[accessibleimage] articles from Sweden to Australia

Hi,
A mixed bag of articles from Sweden to Australia. A very interesting one about opening of a multisensory garden in Indianapolis, an account of an illustrator work techniques after going blind. Have included a few articles where art and visual impairments are mentioned, have included these too, but aren't the main subject of the article.
Regards,
Lisa

Magnificent Mile Art Exhibit
http://news.corporate.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20050824/24aug20050845.html

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-24-2005/0004093782&EDATE=

http://www.philly.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/5min/12487960.htm

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15117118&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532238&rfi=6


excerpt from article
"I love it and look forward to it," said Lewis Brown, a successful artist who has adapted his drawing talent to sculpting.

illustrator
http://news.newstimeslive.com/story.php?id=74022&category=Local

Sweden visit by Vietnamese children
http://www.thanhniennews.com/education/?catid=4&newsid=8930

Australia - Surgeon paints a brighter picture
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16307446%255E16947,00.html

Teachers go back to school with Teachers, Learning Together
http://www2.townonline.com/brookline/atGlance/view.bg?articleid=307503

Artspark
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050821/ENTERTAINMENT01/508210348/1078
link to Indianapolis art center
http://www.indplsartcenter.org/

Brasil
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29945

PBS features
VISIONES: LATINO ART AND CULTURE (Encore)
Sundays, 9/4-25/05, 10:30-11:00 p.m. ET;
rpt. Wednesdays, 9/7-21/05, 10:30-11:00 p.m. ET
(check local listings)

Episode Four -- This episode begins with New York's Latino hip-hop dance
and culture, then travels to Miami and its unique Afro-Cuban sound, and ends
in Los Angeles with modern dance pioneer Rudy Perez. The first segment
documents the movement, history and culture of hip-hop and looks at the new
wave of Latinos who took hip-hop and created a culture that revolutionized the
genre. New York hip-hop dancing couple Rokafella and Kwikstep are featured.
The second segment highlights the Miami Sound, music that is a blend of
traditional Cuban music, explosive jazz and American pop. The featured artist
is Willie Chirino. Rudy Perez, whose story is uncovered in the third segment,
is a pioneer of the post-modern dance movement. Though legally blind, he
continues to create and inspire as teacher. Perez also choreographs for his
Los Angeles-based modern dance Company. The episode also highlights El Paso-
based experimental filmmaker Willie Varela, whose independent personal films
explore themes of urban and border life.


excerpt from article
Artist's business booms, but work remains

After her story appeared in The Herald in January, the artist, author
and motivational speaker said her phone has been ringing off the
hook with requests for her group art lessons. Gordon claims that
anyone, including the blind, can learn how to paint and think
creatively through instruction in four easy-to-learn steps. It's the
Conni Gordon Method -- the crux of her multitiered, decades-old
business.


excerpt from article Woodward mural keeps her memory alive

A diabetic, Woodward began to lose her sight in the late 1960s, but that didn't stop her from painting and sketching

Nancy Hagmayer, a Brookfield resident and friend of the artist, said in a 1978 story in The News-Times that when Woodward went blind she

developed a method of "painting by touch," using twigs, branches of trees and wads of waxed paper, among other things, to help her paint.

She also switched to black and white work, because she thought it would be simpler. An artist friend, however, began mixing colors for her and set

them up in numbered containers, which enabled Woodward to feel the number and know which color she was using.



Sweden trip leaves deep impression on sight impaired Vietnam kids


A trip to Sweden not only left a lasting impression on some young visually impaired Vietnamese artists but also helped fulfill their potential.
The 10-day trip, titled “Arts Exchange-Path to Friendship and Understanding” was the brainchild of a Sweden ceramics artist, Elisabeth Persson.

With support from other Swedish artists and sponsorship from Comvik International Vietnam AB (CIVAB), belonging to leading mobile phone

network provider Millicom International Cellular SA, some gifted blind students from Nguyen Dinh Chieu special school in Hanoi were able to make

the visit.

Over 30 paintings they took with them and painted on the way were displayed at three exhibitions in Malmo, Lund province and the capital

Stockholm.

The works, depicting Vietnamese landscapes as well as the landscapes and people of Sweden, demonstrated the children’s rich spiritual side and

sharp creativity channeled through their remaining senses.

An exchange with students from St. Petri high school saw the two put up joint performances, including painting, clay molding and aptitude

competitions.

“The Swedish children were awe-struck at seeing blind children paint pictures,” Pham Huu Quy, Nguyen Dinh Chieu’s principal, said. “They also

thought highly of our school’s ability to teach blind students painting.”

The visiting children were themselves most impressed with meeting Swedish Queen Silvia.

“It was like a dream to meet a queen in flesh and blood; I had only met them in fairy tales,” a girl confided.

“Children are a country’s future; so it’s worthwhile to organize activities to help them develop their potential, especially those who are disabled but

gifted,” CIVAB’s chairman, M.A. Zaman, said.





Surgeon paints a brighter picture
Victoria Laurie
August 19, 2005
FOR more than two decades, Perth surgeon Ian Constable has cast a practised eye over Aboriginal artists creating paintings in remote Western

Australia.

His interest is both professional and personal. An avid collector of indigenous art, he has travelled widely to meet and talk to artists. As an eye

surgeon, he has met their gaze through an optical lens and marvelled that eyes damaged by flies, disease and outback dust can still produce

masterpieces.

Constable's personal mission is to make sure those creative eyes stay bright and focused, especially among respected elderly artists. He has

embarked on a series of self-funded visits to remote communities, with an optometrist and portable eye-testing equipment in tow, to treat WA's art

elite.

"Eye disease typically affects older people, and many had trachoma when they were children," says Constable, taking a break from a patient clinic at

the Lions Eye Institute in Perth, a multi-million-dollar research and treatment centre which he founded and still runs.

"A lot of these artists have quite poor vision and it's extraordinary the sort of fine detail and meticulous work they can do with very little vision."

A few weeks ago, in the cool and darkened interior of Mangkaja Arts in Fitzroy Crossing, Constable flicked on a beam of light to examine the eyes of

one of Australia's most collectable artists. Butcher Cherel Janangoo is in his mid-eighties and at the peak of his artistic career. With some relief,

Constable noted that Cherel's vision is still strong.

But one female artist needs a cataract operation and must join a queue. Two hundred people in the Kimberley alone are awaiting surgery, says

Constable, yet each year only 60 operations are done. "And 200 cataract patients are only the ones who've been assessed. It's probably more like

500."

Further east in Kununurra, at the Jirrawun Aboriginal Art Corporation, a dozen artists sit painting the kind of bold, ochre-hued Kimberley landscapes

made famous by Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie. Almost as renowned in international art circles is 84-year-old Paddy Bedford, whose work

now hangs in every major Australian gallery and in the foyer of Paris's Modern Art Museum.

His eyes too remain strong. His painting colleagues are all in their sixties and seventies: artists such as Freddie Timms, Rammy Ramsey, Rusty Peters,

Phyllis Thomas, Goody Barrett and Peggy Patrick. At least five of them need glasses.

"When we looked through artists' records, virtually nobody who had had cataract surgery had ever been given glasses," says Constable. "It seems

extraordinary that people doing near-sighted work would have had eye surgery but no sufficient follow-up. Taking off a cataract only allows them to

see at a distance; they still need reading aids. So there are all sorts of problems to do with service.

"Here are some iconic Australian artists and a lot of them are getting third-class medicine. I use the word third-class, not second-class," Constable

says, pausing for emphasis. "I just think that there are enough resources around - and it shouldn't fall on government only - to make sure they get

decent health care as productive Australians."

Constable, 62, is no firebrand and his tactics in seeking better care are calculated, rather than confrontational. He says eye health has greatly

improved since 1975, when, as a young eye surgeon from the eastern states, he moved to Perth and was promptly sent north to perform cataract

operations.

"Later, I was up there camping for nearly four weeks with the National Trachoma and Eye Health program, headed up by Fred Hollows."

He began buying art. On every wall of the Lions Eye Institute are Aboriginal paintings of startling quality and pedigree, some of the 250 works

collected by Constable and his wife, state MP Liz Constable. ("It pales into insignificance next to the Holmes a Court or Kerry Stokes collections,"

Constable says. "We don't have a Rover Thomas. We couldn't afford one.")

The eye doctor and art lover can see the correlation between eye health and artistic output. "A key artist will have an exhibition in Melbourne or

Germany and it's a sellout. If they have failing eyes, they simply start producing less or quality drops off. I can name instances, but it's unfair to the

artists. It's avoidable and totally unnecessary."

Mangkaja's art co-ordinator, Karen Dayman, says 90 per cent of the centre's top artists are nearing, or past, 70 years of age. "I think all the artists we

deal with have eye problems. It's very much part of living in this area."

But equating bad eyes with bad art is too simplistic, she says. Take the work of one Mangkaja painter of bold, bright canvases whose eyes faltered

in old age. "The colour didn't diminish but the forms that she used softened. I don't think it's an exception in relation to other artists' lives.

"You can see when eyes are becoming less precise," Dayman says, pointing out that the use of cut-out paper forms by French painter Henri Matisse

was his response to poor vision.

Constable owns some drawings by another famous artist plagued late in life by failing eyes, Australian landscape artist Lloyd Rees. Yet, according to

painter John Olsen, Rees's work increased in "luminosity and transcendence" as his sight failed. Constable too has witnessed remarkable instances

of Aboriginal artists who are near blind but painting effectively. "Many are painting dreamtime symbols that they can paint quite literally with their

eyes shut." But he says all artists have the right to improved eyesight.

Only artists and their families are treated by Constable's roving eye clinic, in a calculated act of elitism. He ensures those with eye conditions are put

on waiting lists or get referred to specialists and then, politely but firmly, he lobbies government and networks of medical colleagues to work faster.

"Using the artists as the excuse I'm trying to leverage the effectiveness of the whole program, but the artists are going to get first-class treatment one

way or the other. It's just changing the mindset as to how valuable these people are to the rest of us."

It's a form of elitism that the artists accept gratefully as long as it leads to more health care for others. Says Mangkaja painter Eva Nargoodah of

Constable's recent clinic at Fitzroy Crossing: "We need him to come back because there are more people that need it. It was easy right here in the art

centre, easier than [going to] the hospital."

"It's started with artists and their families and it'll spread out to the wider community," says Jirrawun's art co-ordinator Tony Oliver. Already, the

enterprising organisation (William Deane is its patron) has decided to form a complementary corporation, Jirrawun Health, to advocate and lobby on

behalf of community members requiring health care. Says Oliver bluntly: "I'd have to say the artists are better when their eyes are right."

Constable, who will join Jirrawun's new health board, says Australia's remote indigenous art movement can teach important lessons to an ailing

medical system. Routinely, he visits communities where medical staff are distant and unavailable. "The attitude is 'If you're sick, you come to us. I'm a

doctor, I'm running a clinic between nine and eleven, doctors' hours, and it's your obligation to come to me."'

At the artistically vibrant Warmun community, near Turkey Creek, "none of the people would go anywhere near the clinic, which has got a fence with

barbed wire around it". In stark contrast, says Constable, the art adviser "has always got the kettle boiling for a cup of tea, there's food there even

though she is being paid a quarter of what the doctors are [earning]. And the Aboriginal people want to go and sit on the dirt outside her place all

day. Some of them paint and some don't."

Constable says he's been amply rewarded for his efforts on behalf of Kimberley artists. He says it was a privilege to meet Paddy Bedford in person,

"one of Australia's living legends", and to be allowed to buy one of his paintings.

But it was Bedford's silent gesture of thanks over dinner that evening that Constable will never forget.

"He was quietly sitting there eating his dinner and saying nothing, while we discussed Aboriginal health around the table and he reached over and

grabbed my hand and just held it for 10 minutes. He didn't say a word, but the message was, 'Here's someone who cares about Aboriginal health and

culture.' It was a magic moment."



excerpt from article Teachers go back to school with Teachers, Learning Together

Varela has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Pratt Institute and is completing graduate study in counseling, marriage and family therapy at

California State University at Sonoma. She has taught art to at-risk populations, students with Alzheimer's disease and the disabled at Elders Share

the Arts, Helen Keller Services for the Blind and the International Children's Art Museum of San Francisco, among others.



Gallery under the clouds
Open-air park celebrates sensory perceptions
On the surface, a sculpture garden is a simple concept: a display of art in an outdoor setting that's designed to showcase it.

But what would happen if you extended that concept to include open-air studio spaces, artworks accessible to people with disabilities, and a

multisensory environment?

You'd have ARTSPARK, the Indianapolis Art Center's new 12-acre art and nature park, which makes its official debut during a grand opening

celebration today.

At first glance, it's not all that different from any other sculpture garden on the planet. It features artworks set amid winding paths, pretty plantings

and places to sit and contemplate your surroundings.

But there's more going on in ARTSPARK than first meets the eye. For one, there are works of art that have more to do with the ears or fingertips than

the eyes, such as Sadashi Inuzuka's "Circle," which the visually impaired sculptor designed with the help of students from the nearby Indiana School

for the Blind. It uses touch to trigger recorded sounds.

There's also "Still Life With Sticks," a monumental work of woven willow, ash and dogwood saplings by Patrick Dougherty. Based on the geometric

shapes used in drawing classes, it's a walk-through work of art that's as much about texture as it is about appearance.

And then there's the Nina Mason Pulliam Sensory Path, which leads from the adjacent Monon Trail into ARTSPARK. Lined with fragrant, flowering

plants as brilliantly colored as the butterflies they attract, the wheelchair-friendly path passes under a new pergola that eventually will be covered

with fragrant wisteria.

The overall intention of the park is to make people of all ages and abilities feel welcome and comfortable, and to stimulate their senses and inspire

their imaginations by exposing them to art and nature, said Joyce Sommers, the Art Center's president and executive director.

"The Art Center has always been open to all kinds of people throughout the community," she said. "With ARTSPARK, we are just extending our

reach by providing people with a place they can come to experience art and nature in a non-threatening setting."

ARTSPARK is the latest phase of a master plan that architect Michael Graves, who designed the Art Center's building, developed for the

organization in the early 1990s.

"At the time we were planning the building," Graves said, "Joyce wanted to include a sensory park. But the budget wouldn't let us do both projects,

so we agreed to work on the park when there was money to do so."

That time arrived about four years ago when the Art Center initiated a capital campaign that raised the $5.6 million needed to pay for ARTSPARK's

design and construction costs, as well as to commission sculptures and establish an endowment to pay for maintenance of the park and grounds.

In 2002, work on the project began in earnest with the help of local landscape architecture firm Rundell Ernstberger Associates (REA), which worked

with Graves and his partner, John Diebboll, to refine the initial concepts they had developed.

"Rather than see the Art Center as an isolated object in the green," Graves said, "we were intrigued by the possibility of creating a positive,

reciprocal relationship between the building and the landscape."

The objective, Diebboll said, was to create a collection of outdoor spaces that varied not only in size and shape, but also in the way the landscape

outlined or integrated them. And do so without limiting their possible uses.

"One of the purposes that Joyce had in mind," Diebboll said, "was to use the outdoor property as an extension of the indoor studio space."

Kevin Osburn, an REA principal, said his firm looked at the natural conditions of the site, which is in a flood plain and contained a number of mature

trees that needed to be part of the overall plan.

Osburn and his staff created a final design scheme that used new plantings -- trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials -- to define outdoor spaces. "The

entire site is a composition of different garden rooms," Osburn said, "and each one has its own characteristics. We used plant materials that

complement the intended functions of each space."

For example, on the northeast side of the building are two "art courts," open spaces defined by borders of honey locust trees. The courts can be

used for temporary sculpture installations, art demonstrations or other activities.

REA also created landscape elements that echo the Art Center's building, including erecting low sandstone and plaster-covered walls that

complement the building's colors. There's also a straight line of hornbeam trees -- which are narrow and upright -- on the north side of the building,

mimicking Graves' Italian Renaissance-influenced facade.

Unlike other parks, which close at night, ARTSPARK will be open and available to visitors round the clock. With that in mind, Osburn said, the park

also includes discreet lighting designed to illuminate the grounds rather than flood them with harsh light.

While Osburn and his staff worked on final landscape designs, the Art Center approached some of the country's leading sculptors about creating

works specifically for its grounds. One of the first to agree was Robert Stackhouse, who's internationally known for his large-scale drawings,

paintings, prints and sculpture.

With his wife, Carol Mickett, a poet, Stackhouse spent several weeks in Indianapolis during the summer of 2004 working on the park's signature

piece, "Confluence." It's a two-part sculpture, consisting of several slabs of limestone of varying heights set upright on the lawn at the east end of

the Art Center's building. Those slabs are aligned with several others that are sunk into the ground to create a boat shape on the north edge of the

park, alongside the White River.

It's an homage to the historical significance of the river to the Broad Ripple area where the Art Center is located, as well as to the city of Indianapolis.

Stackhouse even carved an image of the river into the riverside portion of "Confluence."

Stackhouse and Mickett worked on the project with a crew of volunteers, out in the open so passers-by could see what was going on. Dougherty did

the same earlier this summer when he created "Still Life With Sticks."

"The idea of developing the grounds so there's a sculpture park where people can have conversations with artists is great," Dougherty said. "People

talked with me while I was working, and that gave them a real sense of the work ethic you have to have to be an artist. Just seeing someone

physically making art is really educational."

That's another function of ARTSPARK, said David Thomas, the Art Center's vice president and director of programs. "This is a learning laboratory

for outdoor sculpture," he said. "We want people to see how artists do what they do, and give them a chance to take part when possible."

ARTSPARK also includes a wood-fired kiln for ceramics, as well as a melting pot for bronze and iron. Both offer an up-close look at some of the

techniques artists use in the creative process.

To encourage visitors to explore art-making themselves, the park contains "creativity stations." These are simple wooden boxes filled with materials

they can use to create their own versions of the artworks they see around them.

What's more, Thomas said, the Art Center is developing plans to provide visitors with options ranging from self-guided, audio and docent-led tours

to those that include in-studio demonstrations or hands-on activities. "We want to engage our visitors on a number of levels, and keep offering them

new reasons to return."

Despite its name, ARTSPARK is more than an outdoor gallery. It's designed for multiple uses, from weddings and parties to concerts and film series.

In fact, Sommers said, there are already weddings booked in the park for every weekend in June 2006.

"We think more and more people are going to come here because of special events," she said. "People will come who might not otherwise, and

they're going to discover what we have to offer as a result."

With a goal of attracting at least 50,000 new visitors a year, Sommers said the Art Center will continue to look for innovative ways to use

ARTSPARK. "Projects like this get stale fast. We have to be proactive in our efforts to get people to come here, and make them want to come back."

Gallery under the clouds
Open-air park celebrates sensory perceptions

ARTSPARK facts

• What: A 12-acre art and nature park designed to appeal to a variety of senses, and to be accessible to people of all ages and abilities. Features

include sculptures by such renowned artists as Truman Lowe, Patrick Dougherty, James Wille Faust, and the team of Robert Stackhouse and Carol

Mickett, as well as outdoor studios and gardens.

• Where: On the southern edge of the White River, surrounding the Indianapolis Art Center, 820 E. 67th St.

• Cost: $5.6 million, including design and construction costs, commissioned works, and an endowment for maintenance and upkeep.

• Hours: Open daily -- and nightly, since special lighting makes it accessible in the dark.

• Admission: Free and open to the public.

• Information: (317) 255-2464 or www.indplsartcenter.org.

Grand opening

• Where: Indianapolis Art Center, 820 E. 67th St.

• When: 1 to 4 p.m. today.

• Special guests: Sculptors Patrick Dougherty, Sadashi Inuzuka and John Simms.

• Cost: Free.

• Information: (317) 255-2464 or www.indplsartcenter.org.


Sculptures in the park

The Indianapolis Art Center commissioned seven primary pieces of sculpture for ARTSPARK:

1) Robert Stackhouse and Carol Mickett: "Confluence." This two-part limestone work, which combines standing stones on the west end of the Art

Center's building with others sunk into the ground in the shape of a boat beside the White River, pays tribute to the relationship between the Art

Center and the river.

2) Patrick Dougherty: "Still Life With Sticks." As he does with all of his commissions, Dougherty developed the concept for this geometric piece on

site. Made from saplings, it will gradually decompose.

3) Truman Lowe: "Restful Place." One of the country's best-known contemporary American Indian artists, Lowe designed this piece, which combines

a curved limestone bench with an arched bronze and glass canopy, as a place to stop and contemplate the natural surroundings. The bench is in

place. The canopy will be installed later this year.

4) Sadashi Inuzuka: "Circle." A visually impaired sculptor who is an assistant professor of art at the University of Michigan, Inuzuka worked with

students from the Indiana School for the Blind to create this piece, which consists of a ring filled with sand that visitors "rake" with a rotating tool.

When the rotation stops, it triggers recordings of the wind, rain, etc.

5) John E. Simms: "Imploding Cube." A self-taught artist who specializes in abstract sculptures, Simms used aircraft aluminum to create this piece,

which pivots in the wind. It sits inside a reflecting pool near the Monon Trail.

6) James Wille Faust: "Wings." One of Indianapolis' best-known painters, Faust used his characteristic crisp geometric patterns and bright colors on

this abstract aluminum version of a bird of prey with a fish in its mouth.

7) John McNaughton: "Twisted House." A faculty member at the University of Southern Indiana's art department, McNaughton fashioned this

whimsical 14-foot-tall, cedar-shingled work to resemble a child's playhouse.

ARTSPARK also contains several pieces of sculpture the Art Center already owned:

8) John Andrew Spaulding: "Black Titan." A former aerospace worker in California, the Indianapolis-born Spaulding (1942-2004) sculpted this giant

bronze head in 1985.

9) Arnaldo Pomodoro: "Radar No. 3." Italian sculptor Pomodoro (1926-2002) created this bronze piece in 1962.

10) G. Greg Hull: "Vicarious (A video coastline)." The head of the sculpture program at the Herron School of Art and Design, Hull used steel, fabric,

neon and an electric motor to construct this work, which is on the roof of the Art Center's library.

11) Robert Curtis: "Slightly Romanesque/Newhall 43." A resident of Chevy Chase, Md., Curtis fashioned this metal-and-concrete piece in 1982.

12) Gary Freeman: "Monumental IV." The retired chairman of the sculpture program at Herron School of Art and Design, Freeman created this

painted steel work in 1981. A longtime Art Center icon, it's being refurbished and will be installed when finished.



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