Author, Artist, Speaker, Mentor
Blind artist and writer Anastasia Burke is a lifelong equestrian whose love of horses is reflected in all she does, from her award-winning non-fiction writing to her YA fiction, to her lyrical, evocative paintings of horses.
Anastasia wasn’t always visually impaired. Growing up in Spokane, WA, she spent nearly every free moment at the barn, training to compete in both hunter-jumper shows, and in three-day eventing. In school, she spent every math or chemistry class drawing horses in the margins of her notebook. A true “horse girl,” she dreamed of painting horses, writing about horses, and riding them.
In her early 30s, working as a trainer and instructor in Northern California, she suddenly lost her vision, due to glaucoma and the sudden onslaught of a rare autoimmune disorder. Within mere minutes, she went from having nearly perfect sight to having none at all.
Two decades later, she says that painful, daunting, and disheartening as the experience was, going blind remains the greatest gift she could receive. It is during the first year of her vision loss that she says she learned the most about herself, about her strengths, weaknesses, and courage.
““ I have been absolutely shocked at the reception my work has received,“ she says. “ I am greatly humbled, gratified, and extremely astonished that people are not only buying my paintings, but also commissioning special pieces of their pets, from cats to dogs to horses and beyond.””
Our view of Anastasia’s paintings
Anastasia’s point of view.
For information on current paintings, visit the gallery.
Interested in commissioning a painting of your pet?
Author of Hoofprints: A Goal Setting Journal for Young Riders has been riding since the age of six and, as a young rider, competed successfully in both hunter/jumpers and three-day eventing.
She enjoys many different disciplines, including dressage, jumping, cutting, and long trail rides. She has 20 years of experience teaching horsemanship to young riders and, since 1998, has worked as a freelance writer and motivational speaker, with an emphasis on goal setting. Her work has appeared on the web and in numerous regional and national publications, including Practical Horseman Magazine.
Since first losing her sight, medical research as produced many innovations that have resulted in some restoration of Anastasia’s sight.
She remains legally blind, and defendant upon a variety of low-vision aids to help her paint and write. She reads via audio screen readers, and is a voracious consumer of audio books.