Zachary's most recent work (incomplete)

Zachary Shay Biography

Zachary Shay creates beautiful work as an artist, yet for all of his spectacular paintings and amazing pottery pieces, he has never heard one word of praise.  Not that people don't appreciate his work, they do, but they show how his work makes them feel by their facial expressions and by sign language.  You see, Zachary is profoundly deaf, and has never heard the spoken word.  He was born with many problems, and almost did not make it through his first months.  His parents think his problems were caused by the Agent Orange pesticide that his father was exposed to while at war in Vietnam. 

When Zachary skillfully shapes his clay into vases with surprisingly delicate lizards or dragonflies, one would never guess that he has no thumbs, short forearms, and hands that are turned in.  When he paints a basket of apples that look as if you could reach out and pick one up, you would never guess that when he was a baby, very sick with three holes in his heart, a miss guided nurse told his mother, "I'm sorry, but he's not all with us."  Fortunately, Zachary didn't hear that comment. 

In school, Zachary took all the art classes he could, and steadily improved.  He attended Douglas County High, where Ms. Judy Coward let Zachary take her art classes again and again. 

Zachary has a great enthusiasm for life, his other interests include reading the Bible, growing his many plants and taking care of  his saltwater fish.