[accessibleimage] art, photography, InSights Art Competition

Hi,
Articles about sighted artist learning about visual impairments, photography, Ann Cunningham, and InSights Art Competition for the Blind and Visually Impaired 
Best,
Lisa

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=12&screen=news&news_id=54409

Taking the ‘visual’ out of visual arts
By Alexa Hinton, ahinton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
February 02, 2007
When Lanie Gannon first experienced glaucoma she was rushed with feelings of claustrophobia and panic.
“It makes you internally focused,” Gannon said. “Your world becomes this small world and you live on the inside of yourself rather than on the outside of yourself.”
Fortunately for the local sculptor, the glaucoma she experienced was only the effects of goggles fashioned to mock symptoms of the blindness-causing eye disease. She, along with 13 other established Nashville artists, was participating in a project to create “altered” works of art wearing glasses that simulated an eye condition such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or macular degeneration. The broad variety of work — paintings, drawings and three-dimensional pieces — are featured along side similar content from the artists current body of art in an exhibit, Altered Vision: Artists Look Beyond Sight Loss, now on display at the Nashville Downtown Public Library.
Altered Vision’s curator, Anna Jaap, served as the artists’ eye doctor of sorts, assigning their eye condition and telling them the realities of their temporary diagnosis. A local artist herself, Jaap experienced first-hand the scary portends of blindness. A decade ago, the now-40 year old developed cataracts that left her unable to work, drive or recognize people she knew until she had emergency surgery to restore her vision.
“It was as if [Jaap] was the doctor who fits you with glasses. She said, ‘I think I’ll give you cataracts,’ and I was relieved, frankly, having tried on the glaucoma goggles. Mine were sanded and tinted this yellow color, and when you looked through them everything was yellow and blurred,” Gannon said. “They didn’t really cause this sort of panic response like the others, but when anything is wrong with your vision, your brain is constantly trying to adjust. I’d suddenly have headaches because I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t wear them for very long and had to work very slowly.”
It was Trent Boysen, a University School of Nashville art teacher, who was tapped to wear the glaucoma-simulating goggles. His eye pieces were blacked out except for two off-center pin holes.
“Wearing the goggles was very sobering,” Boysen said. “During the process what affected me the most was the idea that if I were to become blind because of glaucoma, I wouldn't have images to put with memories. To me, past memories often look incomplete and lacking full detail, little snapshots frozen of a specific time, and wearing the glasses made me realize that I often took for granted the daily experiences that would soon become a memory without much detail. This work attempts to put an image to past experiences in a way that I remember them, giving me something solid to hold on to.”
The goal of the project, led by Prevent Blindness Tennessee, a state-wide health organization dedicated to preserving sight and preventing blindness, was to educate its audience about the effects of compromised sight upon an artist’s creative process, but — perhaps more importantly — to educate about eye health. An estimated 650,000 Tennesseans suffer eye disorders even though, with early detection and education, experts say 50 percent of blindness cases can be prevented.
“Art is such a powerful tool for communication— it can touch people in ways that words cannot, and because vision is tied in so much with visual arts, it felt like the perfect combination to educate people about preventing sight loss,” Jaap said. “I really felt like a visual artist — they are so keenly aware of what they see and how they see — that they would be the perfect community to involve in an education project like this.”
For Boysen, the experience was more than just a community service project. It was a personal lesson.
“ I am at risk for [glaucoma], and this has allowed me to look at my feelings about the loss of sight in a way that I had never done before. Until now, I would just hide my fear of the disease away only to think about it when I went in for bi-yearly testing,” Boysen said. “I should not take my sight for granted causing me to miss the detail in everyday life.
“I hope that people see more than the art, that they will have a new reconnection with how sight plays a roll in their lives.” 

Read this article online:
/index.cfm?section=12&screen=news&news_id=54409


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http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_195/thelistings.html
Soho Photo Exhibitions “Seeing the Unseen” features work by members of the Seeing With Photography Collective, a group of visually impaired, sighted, and blind photographers. “Upstate, New York” features collection of photos by Soho Photo memberVeronica Szarejko, of women in a small town restaurant,“Off the Beaten Path: Minorities in Asia” is an exhibit of photographs taken along the Silk Road by Michael Schenker. Tyko Lewis’s first exhibit at Soho Photo is untitled. Feb. 6- Mar. 3. Soho Photo, 15 White Street., 212-226-8571, www.sohophoto.com. 

article

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29616.asp

InSights Art Competition for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Legally blind children and adults from all over the world participate in the annual InSights art competition sponsored by the American Printing House for the Blind.
Each year children from preschool through high school, as well as adults, enter all kinds of art in the InSights competition. Painting, drawing, and printmaking are examples of two-dimensional art that may be submitted; three-dimensional pieces might include sculptures in wood, wire, ceramics etc. Fiber arts may also be entered, such as needlepoint, knitting, and crochet.
Any visual art piece may be entered, so long as the design is original. Pieces made from a kit or mold will not be accepted.
The InSights competition is juried (judged), and there are several ways entries receive recognition. About 500 pieces are entered in the competition each year, and approximately 80 pieces are selected to be placed on exhibit at the American Printing House for the Blind annual meeting, held each October in Louisville, Kentucky. Judges also choose the top three entries from each of the nine categories, and these winners receive special certificates and cash prizes. Several honorable mentions may be selected for special recognition. All winners are invited to attend the APH annual meeting to receive their awards.
Outstanding work may be recognized in two other ways. First, special pieces may be chosen to appear on birthday, Christmas and other holiday cards. These cards feature braille and large print text, and are truly beautiful. Second, the collectible annual InSights calendar features a different work of art for each month; the calendar has both braille and large print numbers and text, and is spiral-bound for easy use.
According to an APH press release, artists who enter the InSights art competition "must meet this definition of blindness: corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, or a visual field limited to 20 degrees or less."
Each artist may enter only one piece in the general competition. Artists wishing to participate in the special art card competition, new in 2007, may enter a second piece; this section is limited to works appropriate for birthday and December holiday cards.
The deadline for submitting entries is April 1 for children (preschool through high school), and April 15 for adults. 
All entries MUST be accompanied by an application.
Applications for the InSights art competition are posted to the APH website in February. Visit the APH website at: 

www.aph.org
For more information, or to request a paper application, call the American Printing House for the Blind at 800-223-1839, x357.
To order beautiful calendars and Christmas cards featuring art from past competitions, visit: 

www.aph.org


article

http://www.aph.org/advisory/2007adv02.html


Call for Entries: APH InSights Art Competition and Exhibition 2007
APH invites visually impaired and blind artists of all ages to submit artwork for its sixteenth annual international art competition, APH InSights 2007.
There are two deadlines this year: April 1, 2007 is the deadline for entries from students in preschool through high school; April 15, 2007 is the deadline for entries from adult artists. To enter, artists must meet this definition of blindness: corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, or a visual field limited to 20 degrees or less.
Last year, 490 entries were received. From these, jurors selected eighty-two pieces for the exhibition, which was shown in Louisville in October 2006 at the Annual Meeting.
Artists may send one entry for the General Competition. New this year is a special Art Card Competition. Those who wish to send a second entry whose subject is specifically targeted for an art card, may do so. The subject of this entry should be appropriate for use as a birthday card or for one of the December holidays. If the subject of a General Competition entry is appropriate, it will also be considered for the Art Card Competition.
To receive complete rules and entry forms, send an email to rwilliams@xxxxxxx, or call 800/223-1839, ext. 357. Let us know if you want a print or a braille copy. Rules and entry forms will also be posted on this web site by the end of February. 


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http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr20/fr05ci09.htm



Art and Emotions: A Tactile Art Activity
by Ann Cunningham


Jenny Wing-Proctor of Michigan works on her clay mold.
Editor’s Note: Here is a report on one of the NOPBC-sponsored workshop activities offered to blind and sighted youth at the 2005 convention. The report is written by the artist who also conducted the workshop. For teachers who would like to duplicate this workshop, Cunningham provides a materials and techniques guide elsewhere in this issue. Here is what Cunningham says:
A lively bunch of students were happy to jump in and get their hands dirty in our 2005 Artistically Expressing Emotions workshop at the Galt House in Louisville. By making expressive art of their own, blind and sighted youngsters had the chance to explore one of the ways artists communicate artistically.
Artistically Expressing Emotions is a perfect art class activity for students with a wide variety of abilities. It is to everyone’s advantage to conduct this class under sleepshades since it is important to focus on internal feelings. By using sleepshades, all students are released from the pressure of making their work “look right.”
At the Colorado Center for the Blind, this course is taught in fifteen hours of class time and explores eight different emotions. We follow that up with the creation of an original work of art of the students’ choosing. The last class is a field trip to a museum or park with access to art work.
In the Louisville 2005 workshop we modified this program and focused on learning the skills to work in water-based clay with hands and tools in a manner that allowed the students to first express “anger,” followed by a second piece exploring “joy.” Once the students were finished working in the clay, we used the clay as a mold to create a finished piece of artwork in plaster. After the plaster piece was freed from the clay mold, we lined up all the “angers” side by side on the table and talked about similarities and differences between each other’s work. We then did the same with “joy.”
Students gained insight into themselves through talking about how they expressed emotions in their art; and by comparing their work with other students, they learned more about their classmates. Finally, by applying this insight to artwork they experience in school or accessible collections, they can converse with artists and the world of art. 

About Ann Cunningham
Ann Cunningham stands next to her bas-relief exhibit of Erik Weihenmayer’s ascent of Mount Everest. Ann Cunningham has been carving stone since she was fifteen years old, but it wasn’t until 1990 that she wondered if the slate low-relief sculptures she was making could be interpreted by touch as well as sight.
This question led Ann to explore how the sense of touch might be trained through art to gather more pictorial information. The bas-relief stories and exhibits that she has developed out of this exploration includes a commission for the National Federation of the Blind. It depicts Erik Weihenmayer’s ascent of Mount Everest as the first blind climber to reach the summit. Since 1998, Ann has been teaching art classes to develop self-expression through the sense of touch at the Colorado Center for the Blind. She has also started teaching a class on Picture Interpretation and Creation at the Anchor Center which serves children who are blind or visually impaired.
Cunningham is currently launching Sensational Books!, a series of original, visually and tactually accessible books. These multi-sensory books are designed to create an engaging experience and provide meaningful information for people of all abilities and ages. Sadie Can Count is the first book in a series which teaches basic picture recognition of common objects. Each subsequent book will expand the scope of the information provided by the pictures.
Ann’s sculptures can be viewed at <http://www. acunningham.com> and the books can be purchased at <www.SensationalBooks.com>. 


article about Ruthe G. Pearlman, 93, artist, teacher
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070201/NEWS0104/702010362/1060/NEWS01
She was extremely strong willed, said her son, noting that she survived the death of a grown son and infant daughter, the death of her husband and a potentially life-shattering diagnosis of macular degeneration in 1988. "That was a terrible adjustment for her, since her great joy in life was seeing things and painting them," he said.
She worked through it and went on to teach others with visual impairments. That led her to Art Beyond Boundaries, which was created in 2005 for people with disabilities who want to create art. 

link

http://www.artbeyondboundaries.com/

blog
Visually impaired photographers
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/58141


Book
Seeing Beyond Sight
http://www.seeingbeyondsight.com/book/index.htm

Film Proof
Plot:The life of a blind photographer who is looked after by a housekeeper is disrupted by the arrival of an agreeable restaurant worker. 
http://www.amazon.com/Proof-Jocelyn-Moorhouse/dp/B0002XNT12

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