[accessibleimage] Re: my reflections on the "Touching Art" exhibit in Seattle, Washington, USA

Dear Sylvie,
I really enjoyed reading your reflections on the Touching Art exhibition.
I was wondering, do you think, art is an equaling out type of factor? One
doesn't have to know the language to experience it. It will give a meaning
to each individual, each will experience something.
i don't think I really thought about this before, I guess I should have.
That when there are communication difficulties, e.g learning a new
language in a new country, afasi etc, experiencing art lets you still 
feel master over understanding by either making expressing oneself or
understanding an art piece by another.
Thanks for your letter.

Lisa 


"Kaizen Program" <kaizen_esl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> skriver:
>Greetings all,
>
>I visited the "Touching Art" exhibit at the University of Washington's
>Jacob
>Lawrence Gallery  on Tuesday, June 28. I went with my partner Robby Barnes
>and two immigrants who are studying English with us. All four of us have
>vision limitations. We all appreciated the accessibility of the exhibit.
>
>Before describing our impressions, I want to tell you a few things about
>each of our backgrounds. I think that by knowing a little about what each
>of
>us brought to the exhibit, you will be better able to understand how each
>of
>us experienced it.  It will also give those new to the field of tactile
>art
>a fuller idea of the range of the audience of blind and visually impaired
>people. Artists who want to create art that is accessible to people who
>are
>blind or have low vision need to understand that they are addressing a
>very
>diverse audience. And, even when people are interested, not everyone finds
>it easy or enjoyable to become oriented to tactile graphics and tactile
>art.
>It requires an environment where some people are not discouraging others
>from touching, or laughing at those who touch the art. It also requires
>some
>guided learning, acquired skills and accumulated experience. In addition,
>it
>is relevant to keep in mind that, just like some fully sighted people are
>less able to distinguish meaningful detail and nuances than others,  even
>with a lot of help,  some people (visually-impaired or fully sighted) find
>it harder than others to interpret what they touch and to integrate their
>direct tactile experiences with what they can experience through other
>possible senses in the context of the larger spatial environment. All of
>these factors are definitely relevant to how much different people enjoy
>various kinds of arts.
>
>I was born with full vision, and experienced slowly deteriorating vision
>until I lost all sight at 39. I am now totally blind. I have always been
>very interested in creative arts and crafts of all sorts and I have drawn,
>painted, sewed, sculpted in clay, played music, etc. I am lucky to have
>good
>visualizing capacities. I have always been able to visualize how raw
>materials will look and feel when they are  made into whatever I want to
>do
>with them. And, since losing vision, I am always creating pictures in my
>mind that I have to remind myself are not based on any visual experience
>even though they seem to be so clear to me. So, you won't be surprised to
>know that I have always loved to visit museums and art exhibits, and I
>still
>do although the experience can sometimes be a bit frustrating now that I
>am
>totally blind.  I also really appreciate tactile graphics and
>multi-sensory
>art of all sorts, at least in part because they are so accessible to me.
>
>My partner Robby has been partially sighted all his life, which in his
>case
>means  he can see the full range of colors, as well as a lot of detail,
>sometimes with the help of some magnification device and sometimes without
>any help of this sort. He has also always been very interested in the
>creative arts.  He has always enjoyed drawing, constructing  things and
>playing music, as well as enjoying what others create. He studied both
>creative art techniques and art history in college and received his BA in
>fine arts. So, I find him a great companion to have at a museum or art
>show,
>since he enjoys being there, is knowledgeable, and he is someone who is
>enthusiastic about sharing his visual experiences.
>
>One of the students who went with us is a middle-age man from Africa. He
>has
>had very poor vision all of his life due to glaucoma. He can see colors
>and
>large shapes fairly well, but not thin lines or much detail. He has also
>been very interested in the arts all of his life, and has played music,
>but
>he has not done any drawing, painting or sculpting. He has a particular
>interest in and knowledge of both traditional and modern African arts.
>This
>man is very interested in learning more about the arts of North America.
>But
>he has often found trips to museums and art shows here generally
>frustrating, both because there are many things he can't see or touch, and
>because he has usually been dependent on friends and family members to
>describe things that they may also find unfamiliar and even confusing.
>Since
>he is in the process of learning English, and is not fully proficient in
>English yet, museum and art gallery tour guides usually are still
>difficult
>for him to understand, even when they are willing to describe the details
>he
>can't see.
>
>The other student is a young woman from a rural village in Latin America.
>She was born fully sighted, lost vision in her early teens and is now
>totally blind. Her main exposure to the arts was to the arts and crafts of
>her rural village. She is very interested in learning about tactile arts
>because she passionately wants to learn how to recapture her capacity to
>make things with her hands, which she and her family thought she had lost
>forever when she lost her vision.
>
>When the four of us got to the art exhibit at about 2:15 p.m. there were
>four or five other visitors, but they all soon left, so we had the place
>to
>ourselves, except for one person who was tending the exhibit.
>
>Both students were a little shy about touching the objects at first. They
>are so used to being discouraged from touching things in public places,
>and
>they don't want to seem weird either.  So Robby and I began by touching,
>remarking and encouraging touching. Then, the students really got into it
>as
>we progressed from one creation to another. I think this was helped by the
>absence of sighted strangers who might have commented on what we were
>doing,
>or attempted to intervene to assist us. The one person who was there
>tending
>the exhibit thankfully didn't say a word.
>
>There were more than a dozen pieces, as the article I previously posted
>said, but I don't know precisely how many because I didn't think to count
>them. Most of the pieces were mounted on the peripheral walls, so we were
>able to move from one to the other by following the walls. There were
>three
>mounted on a dividing wall in the middle of the gallery. We almost missed
>them, but when we had finished touching and looking at the pieces on the
>peripheral walls, Robby noticed that there were three more pieces on the
>dividing wall in the middle. If I had not been with a person who had some
>vision, I might have passed them by.
>
>The lighting was soft and bright, and the pieces were evenly illuminated,
>which was very helpful for Robby and the man from Africa, both of whom
>have
>some vision.
>
>There were braille and large print signs next to each piece, telling the
>name of the artist, the title of the piece, and what it was made of.
>
>Both of our students are currently braille users as am I. Robby reads
>print.
>
>I want to discuss the braille signs a bit because how they are produced
>has
>special significance for new English learners who are blind. For those of
>you who are not familiar with the technicalities of American English
>braille, I need to explain here that  it can be written simply using the
>alphabet and punctuation signs, or with special contraction signs similar
>to
>shorthand (which are for the purpose of saving space). When American
>English
>braille is written with the special contraction signs we call it
>contracted
>braille. When only the alphabet and punctuation signs are used we call it
>uncontracted braille. The braille in the signs next to each piece was
>contracted braille. This is the usual practice when public signs are
>prepared since the vast majority of proficient braille users in the U.S.
>are
>most comfortable with contracted braille because that is what they have
>become used to.
>
>But, the contracted braille was a bit challenging for the young woman from
>Latin America who is both a new English learner and a new braille learner.
>Many people, even proficient English speakers who were highly literate
>using
>print before losing vision, can take only a few weeks to learn the basic
>braille alphabet. But they may take a year or two to become moderately
>comfortable with contracted braille, even when they are strongly motivated
>to learn it right away. I don't encourage new English learners to learn
>contracted braille until they have some grasp of writing and reading in
>English, especially spellings. When the United Nations published its
>UNESCO
>English language newsletter in braille, they produced it in uncontracted
>braille so as to make it optimally accessible to people reading the
>English
>braille from all over the world. Also, the majority of people who are
>blind
>or have low vision have lost vision in middle age or later life, and often
>indicate that they are discouraged from fully getting into braille
>literacy
>because they feel overwhelmed by the braille contractions.
>
>So, when considering providing braille signs, it is a good idea to think
>about who you are hoping will read those signs.
>
>The large print type was about 20 point type size, which made it easy for
>Robby to see without any magnification device. Many people with low vision
>who I know find this size quite useable, if they can get close to it.
>These
>signs were very easy to get close to. The print was black on white with
>good
>contrast, which was also helpful.
>
>Other than the braille and large print brief descriptions on the walls
>giving the names of the artists, the title of the pieces, and what they
>were
>made of,  there were no other details provided. All four of us wished
>there
>had been more information about the artists and more information about
>what
>they had in mind in making each piece.
>
>We were also disappointed to find that there was no catalog or even a
>flyer
>in braille or large print, or in standard size print, that we could take
>home, listing the artists and their pieces, describing each artist's
>background and what each of them had in mind when they made their pieces,
>and putting the pieces into the context of the artistic traditions they
>were
>part of.  When we asked, we were told that all that was available was the
>newspaper article we already had. A catalog and/or flyer can help visitors
>to remember and reflect on what they have experienced, educate them about
>the specific kinds of art being shown, and provide focus on the artists
>and
>their creations. I always consider such material to be an integral part of
>an art show and was disappointed that there was nothing of the sort at
>this
>one.
>
>There was a variety of free print literature about the services offered by
>the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind and the
>Lighthouse
>for the Blind, as well as plastic cards printed in such a way as to
>provide
>simulations of various vision impairments, and free videos and CDs on
>services for the blind.
>
>I wish there had been literature relating directly to blind people's
>participation in the arts.  When I asked, the attendant said there was
>none
>there.
>
>The pieces in this show were generally well done and should be thought of
>as
>artistic creations, not just examples of things that blind people can
>appreciate. They ranged from semi-realistic or figurative to semi-abstract
>and completely abstract. Some depicted human or animal figures, and some
>depicted flowers in realistic or semi-realistic ways.  Some employed many
>bright colors, a few were only two colors, and a few were only one color
>(either white or black).
>
>Some of the pieces were five or six feet wide and a few of them were more
>than six feet above the floor. Their size made it a little difficult to
>get
>a complete idea of their overall shapes simply by touch while standing in
>one place. This was really only a challenge for those of us who were
>totally
>blind. The height was also a bit of a problem for me and the woman from
>Latin America, because I am 5 feet tall and she is 4 feet and 6 inches. We
>both had difficulty exploring the higher parts of pieces, and she had more
>difficulty than I did. Since both of us are totally blind, this meant that
>the higher parts of those pieces were not really accessible to us.
>
>I was happy to find that some of the pieces had elements that could only
>be
>appreciated by touching them. One was the abstract piece titled "Sporadic"
>by Chad Downard, which consisted of long black polyester-stuffed Lycra
>rolls
>with a sprinkling of shocking pink soft balls squeezed in between. By
>touching, we found smaller pink balls hidden behind the ones that could be
>seen by eye. And, the piece titled "Hive" by Ben Hirschkoff also provided
>more than met the eye. The four-foot-wide bright yellow and orange
>honeycomb
>or beehive-shaped piece had twelve small round holes with screens covering
>them. Touching the smooth surface with periodic grooves that constituted
>most of the piece and then coming upon the holes with the screens, we were
>mildly startled as we felt the vibration of the electric motors and
>spinning
>little fans that were hidden behind them. This gave us a slightly
>unnerving
>tactile experience similar to accidentally coming across a bee while
>picking
>flowers or berries. While everyone could hear the little fans as they
>periodically turned on and off, and those who had useable vision could see
>the round holes, people who did not touch this piece could not have the
>full
>emotional experience it held.
>
>The young woman from Latin America is not familiar with modern art, so she
>was a bit puzzled by the abstract pieces. Both students found it more
>difficult to understand pieces that depicted things they are not generally
>already familiar with. In addition, neither of them could easily identify
>the honeycomb pattern in the piece titled "Hive" because of the confusing
>aspect of the overall rectangular shape and because of the large size of
>the
>piece. Even though both students are familiar with bees, the woman from
>Latin America did not understand the English word for "bee" or "hive," and
>the man from Africa was only able to understand it after some explanation.
>There was a piece called "lapel" which had a giant flower pinned to a
>giant
>corduroy lapel that was something like six feet tall. Both students
>recognized the flower by touch, and the man from Africa could recognize it
>by sight too, but neither could figure out the lapel. The man from Africa
>is
>quite familiar with jackets with lapels of the sort depicted, and can see
>large shapes, but couldn't orient himself to this lapel, even after being
>told what it was. The woman from Latin America is not familiar with
>jackets
>with such lapels, and was truly confused by it, even after tracing the
>outline a number of times with her hands and repeatedly feeling every part
>of the surface that she could reach.  Two other pieces titled "Daisy
>chain"
>(1 and 2) were difficult for the students to recognize as schematic
>versions
>of daisies. This was probably made more difficult by both of their lack of
>familiarity with daisy chains as such. And, neither of them are yet
>familiar
>with the metaphoric or idiomatic significance of the English term. Here
>again, some information about the thoughts of the artist could have helped
>them understand more.
>
>Robby and I were both able to recognize and appreciate the "Hive" and the
>"lapel," although it was more difficult for me, and really only fully came
>together when I read the names of those works. The "daisy chain" (1 and 2)
>were easy for Robby to understand because he could take their general
>shapes
>and colors in with his eyes, but, even after reading the names of the
>pieces, I found it a bit difficult, although I was able to appreciate that
>the embroidery on them was quite beautifully done.
>
>Both students and I  needed verbal and written information to help us
>interpret most of the pieces, except for the heads. The 16 heads that make
>up the piece titled "Déja Vu" by Susie Lee were especially interesting to
>us. All of us were able to note by touch the differences in facial
>features,
>the different directions in which they were facing, and the duplicate
>faces.
>The two people who had some vision were aware of the lack of color or
>visual
>details, such as details for eyes, hair or eyebrows. The two of us who are
>totally blind were also aware of the lack of detail in the heads,
>including
>no details for the eyes, hair or eyebrows, even though the lack of color
>wasn't important to us until we were told about it.
>
>After we finished touching and looking at everything, we went to the
>literature table to check out  what they had. As Robby was telling us what
>he saw on the table, a large crowd of people of all ages came in. We
>lingered a bit to observe their reactions. Robby said that none of them
>appeared to be blind although some of them might have had low vision, and
>most of them were doing very little touching as they moved from one piece
>to
>another.
>
>I hope that we can have future art shows that emphasize the value for
>everyone! of experiencing art through multiple senses--and encouraging
>everyone to touch more--it isn't just for blind people.
>
>Sylvie Kashdan



Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx

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