[accessibleimage] Art Beyond Sight Awareness Alert 2

Art Beyond Sight Awareness Alert 2:
 
Artists with Visual Impairments
 
SPREAD THE WORD and BRING ART TO EVERYONE IN YOUR COMMUNITY!
JOIN ART BEYOND SIGHT ONLINE COMMUNITY: in your Field or in your
Neighborhood
 
Discussion Groups -- share your experiences and talk to experts.
 
We have five different discipline-based groups: Museums, Educators,
Learning Tools, Community and Advocacy, and Theory and Research.
Listservs. State-by-state or Around the World
Or go to our website: www.artbeyondsight.org for more information.
 
Art Education for the Blind?s
Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week is Here!
Celebrate October 11-25!
 
NEW YORK CITY:
 
Art Education for the Blind?s second annual Art Beyond Sight Awareness
Week was officially kicked off at a 9 a.m., Monday, October 11, press
conference on the steps of City Hall.
 
 
Photos (J. Pursley, AEB,Inc.):
LEFT: Elisabeth Salzhauer Axel, founder of Art Education, with a group of
blind and sighted advisors, launches Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week on
the steps of City Hall.
RIGHT: Visually impaired artist, Leon McCutcheon, describes his work at
the Awareness Week Press Conference.
 
Awareness Week is a chance for museums, libraries, schools and other
community institutions ? even individuals ?to showcase the work they are
doing to promote art education for people who are blind or visually
impaired. Among the speakers at the press conference were Art Education
for the Blind?s founder and executive director, Elisabeth Salzhauer Axel;
the National Federation of the Blind?s Mindy Fliegelman; Ken Struve, of
the South Street Seaport Museum; Rebecca Hinde, Lower East Side Tenement
Museum and Dennis Sparacino, AEB?s consultant and long-time volunteer.
 
Carl Jacobsen, President of the National Federation of the Blind of New
York, when asked about the relevance of Art Beyond Sight events to sighted
people, spoke about our society as a whole being poorer if people who are
blind are not allowed to contribute and unfold their creative potential.
Carol Gothelf of the Shield Institute added: ?We all are temporarily abled
and people with disabilities is a group which anyone of us can join at
anytime.?
 
Art Beyond Sight Awareness: YOU CAN DO YOUR PART!
·
          
Send this email to everyone on your list.
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DON?T MISS ART EDUCATION FOR THE BLIND?S TELEPHONE CRASH COURSE! October
18, 9AM-9PM EST. This 12-session course covers a wide range of topics,
from research on tactile perception to best-practices for developing a
program for people who are blind. Click here for schedule and instructions
about dialing in. Join us for one or all of these sessions. This is a FREE
telephone conference call.
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PARTICIPATE in our eBay Benefit Auction. There are three easy ways you can
help: Sell an item on eBay on behalf of Art Education for the Blind (you
choose the percentage of your proceeds that go to AEB); buy an item being
sold to benefit AEB or make an in-kind donation!
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Register your accessible art program or museum on Vision Connection?s Help
Near You searchable database at www.visionconnection.org. This will
increase participation in your programs and attract local patrons and
tourists who are blind or have low vision.
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Become a mentor! Art Education for the Blind and the American Foundation
for the Blind's e-mentoring program, AFB CareerConnect, are joining forces
to promote careers in the arts. If you are a museum or arts professional
and would like to participate in an e-mentoring program to assist
 
someone who is blind or visually impaired to start in your field , please
email your contact information to artbeyondsight@xxxxxxxx . Someone will
get back to you to explain how the program works. The investment is small;
the rewards are great!
 
What is Art Beyond Sight?
Art Beyond Sight is an international collaborative of community-based
groups and local affiliates of national agencies; museums and other
arts-related organizations; elementary and high schools; colleges and
universities; national and international advocacy groups; and blind,
visually impaired, and sighted art enthusiasts. Art Beyond Sight provides
a forum for ongoing interdisciplinary dialogues among researchers and
practitioners, who share expertise and materials. On the local level, the
collaborative assists museum professionals and other educators; parents;
artists; and art lovers to create vehicles for lasting change in their
communities.
 
READ ON FOR MORE on the artists, museums and exciting projects and events
of the Art Beyond Sight Collaborative and Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week
2004.
 
 
Well Known Artists who had Visual Impairments
 
Claude Monet (1840-1926) became legally blind due to cataracts, and had
surgery on his right eye in 1922. An increasing fuzziness and muddy colors
are evident in his paintings up to the time of his surgery.
Postoperatively, his vision improved to 20/30. After surgery, he found
tinted lenses gave him a more pleasant color balance than did clear lenses.
 
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) began to lose vision in his thirties. He said that
he was totally blind in one eye and had a central scotoma in the other
eye. Treatment was ineffective. The diagnosis for his blindness in
unknown, but may have been a familial macular degeneration. Degas created
some of his best-known works while legally blind.
 
James Thurber (1894-1961) was shot in the right eye by a brother when he
was seven years old. He also underwent many operations for cataract and
glaucoma, only to become legally blind. He continued to cartoon with
magnifying glasses.
 
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) became blind due to cataracts. Despite four
operations, her vision never improved and she was forced to cease work.
Cassatt was also diabetic and her medical treatment, which included radium
inhalation, did not help her health.
(Compiled by James G. Ravin, M.D., and Jack Becker )
 
Contemporary Artists Focus
George Mendoza
Even though he lost his sight at the age of 15, George Mendoza has become
a world class runner, Olympic contender, a prolific painter and writer,
and a motivational speaker for the youth and disabled in America. Mr.
Mendoza has written a novel, Cup of All Good Things, the first in his "The
Spirit Man Trilogy? and an autobiographical screenplay, "The George
Mendoza Story," a one hour docudrama which was aired on the Public
Broadcasting System (PBS) and was hosted and narrated by Academy Award
winner, Robert Duvall. (for more, see www.georgemendoza.com)
 
?This painting is sort of my inspirational image. "What color is the
Wind?" I was fifteen, and a little girl named Debbie who was born blind,
who had never seen the color green or the shape of a tree, asked me a
question after the wind blew through her long brown hair. "Can you tell
me, what color is the wind?". That question just blew my mind because I
was just losing my sight then. She woke up my creative sense by asking me
that question.?
 
Image left: ?What Color is the Wind,? a 4 foot by 6 foot acrylic, is an
abstract landscape painting. The work is loosely divided into 3 horizontal
bands. The lower band depicts red triangular shapes seemingly inspired by
the rock formations of the New Mexico desert where the artist lives. The
middle band has blue and white swirls below a row of rainbow colored
squares. Above this row of rainbow colored squares, an area of yellow
swirls make the transition to the top section, which has a yellow circle
surrounded by red, orange and black on the left side, and an area of blue,
gray, white and black cloud-like shapes on the right.
 
Museum Focus:
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404. (612) 870-3131, TDD (612)
870-3132 or (888) MIA-ARTS (642-2787) www.artsmia.org
 
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts offers tours designed to meet the needs
of people with disabilities. Visitors who are blind or have low vision may
request an individualized, docent-guided tour.
 
During a ?white glove? touch tour, the docent and visitor each wear cotton
gloves so they can touch and explore select works of art together. The
docent provides guidance and a detailed verbal description of the object.
A newly-introduced option is a tour using tactile diagrams. During the
tactile diagram tour, the docent and visitor stand in front of the work of
art and the visitor follows the docent's detailed verbal description while
touching the tactile diagram. In this way, paintings and works on paper
can be made available. Verbal description and tactile diagrams work
together to create another experience in which visitors who are blind or
have low vision can engage with works of art.
 
Pablo Picasso, ?Baboon and Young?, 1951,Bronze, Acc.No.55.45
??In ?Baboon and Young?, [Picasso] used toy automobiles, a storage jar,
and a car spring to create a playful image of motherhood. The two metal
cars, undersides together, are the baboon's head; the round earthenware
pot, with its high handles, makes up her torso and shoulders; and the
curving steel spring forms her backbone and long tail. The rest of her
body and the figure of her child were modeled from clay, and the whole
piece was cast in bronze.? (From MIA website: www.artsmia.org)
 
The Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60603. (312) 443-3600.
www.artic.edu/aic/
 
Escorts For The Blind
People with visual impairments may arrange for free guided tours of the
museum by calling the Department of Museum Education from 9:00 to 5:00
weekdays at (312) 443-3680. The museum has a corps of volunteer escorts
for visitors who are blind or visually impaired. Please arrange for a tour
two weeks in advance. Free, but registration is required. Please call
(312) 443-3929.
 
The Touch Gallery
Visitors to The Art Institute of Chicago now have the opportunity to
experience how the sense of touch can enrich their appreciate of art.
Funded by The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust , the new Touch Gallery is
located in Gallery 10, at the lower level of the Allerton Building.
Specifically designed for visually impaired visitors to the museum but
available to all, the Touch Gallery exhibits five sculptures accompanied
by text panels and labels presented in both large type and Braille. Labels
were written with the assistance of a consultant, who is blind, from the
Catholic Guild for the Blind (www.guildfortheblind.org) who explored the
works of art while staff recorded his observations. Labels provide
historical information and focus on a detailed description of the work of
art to guide the visitor in touching. Made of bronze and marble, and
representing different periods, the sculptures in the gallery all
represent the human face. Through touch visitors can discover the facial
expression, accessories, and style of dress, as well as discern an
artwork's form, scale, temperature, and texture in ways that sight cannot
provide.
 
Art by blind people is available through many venues.
 
We?re highlighting some of the groups that exhibit the work of artists who
are blind and visually impaired.
 
BlindArt
BlindArt is a UK charity established recently to promote Art by, and for,
the visually impaired. BlindArt?s ultimate aim is to find and to fund a
permanent collection of artwork accessible to everyone, both physically
and emotionally.The Collection will be housed in England and in time
travel internationally to touch as many people as possible. Their
inaugural project is a nationwide open-juried competition inviting
artists, in any/all media, to create work specifically for the visually
impaired audience. The competition will culminate in an exhibition at the
Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Art, in March 2005. This
competition/exhibition will be an annual event at the RCA.
 
?BlindArt's parallel aim is to take a fresh naive young hip and optimistic
approach to Art by, and for, the visually impaired. We do not aim to
change the world but only to have fun and to play and to include the
sighted in our blurry game.? --Sheri Khayami, founder.
 
National Exhibits by Blind Artists: NEBA; www.nebaart.org
National Exhibits by Blind Artists, was founded in Philadelphia in the
belief that talented blind artists deserve the same recognition as
writers, musicians and other sighted artists. The primary objectives are
to educate the public about the quality of work by blind artists, and to
create demand in the professional field of art, furthering the careers of
blind artists and making them part of the mainstream of life. Several
blind artists enlisted the help of Michael Coyle, library director, who
organized a successful pilot show in the summer of 1975, and many works of
art were sold. With its 25-year history of major shows, National Exhibits
of Blind Artists has blazed the trail, winning wide recognition in the
art-world carrying its message of bright, new prospects for the blind
artist. NEBA solicits artworks from professional artists who are legally
blind in America and abroad, and puts together shows that last between one
year and eighteen months.
 
Volunteers do the administrative work, and the proceeds from the sale of
artworks go to the artists.
 
Art of the Eye
The Art of the Eye exhibit was founded by Scott Nelson.
 
At birth, Nelson was diagnosed with Usher?s Syndrome, a form of retinitis
pigmentosa that initially affects hearing and vision only later on.
 
He worked for several years in welding when he one day thought to create a
sculpture with the metal he worked with.
 
This was the year his vision became drastically worse, and it was at this
time that he turned back to the arts.
 
Art of the Eye is a traveling exhibit about the nature of perception in
artists with visual disabilities.
 
It includes forty-two works by twenty-four artists in all mediums
including bronze, sculpture, cabinetry, painting, photography, watercolor,
porcelain, ceramic, and more.
 
Nelson is currently putting together Art of the Eye II, which will include
five works each by ten artists, portraying the perception of sight loss
over a ten-year period.
 
InSights Juried Art Competition and Exhibition at the American Printing
House for the Blind (APH) Each year, APH invites visually impaired and
blind artists of all ages to submit one artwork each to APH InSights. This
unique art competition and exhibition is exclusively for legally blind
artists and draws entries from across the U.S. and around the world. The
APH InSights Exhibition is shown in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as on
APH's web site. Award winners are selected from the juried exhibition
 
Passionate Focus 2004
Passionate Focus is the Catholic Guild for the Blind?s annual exhibit of
works by blind or visually impaired artists. The Guild held the first
Passionate Focus in May of 2002 at the Union League Club of Chicago and
the Guild offices.. From 69 pieces submitted, 34 works were selected by a
jury comprised of professional artists. For this year's Passionate Focus,
40 artists from 10 states submitted 163 pieces of art from which the jury
selected 34 pieces. The exhibit was on display in the Zolla/Lieberman
Gallery (205 West Huron, Chicago) from July 9 - August 18 as part of the
Chicago Art Dealers Association Vision Art Exhibition. This year's jury
was comprised of Staci Boris, Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary
Art; Jeanne Dunning, Associate Professor, Department of Art Theory and
Practice, Northwestern University and Hamza Walker, Director of Education,
The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago. For more information
on Passionate Focus 2005 or to request a submission package, please
contact Cheryl Megurdichian at 312/236-8569 or
cherylm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Selected Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week Events
 
October 13
The Jewish Museum, NYC, is offering a verbal-imaging tour of its special
exhibition, titled "Innovator, Activist, Healer: The Art of Friedl
Dicker-Brandeis." The tour begins at 1:15 p.m. Call (212) 423-3289 for
details; reservations are not necessary
National Exhibits by Blind Artists, Inc., Philadelphia , is opening its 30
th anniversary juried art exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The
show runs through November 21.
 
October 14
Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, Pittsburgh, PA , is being
visited by celebrated Pittsburgh artist Robert Qualters, who has an
established relationship with the school. Qualters will talk to the
students about his inspirations when he developed the "food arch" that
graces the school's Children's Garden. The students will then work with
Qualters to feel and recognize some of the very foods that he used in this
arch, and they will then sculpt the items themselves.

Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx

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