North Carolina Artist

The work of a deaf painter is headed to the North Carolina state museum. Pete Ballard, a renowned doll maker, was asked to select a portrait of himself for donation to the museum. He picked the work by William Sparks. Ballard says the brush work of North Carolina painter is "extraordinary.” Sparks attended Gallaudet Univeristy and was commissioned to paint the portrait of school president Edward Merrill and presented a portrait to another Gallaudet president, Robert Davila, at his 2009 retirement gala.