[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] tactile planetarium and castle
and art student
Lisa Yayla
fnugg at online.no
Fri Nov 5 03:48:28 CST 2004
Hi,
Article about star touching and tactile dome by Dr. Hurd at
Edinboro University (text follows)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04309/406429.stm
Link to related article
http://www.geotimes.org/june04/education.html
and article Castles for the blind about a tactile model of
the Count Károlyi kastély in Hungary.
http://www.budapestsun.com/full_story.asp?ArticleId=%7B87849A28AE68499DA8ACD23BA4CD73BF%7D&From=Style
A beautiful sight - a young art student
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/education_more.php?id=62005_0_2_0_C
Regards,
Lisa
State convention for the blind opens in Green Tree tomorrow
Thursday, November 04, 2004
By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The blind will have an opportunity to reach up and touch the
stars they've
never seen during the annual convention of the National
Federation of the
Blind of Pennsylvania starting tomorrow at the Holiday Inn
in Green Tree.
David Hurd, professor and director of the planetarium at
Edinboro University
of Pennsylvania, has designed a tactile dome that allows the
blind to feel
simulations of the constellations. He will give two seminars
tomorrow and the
dome will be on exhibit for attendees -- blind or sighted --
to try out during
the convention, which ends Sunday.
Other exhibits will range from the latest
computer technology to the products
of members in business for themselves.
Crowded into the three-day schedule are
meetings and seminars designed to
help the blind obtain the tools and
education necessary to be independent and
active participants in the community.
"The federation looks at blindness as it
has its problems and frustrations,
especially if you are newly blind. However,
there are ways to overcome these
problems," said Chuck Morgenstern, 71, of
Brighton Heights, the treasurer of
the state federation.
Other seminars will focus on how to use
Newsline, a program by which the
blind can hear a synthetic voice read a
newspaper over the telephone; the
home-based computer training available from
the Iowa Department for the
Blind; and how library services can be made
accessible.
The state chapter of the National
Organization of Parents of Blind Children
also will meet to discuss ways of obtaining
the best education for their
children, and older students will have a
seminar on self-advocacy in the
classroom.
Federation spokeswoman Lynn Heitz said
about 100 of the group's 1,300
members are expected to attend the
convention, which was in Harrisburg last
year.
Castles for the blind By Esther Vécsey
N MAY 2001 the Károlyi József Foundation of Fehérvárcsurgó
(in Veszprém County) organized a charity concert in the
beautiful 19th century ceremonial hall of the headquarters
of the National Institute
for the Blind, raising funds for a tactile maquette or
model of the grand, eclectic-style Count Károlyi kastély
(country manor house) of Fehérvárcsurgó, near
Székesfehérvár. The stately manor house with 5O hectares of
protected ancient park, is listed as one of Hungary's
historical monuments. Since its nationalization in 1948, it
belonged to the State Treasury, according to Paris-based
businessman György Károlyi, who was one-year old when his
parents fled Hungary in 1947 from Communism. The castle,
built in 1884 by Heinrich Koch, with the assistance of the
young Miklós Ybl, for György's greatgrandfather Count
József Károlyi, suffered all the indignities of such
historic monuments after the invasion of Hungary by German
and Soviet troops in the Second World War and the subsequent
nationalization of all private property in 1948.
The extensive Károlyi family was among Hungary's
wealthiest landowning magnates until the Second World War.
With estates throughout Hungary and Transylvania, members of
the Károlyi family also
built imposing palaces in Budapest in the so-called "Palace
District" behind the National Museum in District VIII. Their
preferred architect was Ybl, who designed the Opera House.
The present Petõfi Museum on Károlyi Mihály utca is the
oldest and most distinguished of the Károlyi Palaces in
Budapest.
"My father István was born on the Fehérvárcsurgó Estate, and
grew up there when it was a flowering,
productive, functioning agrarian
enterprise," recounts Gyôrgy. Those days are a thing of the
past for the young Károlyi's family of
six, who live in an unpretentious apartment
on the Left Bank in Paris.
György speaks fluent Hungarian, learned from his parents,
and perfected since his involvement in the restoration of
the castle. He has a French university degree in political
science, and is an executive in Paris. His wife Angelica,
whose parents were German artists living in Paris, directs
the operations of the foundation, and manages the household
of four children, the oldest of whom is 27. "We are a
thoroughly European family," declares György. "Now part of a
new open Europe, and especially since the accession of
Hungary to the European Union, we feel just as
at home in France as in Hungary; of course I
do feel a certain closeness to my Hungarian origins," he
adds. While continuing to live in Paris, the Károlyis visit
Hungary often. At the castle they have furnished a modest
caretakers' residence and slowly, along with the overall
renovation - a gargantuan task - are creating living
quarters for themselves, their guests, and for artists and
scholars-inresidence as well as for larger conferences and
seminars. "Arriving after the war in Paris as refugees, it
took time for my family to begin a new
life, but with hard work and
ingenuity we were able to establish
ourselves in the professional and
social ranks of our peers," says
György, who much resembles his
mother, a striking dark-haired beauty
and daughter of the renowned
painter Tibor Pólya. At 80, she still
designs for the famous fashion house
of Hermés Fréres. Angelica is the
driving force behind the foundation's
ongoing restoration, fund-raising
activities, receptions and special
events. She has learned Hungarian, as
have her children.
"Our first visit to the castle was in
1984, when we found it totally empty,
and in terrible condition. Following
sacking by Germans and Soviets in
1945, the castle was used as a State
home for refugee Greek children.
Due to the lack of upkeep, the
children were moved out in the 1970s,
leaving the castle derelict; it stood
empty for more than 14 years,"
recounts György.
Since 199O, it has been on the
official list of Hungarian State Treasures.
The National Trust repaired the roof,
and stabilized its condition, but the
planned restoration is an enormous
task which the young Károlyis have
taken on themselves, with
fund-raisers, grants from special sponsors,
and a hefty loan taken on their own
flat in Paris. Angelica fully shares her
husband's ideology and dedication to
raise the funds to restore the
architectural state of the huge
edifice, and to turn the ancestral family
castle into an open resource for
Hungarian and European history and
culture. "We want it to be a
significant crossroads-meetingpoint for
international groups and programs,"
states Angelica. With its growing
multi-lingual library and regular
public events, the castle is now on the list
of the International Historic Castles
exchanges program, and is
accessible from spring through to
November, when the St Erzsébet
Candlelight Concert (this year held on
November 12) closes the season.
The special tactile maquette of the
castle was officially inaugurated in
spring 2004, in the presence of a
group of children from the School for
the Blind, as well as sponsors such as
Tissot, which restored the
castle's steeple clock. Sponsors of
the model include Alcyon
Francia-Magyar Klub, Paris; Hypermarkt
Cora; Medimpex, Paris; Open
Society Institute, Soros Foundation;
Lyons Club Székesfehérvár;
Plastronic Molding Kft; Horog Kft; MP
Contract Kft; IN-HOR Kft, and the
students of the Budapest Music
Academy.
"I can now 'see' what this magnificent
U-shaped building is like, from
touching the model, and especially
enjoy the different textures of the
building, the kavics (pebble)
walkways, and the enclosed garden
between the wings of the castle, and
can imagine the elegant whole; I
have learned from touching, what the
Doric-style architectural order is
like, and can picture the entire
castle in all its grandeur," commented one
guest from the Institute for the
Blind. According to Angelica, "The tactile
model expresses our ethos of making
the castle as accessible to all as
possible." György remarks that such
buildings are normally full of signs
saying Do not touch. "But here we want
everyone to touch and experience,
down to the very materials, what this
particular castle is made of!"
The young French architect, Isabelle
Dapzol developed the technology of
tactile maquettes, with signs in
Braille giving the blind specific
information about the materials and
forms they are touching. They can
even open the roof and feel the
structure of the walls and the ceiling,
something which is a revelation for
the seeing-impaired.
The enthusiastic reaction of the
visitors prompted the Károlyis to initiate a
fund-raising drive to enable Dapzol to
create a larger tactile model of
Fehérvárcsurgó. "Our aim is to raise
Ft2.5 million ($13,000) for a model
the width of an adults' outspread
arms," illustrates György, throwing his
arms out in an open gesture.
The model is a key part of the
Károlyis' philosophy that the castle is an
important part of a mutual European
cultural heritage, and that "we are no
longer limited by sight, language, or
borders, that we can communicate
with universal means, with the
international language of the sense of
touch, the language of the new Europe
with open borders to which
Hungary now belongs".
Eventually, the Károlyis wish to raise
more than Ft7 billion ($36.3m) -
partly through a loan from the Council
of Europe Development Bank - to
restore the whole castle and make it
into a fully functioning information
and tourist center. "We have had
several generous donations to our
library and to the building fund,
which affirms our concept that there is a
practical use for this genre of
historical monument," declares György.
"Hungary has so many dilapidated
building, whose original function is a
thing of the past. We live in the
present, and our aim is to make the castle
an open, accessible, cross-cultural
European meeting center, in
cooperation with the aims of Hungary's
Séchenyi Plan and the Council of
Europe's vision of the new united
Europe. Towards this end there is
already the chapel where we hold the
concerts, a functioning library, and
rooms where exhibitions, meetings,
seminars, teacher-training
sessions, and conferences are held on
a regular basis, and which even
the blind can enjoy."
Information
GUITAR and Mandolin concert,
candlelight ritual, celebration of St
Elisabeth's Day (Please note: St
Elisabeth's Day is officially November
19, but the concert will be held on
November 12, at 8pm)
Károlyi József Foundation of
Fehérvárcsurgó 8052, Petôfi utca 2, Tel: (06-
22) 578-089 or 578-080, fax: (06- 22)
426-003, or (06- 22) 578-081 Email:
karolyi.paris at wannadoo.fr; or
karolyi.kastely at axelero.hu Tickets: at the
door, or pre-ordered at the numbers
above.
A beautiful sight
St. Mary’s student overcomes
odds to be a blessing to family
By KEVIN GARCIA
The Brownsville Herald
Nov. 3, 2004 — Painting with the rest
of the class at St. Mary’s Academy,
7-year-old Alexis Lugo
enjoys expressing herself in color.
“I like painting,” Alexis said. “We get
to be doing masterpieces.”
The first grader does struggle
sometimes. She has seen many
doctors in her young life and has had to
overcome many physical
challenges, but now she blends in with
other students.
When she was born four and a half months
premature, physicians
gave her less than three days to live,
but her parents believed she
would survive.
“The doctors would tell us there would
be this or that, and I guess
we never listened,” said her father,
Rene Lugo. “We’ve always
had a lot of faith.”
Rene and Esther Lugo had been trying for
a long time to have a
child. Alexis was their seventh
pregnancy, but they would not be
deterred.
“I have always wanted to be a mother and
I wouldn’t take no for
an answer,” Esther Lugo said.
After she survived her first 72 hours,
doctors said she would have
neurological problems, respiratory
difficulties, and possibly be
deaf and blind for life.
Problems did occur, but the family
struggled through them.
“She bloomed like a little flower,” Rene
Lugo said.
“We try to teach her that nothing is an
obstacle for her,” he
explained. “We really never thought
about not trying. We would
fall and get up again.”
Today, Alexis doesn’t put much thought
into her difficulties —
even with contacts she cannot read the
blackboard — she would
rather focus on creating art.
“We do art and pretty things,” Alexis
said. “One time we did a
lemon and a flower and I painted it
pink. It’s a little bit my favorite
color.”
Art teacher Ana De La Garza gives the
students at St. Mary’s
advanced art tasks, studying still life
and synchronism, and she
said Alexis is progressing nicely.
“She’s a little bit slower than the
other kids because she needs to
visualize a little more, but she does
really, really good,” De La
Garza said. “She likes to do her own
brush strokes. She likes to
do things her own way.”
While Alexis may love the visual arts,
her true passion is song. At
7, she already has a clear, strong
singing voice.
“I have been in a play once,” she said
of a religious play she took
part in last year. “I was singing a song
called ‘Immaculate Mary.’”
With that, she broke into song,
remembering word for word a
year after her last performance.
With the encouragement of the St. Mary’s
faculty and her parents,
Alexis is considering acting on stage.
“I think everybody would be cheering for
me,” she said. “I think I
would like it.”
Her parents would like that too. They
are proud of what she has
accomplished and know that she has many
accomplishments
ahead of her.
Alexis already has plans for what she
wants to do after she
graduates.
“I want to be a veterinarian because I
like to take care of pets,”
Alexis said, adding that she knows she
will do a lot between then
and now.
kgarcia at brownsvilleherald.com
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