[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] article Work of Blind Students at Philadelphia Museum of Art

[Lisa Yayla]

Hi,Article from Artdaily.com
http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=10430
Regards,
Lisa

Work of Blind Students at Philadelphia Museum of Art

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- While taking visually impaired, adult
students on
a three-year creative journey, the Philadelphia Museum of
Art is
showcasing the works of the fifty students enrolled in the
Museum’s
Form in Art program in a touchable exhibit, on view at the
Museum
through June 20. 
  Works made during the course of this award-winning
program, which
 combines studio art classes with the study of art history
for people
 who are legally blind (many have some residual vision),
will be on
 display in the Museum’s Education Corridor before moving to
Wills
 Eye Hospital, where it will be exhibited from June 23 to
August 8,
 2004, and the Pennsylvania College of Optometry from August
11 to
September 6, 2004. The show is a celebration of the
achievements of
 the students enrolled in the program and serves as an
inspiration to
blind, visually impaired, and sighted Museum visitors. 
  Form in Art is a three-year, six-semester program offered
by the Office
 of Accessible Programs in the Division of Education at the
Museum.
Reversing the nearly universal “do not touch” policy of
museums,
 Form in Art facilitates artistic development through Touch
Tours of
selected objects in the permanent collections, Verbally
Described
Tours by Museum Guides, and lectures by museum staff members
 on the curatorial and conservation responsibilities of the
Museum. 
“The creative talent of all Form in Art students is fueled
by their
teachers, who are professional artists, and the many
volunteers who
 lend their time to the program,” says Marla Shoemaker,
Senior
 Curator of Education at the Museum. “It is their dedication
that makes
Form in Art possible.”  

                                                 Students
entering the program come from a wide variety of
                                                
backgrounds, vary from having recent to congenital sight
loss, and
                                                 from being
lifelong artists to having little or no art training. They
are
                                                 recommended
for Form in Art by area agencies for the blind, or apply
                                                 on the
recommendation of other students. After a small $10 to $40
                                                 per
semester registration fee, the Museum pays for all materials
and
                                                 arranges
and pays for one half of the transportation for the
students.
                                                 Four
classes, two advanced and two beginner, meet once a week for
                                                 two 13-week
semesters each year, with an exhibit of their work in the
                                                 Museum at
the end of each year. In addition to the Museum, works by
                                                 Form in Art
students have been seen in galleries all over
                                                
Philadelphia, and even as far away as Japan, when an
exhibition of
                                                 works was
sent to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kobe and
                                                 Gallery Tom
in Tokyo in 1989.

                                                 In keeping
with the mission of Form in Art, the Office of Accessible
                                                 Programs is
constantly experimenting and developing new methods
                                                 of
interpreting the Museum’s collections for blind and
partially sighted
                                                 visitors by
implementing large-print labels, Braille information,
tactile
                                                 drawings,
touchable constructions of paintings, black-and-white,
                                                
high-contrast photographs, audio or verbal descriptions, and
                                                 educational
exhibits. Form in Art is generously supported by The
                                                 Women’s
Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.