[accessibleimage] 3 news articles

 Hi,
Including 3 articles and their links about art (links first,
articles follow). The last one has a mention about an art
class in a summer camp, I liked the idea of making a dream
catcher in the class, so am including it.
Regards,
Lisa

Erdmann became an artist when his diabetes blinded him  
http://www.jsonline.com/news/nobits/jul04/243709.asp 

More Noise In Libraries In Leicestershire 
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=2903 

NMSVH guests go home with gift of experience 
http://www.alamogordonews.com/artman/publish/article_4695.shtml

Erdmann became an artist when his diabetes blinded him

By LINDSEY UNTERBERGER
Posted: July 14, 2004
One of the weekly art classes Angel Troyer teaches at her
Hartland studio seemed much quieter Wednesday morning.
 
No one was begging for hugs and kisses from typically
obliging classmates. There would be no friendly wrangling
with the therapists or loud tales about meeting Elizabeth
Taylor.

The death of one of her favorite students, Gilbert F.
Erdmann, really hit home when she realized he wasn't going
to be coming back to paint and would not enter the room and
address her with his usual "Oh, my darling," greeting.

Erdmann died Sunday of complications of the diabetes that
had deprived him of his eyesight. He was 82.

When Troyer was first approached to take Erdmann as a client
two years ago, she refused. Same story a second time.
Erdmann was blind, and it took a third person begging Troyer
to give Erdmann a chance before she agreed to let him come
to Art d'Angel Creative Group.

Their first session started out a bit rocky, she said
Wednesday. Erdmann came in cranky on the day of his first
encounter with Troyer's "wiener dog," Fat Boy, and said he
was going to make sausage out of it.

"When he came in here, it was like he had almost forgotten
how to be around people," Troyer said.

After his legs were amputated in 1996, and he also learned
he would not regain his eyesight, Erdmann "had pretty well
given up," his friend Bob Hollister said.

Hollister met Erdmann at St. Charles Catholic Church in
Hartland four years ago and remembers the day Erdmann told
him he had become an artist.

"I want you to come over; I'm painting," he remembers
Erdmann saying.

"My first thought," Hollister said, "was what wall? I was
absolutely floored by what he was able to do."

With the help of a therapist who mixed colors for him and
guided his hand to the place on the canvas Erdmann said he
wanted to paint, he was able to create more than 30
paintings, mainly landscapes, Troyer said.

He would describe to the therapist what he had decided to
paint, and she would position his hand so he could make the
brush strokes.

"When he started painting, he came to life," she said.

Troyer joked it was really the women, not the art, that kept
Erdmann coming back. He was the only man in the weekly
two-hour class, and she said he had everyone's attention.

"Oh, you know, he got his hugs and kisses," she said.

Hollister described Erdmann as extremely courageous and
spiritual, but also outgoing and explosive.

"You knew when Gil was there," he said. "He wasn't afraid to
speak up."

Erdmann's courage to paint, despite his physical situation,
inspired many of those around him to paint, including
Hollister.

"I figured, if a guy like Gil, who was blind, could do it,
why couldn't I?" he said.

Before taking up painting, Erdmann lived what Troyer said
was a "vagabond-style life."

He was born in Watertown in 1922 and lived in his younger
years in Waukesha and Milwaukee, attending Marquette
University for two years.

He then worked as a waiter and bellhop for several hotels in
Chicago, Milwaukee and Oconomowoc. Troyer said he would tell
stories about his days as a bellhop - how the hookers were
always the best tippers.

Before his retirement, Erdmann was a chef at what was then
called St. Monica's Monastery in Oconomowoc. Hollister said
Erdmann's spirituality helped him work through his illness
and disabilities, and added depth to everything he did.

Erdmann liked painting because it was a way to leave a part
of himself behind, Troyer said.

Erdmann is survived by three cousins and many grandnieces
and nephews.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Charles
Catholic Church, 313 Circle Drive, Hartland. Funeral
services will follow.




15 July 2004 
More Noise In Libraries In Leicestershire 

Leicestershire County Council's Lutterworth Library is
encouraging people to go along and join in with some noisy
activities from Monday 19th July to Friday 23rd July. The
library is celebrating the national Make a Noise in
Libraries Week, which aims to make people aware of the
special services libraries provide, particularly for the
visually impaired.

All week, the library will be playing extracts from popular
talking books for adults and children. Books on cassette can
be borrowed from the library for a small charge or free for
the visually impaired. You can also choose from a display of
large print books and ask staff for details of how you can
take advantage of our special services.

The Living Paintings Trust, a charity loaning works of art
to blind and partially sighted people, have provided an
album of art and audio cassette describing the pictures for
you to try.

Go along to the Crash! Bang! Wallop! story time, especially
for children aged 7 and under on Tuesday 20th July from
10.30 - 11.30am. Join in with interactive stories, songs and
rhymes. There will also be demonstrations of Living Picture
Books from the Living Paintings Trust. These are books with
'feely' pages, braille text and an audio cassette describing
the scenes.

Pop in for a free coffee or tea and biscuits on Thursday
22nd July. Enjoy a break whilst listening to some of our
talking books. Staff will be available to give you
information about special services and library membership. 

For more information, please contact Anna Wilson at
Lutterworth Library on 01455 552868 or email
aewilson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 


NMSVH guests go home with gift of experience
Jul 16, 2004, 10:43 am
 
Today a group of blind students are going home to Durango
and Juarez, Mexico. Along with their packed belongings, they
are bringing home with them two week?s worth of experience
they won?t forget.
From July 5 -16 eight blind students from Durango, Mexico,
and 15 blind students from Juarez, Mexico, arrived in
Alamogordo, through sponsorship of the White Sands Rotary
Club, to attend a summer camp for blind and visually
impaired students hosted by the New Mexico School for the
Visually Handicapped.
The Mexican students were placed in four separate groups ?
all inter-mixed with American blind students ? and rotated
between four classes each morning: art, language srts, math
and technology.
Each afternoon, the four groups rotated between food
preparation class, P.E. class, orientation and mobility
exercises and science class.
Ron Later, the director of summer programs at NMSVH, said,
?The White Sands Rotary Club picked up the tab ? they paid
for the visas and some passports, and the $6 out-of-area
fee.?
Later said the two-week-long summer camp was a good
opportunity for the Mexican kids because they could take
advantage of the resources available at the school.
?The funding is better here ? they simply don?t have enough
money for all the tools,? he said.
In Tuesday?s technology lab, American and Mexican students
worked together and with instructors on computers.
Alex Burkes, the assistive technology instructor at NMSVH,
said he thought the summer camp program was wonderful.
Besides the access to technological tools, Burkes said,
?There is a lot of peer interaction? between the Mexican and
American students.
In the tech lab, students learn how to access the Internet
and practice writing skills with computers.
Students sat in front of monitors laughing and composing
short essays about what they wanted to be in the future. 
Antoinette Truman, of Socorro, said, as she wrote about
aspiring to be a teacher, that she enjoyed practicing
Spanish with the visiting students. 
Jeremy Comanche of Mescalero said he thought having the
Mexican students around was ?cool.? He said all the exposure
to Spanish would help him with his communications class ,
which included two years of Spanish; it was a prerequisite
for him to graduate.
Victor Sanchez Soto of Durango sat and weaved a
dream-catcher in his morning art class on Tuesday. When
asked if he enjoyed the two week camp, his answer was
emphatic and positive enough, that a translator wasn?t
needed.
?Si! Claro!?
Patty Tarin, an 18-year-old volunteer/translator from
Juarez, laughed and said Soto would stay here permanently if
he could.
Tarin and her younger sister were participating in the
summer camp as assistants and translators. When asked about
what the general response to the camp was, Tarin said, ?They
(the Mexican students) say they?re having fun here. They are
very comfortable here because the teachers are trying to
speak Spanish and interact with them.?
Graciela Josefina de la Cruz Munoz, a blind and
multi-handicapped teacher in Durango, accompanied the
students from Durango. She spoke through a translator, Pieta
Quintana, and said she was grateful for the experience at
NMSVH.
Munoz said she was happy for the children from Mexico,
because at home most of them didn?t have much ? and the
school in Alamogordo was an excellent place for them to
learn because of the resources.
She spoke seriously about how all the classes the Mexican
students participated in would extend beyond the two weeks
of camp. She said everything they learned would help them
throughout their lives in Mexico.
?This is the third year of inviting visually handicapped
students from Mexico,? said Ed Carr, president-elect of the
White Sands Rotary Club. ?This is part of the club?s
international service program ? and because we have this
great facility here, it makes sense (to invite the Mexican
students).?
Carr said the White Sands Rotarians contacted schools and
Rotary Clubs in Mexico, and with their assistance, blind
students were contacted and asked if they wanted to
participate.
?We limited it to 20 people ? that?s the amount of money we
had,? he said. ?If we had more money, we could invite more
kids up.?
Carr said there were two distinct positives about the summer
camp program:
?All the kids benefit from the expertise of the staff at
NMSVH ? our kids get to meet the Mexican kids and share
their experiences.?
?The second benefit is that the program fosters
international understanding, and that?s a goal of the rotary
club,? he said. 
Carr said he thought the program would ultimately help to
?understand our fellow man better.?
Ed Buck, a longtime Rotarian, remembers the first year the
Mexican students were invited to Alamogordo.
?Alamogordo has a unique facility with NMSVH, so we decided
to use the school to reach across the border and help the
blind Mexican students,? he said.
?It worked like a charm.?
Buck said he felt the program was a ?kind of a pay back? to
the rotary?s sister club in Cuautemoc, Mexico. He said the
Mexican rotary club had sent Spanish-language books to NMSVH
for a number of years.
?I just hope it goes on year after year ? because everyone
seems to benefit,? Buck said.
Buck said he felt NMSVH deserved most of the credit, because
they ?welcomed the program with open arms.?
Carr said the rotary planned to present the program at a
Tri-District Matching Grant Conference in October. 
?Hopefully, we?ll get some outside help to make it bigger
and better,? he said.

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