she is nearly blind. Diabetes took most of her eyesight five years ago when she was just 27 years old.  She figured out how to paint again…only to have her health go downhill. Last year she had a kidney and pancreas transplant, which cured her diabetes. She is the most vibrant, optimistic personality, but she’s going through mixed emotions knowing that for her to be alive and well…someone else had to die and there’s a family out there suffering a loss. All of this life experience is reflected in her recent paintings.

It just hit me how much is going on in this show. Complicated emotions and life stories. Sometimes I have to step back from the work for a day or two for it to all sink in.

Tune in April 23rd, 24th at 8:30 AM, 11AM, 2PM each day to catch the show.