Bert Eastmond: Mormon Artist
Bert Eastmond is an artist who developed his talent and love for art despite his physical challenges.
He was born with 70 percent hearing loss, and at the age of 16 he was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa. The disease would eventually take his sight. Despite these obstacles, Eastmond served a full-time mission to England for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and earned a bachelor's degree in computers and an MFA degree from Brigham Young University.
- Eastmond has often said that he doesn’t enjoy being blind, stating, "I don't want to be blind and hard of hearing, but I wouldn't trade what I have learned from the difficulties I have had to go through and how those trials have molded me."[1]
Eastmond and his wife, Bonnie, had five children. They served as full-time missionaries in the Eugene Oregon mission from 2001 to 2003. He fully lost his vision three months into their service.
Now a widower, Eastmond lives in an assisted living center where he teaches a mobility exercise class four days a week.
His son, Mark, is also an artist.
