Claudia Marseille
At age four, Claudia Marseille was diagnosed with a severe hearing loss. With determination and the help of powerful hearing aids, she learned to speak and lipread. She was mainstreamed in public schools in Berkeley, CA. After earning master’s degrees in archaeology and in public policy, and finally an MFA, she developed a career in photography and painting, a profession compatible with a hearing loss. Claudia ran a fine art portrait photography studio for fifteen years before becoming a full-time painter. Her paintings are represented by the Seager Gray gallery in Mill Valley, CA. Her memoir-- But You Look So Normal: Lost and Found in a Hearing World, received a starred review in Library Journal.
Facebook: @Claudia.Marseille
Is there another profession you would like to try?
I learned classical piano from age 6. It was a great love and solace, and I played pretty well. But then, in late high school, I tried to accompany other musicians. And that is when I realized, to my great sadness, that my severe hearing loss made it too difficult for me to hear myself above the sounds of the other instruments. And so, I had to give up my dream of becoming a professional accompanist. I have played for my own pleasure over the years, and even collaborated with another pianist to play four-hand repertoire, but it wasn’t possible to be a professional musician.
Favorite non-reading activity?
In addition to piano playing, I have been an avid photographer since age fifteen. I love taking portraits, and I used to do all my own black and white film developing and printing. Now, while traveling, I take pictures of interesting detritus and artefacts of our urban world that I incorporate into my paintings. While nature is beautiful and uplifting to be in, photographically speaking, I find the weatherworn marks of our manmade world endlessly fascinating and inspiring for my artwork.
Oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
People often ask: what is the difference, for you, in your process between photography, painting and writing? Perhaps that is not the oddest, but it is a useful question as it always makes me stop and think. In photography I respond and attempt to capture something of the outer world. In in my abstract paintings, I do a deep dive inward in order to bring what I find there into an outer expression. Writing is similar to painting in that I go inside myself to bring forth memories and impressions out into the world through the written word.
What do you worry about?
It seems, as I have gotten older, that I worry more about things. I am so distressed about the divisiveness in our country, about the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and, of course, climate change, a concern which didn’t really exist when I was a child. Sometimes I also worry about my severe to profound hearing loss getting worse. I do well enough with power hearing aids and lipreading, but I can’t afford to lose more of my hearing. Fortunately, as my hearing slowly declines as I get older, the hearing aids are constantly improving.
What bring you great joy?
My parents were from Europe and gave me a deep appreciation for the life of the mind; culture, literature, music, art, history and beauty. That has added such a rich dimension to my life, and I am very grateful to them for that gift.
