Marie Allen does it. So does her husband. Her father did it and, now, her daughter is in training.
But compared with other families that make artificial eyes for a living, the Allens/Drennans have a short lineage in the trade. “There are some with eight or nine generations,” the Coquitlam resident said. “Ours is relatively small.”
Allen studied in the 1980s in Oxford, England, where her instructor gave her his prized collection of rare glass eyes.
In Vancouver, she became the first female ocularist and, today, she works part-time at an eye centre close to Vancouver General Hospital (her husband, Rob Drennan, also has an office in Burquitlam).
At her VGH base, Allen helps patients who have lost eyes through illness, surgery and trauma. “Everything that hits the news headlines, we are going to see them,” she said.
Typically, Allen sees five to eight patients a day for impressions, fittings, cleanings and adjustments, among other things. Making a fake eye from scratch takes some time: Allen must create a wax pattern for the acrylic prostheses before hand painting the iris and veins.
Still, it’s work that’s becoming less in demand as more safety protection and awareness are put in place, especially at work sites. Sports-related injuries have also gone down, she said, especially in hockey.
On Thursday, the Museum of Vancouver will open a display that includes some of Allen’s artificial eyes as part of a new exhibit that focuses on collectors.
The display, titled All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and The Worlds, runs until Jan. 8, 2017 and is curated by Viviane Gosselin, who took inspiration from eclectic cabinets of curiosities from 17th century scientists.
Among the items on show are action figures, Chinese-Canadian menus, pinball machines, public transit documents, drag queen costumes and corsets.
• Visit museumofvancouver.ca for tickets to the Museum of Vancouver’s All Together Now show.
