[accessibleimage] Special Show of Museum Sculptures

6 Blind Children and a Woodcarver, 83, 'See' Special Show of Museum
Sculptures

THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 11, 1946, p. 27

Six blind children and an 83-year-old woodcarver, members of The
Lighthouse's class in clay modeling, visited yesterday the Junior Museum of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where a special "circus" show of sculptured
animals had been arranged for them. The visit was sponsored by the museum
and the New York Association for the Blind to assist the youngsters in their
studies.

The children and the woodcarver, William Buck, examined the sculptures,
exclaiming over their discoveries while their sensitive fingers explored the
various surfaces.

Mr. Buck, who has been blind for thirty years, sells his work through the
Lighthouse shop. As a youth he had had some art training, but he became
seriously interested in woodcarving only after losing his sight. Before
that, he said, he had been an exponent of realism, but now his interest
inclines toward "modern" works.

He examined closely the black deorite "Javanese Panther," by Mateo
Hernandez, and "Lillian Leitzel," a figure of the aerial acrobat, by Chaim
Gross.

Four of the children attend public school and are students of other arts, in
addition to clay modeling.

Sally Ann Sandez, 8 years old, modeled a Santa Claus last winter and now is
learning to be a ballet dancer. Sedell Tabach, a 14-year-old who tap-dances,
is planning to take vocal lessons and to study dramatics. Betty Clark, II,
who has studied singing for four years, has appeared on the radio and also
skates and tap-dances.

Joyce Eaton, 8, of New Rochelle, attends Lighthouse classes three times a
week. She passed a Red Cross test in swimming, is an able ice-skater and
studies the piano and violin.

Richardson Barhold, 13, is interested mainly in sports. Though he studies
the piano and models in clay, his heart is in swimming, bowling and, most of
all, in baseball.

Dorothy Birch, 10, is interested in sculpture, particularly in modeling
animals. She carefully examined a painted plaster "Equestrienne," showing a
daring bareback rider.

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