R: [Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] articles- mixed bag

[universomediterraneo]

Thank you very much for teh article about "Blind Engineering Student 'Reads'
Color as Sound" and untill news about the project with teh collegue of
Turin, distinclty
dott.ssa Elvira D'Amicone

----- Original Message -----
From: Lisa Yayla <fnugg at online.no>
To: <art_beyond_sight_learning_tools at nfbnet.org>;
<art_beyond_sight_advocacy at nfbnet.org>; <artbeyondsightmuseums at nfbnet.org>;
<art_beyond_sight_learning_tools at nfbnet.org>;
<art_beyond_sight_educators at nfbnet.org>; <accessibleimage at freelists.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 11:07 PM
Subject: [Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] articles- mixed bag


> Hi,
> Sending a mixed bag of articles.
> The subjects included are
> -an artist who is completely color blind and the aid that
> helps him differentiate color
> -an article about a blind photographer
> -article about a blind sculptor
> -an article about rapid prototyping technology research
> -have included an article about comic books because it
> mentions blind young boys love for them (have not included
> text but link)
> -a reminder about the 1st international haptics conference
> and call for papers,
> -an article about the Helen Keller International Award show
> in Scotland bi-annual competition to encourage art on the
> subject of deaf blindness
> -an article about the Art Of The Eye II" exhibit, kids and
> art class (link from Art Beyond Sight list) -article about a
> car rally - I'm interested in finding out how the maps are
> made, anyone have an idea?
> -an article that is I guess off subject but thought it would
> be of interest, about fortune telling as an occupation in
> Korea for blind
> -and an article about a project about color and sound (from
> Art Beyond Sight list)
> -and a link to an article about students developing a more
> accessible downtown .
> Links follow, with text of articles following link list.
> Good reading and best wishes,
> Lisa
>
>
> Eyes opened to sound of socks
>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=P8&targetRule
=10&xml=/health/2005/01/12/hcolor12.xml
>
> Loss of Sight Focuses His Artistic Vision
>
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/state/la-me-blind6jan06,1,3332144.story?co
ll=la-news-state&ctrack=1&cset=true
>
> Eyesight not required for artistic vision Sculptor's
> imagination 'as fertile as ever' after she became blind
>
>
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/irving/stories/010905d
nirveyes.5aadf.html
>
> Penn State senior's digital photos may aid blind
> http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/newssummary/s_291602.html
>
> comic-book collector's paradise
> http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4746~2645411,00.html
>
>
> http://www.worldhaptics.com/
>
> Once more, this time with feeling
> http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=60852005
>
> "Art Of The Eye II" exhibit returns to The Gallery At Joel's
>
http://www.easterneronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/17/41edd7ff13f78
>
> School for Blind students express themselves through art
> http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10698871.htm
>
> CAR RALLY
> http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=113547
>
> Lacking vision, but seeing the future
>
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200501/13/200501132123394579900091009101.html
>
>
> http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/509358/
> Blind Engineering Student 'Reads' Color as Sound
>
> Sylvania: Safety committee hears presentation from robotics
> team
>
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050106/NEWS18/501060349/
-1/NEWS
>
> Articles
>
> Penn State senior's digital photos may aid blind
> By Larry Seben
> VND correspondent
> Monday, January 10, 2005
>
> If necessity is the mother of invention, then Jason Donnell
> of Sarver must be a close relative.
> The 22-year-old senior in electrical engineering at Penn
> State the Behrend College in Erie has become the primary
> inventor of a process that might eventually enable the blind
> to "see" digital photographs. It was not something Donnell
> set out to do but, like many inventions, came about through
> a long set of circumstances.
>
> "About a year ago, I was looking at trying to get an
> internship and was going through the Career Development
> Center at school," said Donnell. "They send out a lot of
> emails about a lot of different things, and there was one
> for a 10-week program called Research Experience for
> Undergraduates."
>
> "I had been applying for just about everything, so I thought
> I would take a stab at it," said Donnell.
>
>
> The application process itself proved to be a major
> challenge, including writing multiple papers, numerous
> letters of reference, a resume and transcripts.
>
> "I applied in early February, and didn't hear anything from
> them for a long time. Then in late April, I got word that I
> was among the 10 students selected from around the country,"
> said Donnell. "I was still in the dark about exactly what I
> was going to be doing."
>
> The 10-week program was to be held at the Milwaukee School
> of Engineering (MSOE) starting on June 6. Donnell drove the
> 600 hundred miles and spent the first week getting
> acquainted with the other students and their advisors. At
> the end of that week, his advisor, Dr. Larry Fennigkoh, a
> MSOE professor, gave him his research assignment.
>
> "My project was called 'Photographs for the Blind,' and it
> was something really different," said Donnell.
>
> While the blind have Braille for reading and specially made
> maps with raised lines, there is nothing of the sort for
> pictures and images.
>
> "It was really kind of controversial too, because there were
> a lot of people saying why do the blind need to 'see' a
> photograph, when they don't know what a tree ever looked
> like," said Donnell. "But there were others who say that a
> lot of blind people were not born blind, and they would know
> what things look like, and would like to see pictures of
> their kids."
>
> The project would involve using a process called rapid
> prototyping, a state-of-the-art system that takes computer
> aided design programs and actually produces a three
> dimensional product. The process, Donnell said, was largely
> funded by major corporations like Milwaukee-based Harley
> Davidson.
>
> "With a Word document, you output to a printer," explained
> Donnell. "With rapid prototyping, the output is to a machine
> that uses a special type of paper, wax or plastic. So, for
> example, if Harley Davidson has something they want to
> include on a bike, but is not too sure about, they can input
> the information and it will produce an exact sized copy of
> the item."
>
> Donnell said one of the most promising future uses for rapid
> prototyping will be the ability to take an MRI image of a
> damaged knee or similar body part, and be able to produce an
> individualized replica for replacement.
>
> For Donnell, the big challenge was to figure out a system
> that would raise a digital photograph into a three
> dimensional piece so that a blind person could run there
> fingers over it and 'read' the image. While existing
> computer aided design programs worked with three dimensional
> objects, there was nothing that would take a two dimensional
> photograph and make it three dimensions.
>
> "I dilly dallied around for about four weeks working with
> different ideas, and I thought there would be a program out
> there I could use," said Donnell. "I didn't realize there
> was really nothing available and that I was going to have to
> write a program. There were really a lot of issues to deal
> with. I had opened up a can of worms."
>
> Fortunately for Donnell, another student in the program
> discovered some help did exist, though crude and untried.
>
> "Josh Mueller, a senior computer science major at MSOE found
> this program that had been put on the Internet that we could
> partially use," said Donnell. "Ironically, it had been
> developed by a professor at Carnegie Mellon right here in
> Pittsburgh."
>
> The program itself had been something that was partially
> developed but was full of bugs. It only dealt with portions
> of the process Donnell was working on, so he was faced with
> filling in the holes and trying to get the bugs out.
>
> "It covered about two thirds of what I needed, so I wrote
> the processing part myself," said Donnell. "Josh is a really
> brilliant guy, and he helped with parts of it as well."
>
> After a lot of hours of writing and re-writing, Donnell had
> his program. But because of the short time frame of the
> project, he was only able to produce and test three
> examples.
>
> "The tests on a simple picture of a playing card were pretty
> good," said Donnell. "But the pictures of a tree and of a
> ghost town were very tough and showed the need for more
> work."
>
> Donnell said he came up with an idea to add an embedded
> circuit powered by a miniature battery, enabling the picture
> to essentially "talk" to the reader. Unfortunately, the ten
> week project was virtually over and such ideas would have to
> wait.
>
> "The program is something that MSOE is very interested in
> pursuing," said Donnell. "They are trying to get a
> development grant from the National Health Foundation."
>
> As primary inventor, MSOE has asked Donnell to make a
> presentation before the National Institute of Health in
> Virginia in an effort to secure funding for further
> development.
>
> If successful in getting money, Donnell said he would like
> to continue working on the project, but would only do so
> from school in Erie or home in Pittsburgh.
>
> "I really don't want to move to Milwaukee," said Donnell.
> "My home and my roots are here, and I would like to stay
> here, so I will probably have limited involvement going
> forward."
>
>
>
> Eyes opened to sound of socks
> (Filed: 12/01/2005)
>
> Red or green? Facts about colour blindness
>
> A bizarre invention has changed the life of a colour-blind
> artist. Bryony Gordon reports
>
> Neil Harbisson is, quite literally, a man who has always
> viewed life in black and white. The 22-year-old Spaniard,
> who moved to Totnes in south Devon in 2003, was born with
> achromatopsia, a rare condition that affects only one person
> in 33,000 and causes monochromatism, or complete colour
> blindness.
>
> Neil Harbisson: I now see my art as composing music on
> canvas
>
> But last year, he was able to see - or, more accurately,
> hear - colours for the first time. Harbisson has been fitted
> with a machine that turns colours into soundwaves, with a
> different sound representing each hue. The Eye-Borg, as it
> is known, features a head-mounted digital camera that reads
> the colours in front of Harbisson and converts them, via a
> laptop he carries in a backpack, into sound.
>
> A scale of musical tones represents the spectrum of colours
> - light hues are high-pitched, while darker colours sound
> bolder. It is, in a way, forced synaesthesia; its creator,
> 23-year-old digital multimedia expert Adam Montandon,
> describes the invention as "like hearing a colour wheel".
>
> Harbisson has worn the Eye-Borg for every waking moment
> since last March, when he became the first person to be
> fitted with one. It even features in his passport
> photograph. Previously, it was as difficult for him to
> comprehend being surrounded by colour as it is for us to
> understand what it would be like to live in a black and
> white world.
>
> "I always felt I was missing out during conversations," he
> says. "People do not realise how often they use colour when
> they are talking."
>
> Simple acts, such as eating breakfast, were difficult, too.
> "If a foodstuff was not in its traditional shape, I couldn't
> distinguish it," he says. "I used to get jam mixed up with
> tomato sauce, and orange juice confused with apple juice. I
> had to ask people what a particular food was, or smell it,
> and when I was young, lots of people thought that was
> slightly odd behaviour."
>
> At school, he was teased by classmates, who thought he was
> just being lazy every time he asked one of them to pass the
> red paint in an art class, or pick out a blue pen from his
> pencil case. He dressed exclusively in black and white.
> "What was the point in wearing something I couldn't
> appreciate?" he asks.
>
> When we meet, Harbisson is wearing a bright orange jumper.
> Red socks poke out from under his jeans. These, he says,
> were the first colourful clothes he bought.
>
> "I walked past them in a shop, and thought, 'I like the
> sound of those socks, I'll buy them'," he smiles.
>
> The most dramatic impact of the Eye-Borg has been on his
> work. Remarkably, Harbisson chose to study art when he moved
> to Devon. Until he was fitted with Montandon's invention,
> his canvases were daubed with only black, white and
> charcoals. Now, he has a palette of brightly coloured
> paints, and his work is full of bold and vibrant tones.
>
> "I now see my art as composing music on canvas," says
> Harbisson, who also now "hears colours" when listening to
> music - he recently went to a concert where the female
> performer sang shades of yellow and, he says, the whirr of
> his Hoover is red. "Before, I was slightly afraid of my art.
> But now, it's completely different. I am having so much fun
> with it, painting masses of objects that all have sounds."
>
> His favourite new painting features only a blue sky and a
> garden full of green grass. It is the simplest, most
> childish creation of all, and yet, for Harbisson, it
> illustrates the enormous improvement the Eye-Borg has made
> to his life.
>
> It has also helped him to appreciate other people's art.
> "Without the Eye-Borg, it was very hard for me to understand
> an artist's use of colour," he says. "If I looked at a
> painting, it seemed to be missing a layer. Now, I have that
> layer."
>
> He has started to enjoy the paintings of Joan Miró, whose
> work in clear colour tones had always confused him. And on a
> visit to his home town of Barcelona, he was delighted by the
> work of Gaudi. "I walk around the city and listen to his
> architecture and it is amazing."
>
> Before he was fitted with the Eye-Borg, he says he "hated
> the very existence of colour". But now, he has a favourite
> shade - red, a tone that sounds as bold as it looks -
> although he is not very fond of brown or the so-called
> "middle-range" shades of blue, green and turquoise that,
> interestingly, many people who aren't colour-blind find
> confusing.
>
> The most dramatic moment came when he realised that colour
> was everywhere, even in corners of rooms. "My friends had
> always pointed at the middle of a wall and said, 'That's
> blue', and I never realised that the blue extended right to
> both ends of the wall."
>
> He is very excited about the possibilities that the
> invention holds for other visually impaired people. "One
> day, blind people could paint through sound, and perhaps
> even the deaf could compose music using colour."
>
> In the meantime, he intends to wear the Eye-Borg all day,
> every day. "The Eye-Borg is amazing. Nothing is missing any
> more and I have grown in confidence. Now, I want to
> experience colour as much as possible."
>
> Red or green? Facts about colour blindness
>
> What is achromatopsia?
>
> Achromatopsia is a hereditary vision disorder that stops the
> cones - the receptor cells - in the retina from functioning.
> This results in total colour blindness combined with
> hypersensitivity to bright light and poor visual acuity.
>
> How common is the condition?
>
> In most parts of the world, it is extremely rare. Yet on the
> Pacific island of Pingelap, there is a high incidence of it.
> This is because a typhoon wiped out 90 per cent of the
> island's inhabitants in 1775. One survivor had the recessive
> gene that caused achromatopsia, and passed it on to his
> ancestors. Today, six per cent of Pingelap's population are
> completely colour-blind.
>
> What are the other types of colour blindness?
>
> The most common type is red-green colour blindness. In one
> form, red is indistinct to sufferers; in the second form,
> those affected are unable to tell the difference between
> reds, greens, browns and oranges. Red-green colour blindness
> affects more men than women, because the gene that causes it
> is carried on the X chromosome and a woman's second X
> chromosome masks the effects of this gene. Females can,
> however, pass the gene on to offspring.
>
> Are all types of colour blindness hereditary?
>
> Most colour-blind people are born with the condition. There
> are, however, factors that can cause it to develop. These
> include head trauma, illnesses such as diabetes and multiple
> sclerosis, and some drugs, including chloroquine, an
> anti-malarial medication.
>
>
> Reminder
> First Joint  EUROHAPTICS CONFERENCE   and SYMPOSIUM ON
> HAPTIC INTERFACES  FOR VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT AND TELEOPERATOR
> SYSTEMS
> Pisa, Italy
> March 18-20, 2005
>
>  In cooperation with IEEE Computer Society
>  vgtc - IEEE Visualization & Graphics Technical Committee
>
>  NOTICE: Posters and Hands-On Demo deadline still open
>
> Although the deadline for paper submissions is closed, it is
> still possible to submit Posters and
>  Hands-On Demos by January 22, 2005.
>
> "WorldHaptics"
>
> After a series of x successful conferences and events
> separately organized in the U.S. and Europe, the Symposium
> on Haptic
> Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems
> and the EuroHaptics Conference will be held jointly for the
> first
> time in 2005 in Pisa, Italy.
>
> This is a great chance to create a truly global community in
> haptics, capable of answering the challenges, and grab the
> opportunities, offered by the growing demand of better
> interfaces to remote and virtual environments.
>
> Call for papers
>
> The Call for Participation can be downloaded here .
> The WHC PostCard can be downloaded here
>
> Notes
>
> As in the recent past, the Haptics Symposium will be closely
> linked to the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference. In 2005, IEEE
> VR
> will be held in Bonn, on March 13-16. There are direct
> connection flights from Bonn to Pisa, by which attendees to
> IEEE VR
> can reach the WHC venue conveniently on March 17.
>
>
> Important dates
>
> November 15, 2004: Deadline for Long and Short Manuscript
> Submission
> December 19, 2005: Notification of Acceptance
> January 9, 2005: Final Manuscript Submission
> January 15, 2005: Deadline for Poster and Hands-On Demo
> Submission
>  February 15, 2005: Notification of Acceptance for Posters
> and Demos
> February 15, 2005: Arrangement of Industrial Exhibits
> (please contact the organizers directly)
>
> Conference Topics
>
> Haptic interfaces are devices that allow human-machine
> interaction through force and touch. The conference will
> address all
> aspects related to such interaction - from the basic
> scientific underpinnings, to the technological developments,
> to the different
> realizations and applications.
>
> Accordingly, papers will be accepted in three main areas:
>
>      Science of Haptic Perception
>      Technology of Haptic Interfaces
>      Applications of Haptic Interfaces and Teleoperation
> Systems
>
>
> Antonio Bicchi & Massimo Bergamasco
> WorldHaptics General Chairs
> email: info at worldhaptics.com
>
>
>
>  Once more, this time with feeling
>
>  ANDREW EATON
>
>  AS A RULE, one doesnâ?Tt touch things in art galleries. Art
> is pricey, precious stuff,  and can easily be damaged.
> Itâ?Ts always refreshing, then, to visit a show that
> encourages you to touch.
>
>  There is usually, after all, no other way for blind people
> to experience visual art,  which is one of the ideas at the
> heart of this yearâ?Ts Helen Keller International Award
> show, Sense Scotlandâ?Ts bi-annual competition to encourage
> art on the  subject of deaf-blindness.
>
> Lindsay Mitchell, Sense Scotlandâ?Ts arts manager, seems
> delighted, saying this makes for a more inclusive show:
> "Weâ?Tre moving much more towards a  competition where
> artists ask how the work might be accessible to someone with
> visual impairment."
>
> For example, Colin Harkinsonâ?Ts Sound and Vision: The 20th
> Century Obsession,is a sculpture of a car steering wheel and
> wing-mirror, with a loud, tootable horn.
>  Grace Newmanâ?Ts The Conversation consists of seven hands
> suspended on poles, apparently communicating with each other
> by gestures. Add your own hand andyou become part of the
> conversation, and part of the art. Hands, in fact, are
> everywhere this year, whether talking in sign language or
> just acting as a simple, potent symbol - as in Indian artist
> Safiya F Ummuâ?Ts painting My Hand, a hand where a head
> should be.
>
> Some history: the Helen Keller award began in 1933 as an
> essay competition,  after the famous American campaigner
> visited Scotland, and has been an art award since 1992.
> Anyone can enter, as long as the art is on the subject of
> deaf-blindness; this year over 200 entries were sent from
> across the world. To create a level playing field, the
> judging panel - including, this year, sculptor Kenny Hunter
> - arenâ?Tt told which artists are deaf or blind, both or
> neither.
>
>  This presents challenges, both for the judges and the
> organisers. This year,ironically, one piece didnâ?Tt make
> the short-list because the judges felt it
> didnâ?Ttspecifically represent the deaf-blind experience -
> yet it was made by a deaf-blind artist. Meanwhile, an award
> which prides itself on accessibility - all
> work sent is in the show, even if this means drastic
> variations in quality - now risks growing beyond Sense
> Scotlandâ?Ts budget and control. "It would be lovely to
> think we could fill an enormous venue but we have to think
> about the practicalities," warns Mitchell. A victim of its
> own success, an award which is partly
> about combating discrimination may soon have to discriminate
> to survive.
>
> The Helen Keller International Award is at the Collins
> Gallery, Glasgow, until 12 February.
>
>
>
> "Art Of The Eye II" exhibit returns to The Gallery At Joel's
>
> by Brandon Hansen
> January 17, 2005
>
> Art of the Eye II, an exhibit of works by the visually
> impaired, will be on display at the Gallery at Joel's in
> Spokane Feb. 4 through Feb. 25.
>
> The exhibit is free to the public.
>
> Art of the Eye II is the second collection by artists who
> are blind or have visual impairments. The exhibit educates
> the public about vision as it relates to the artist's
> perception and how vision plays inspirationally in the
> creative process.
>
> Art of the Eye II contains 42 mixed media works, created by
> 10 of the artists from the original exhibit, Art of the Eye.
>
> Delta Gamma Alumni Chair of the Spokane Chapter, Michelle
> Hagan, said she has been working on the exhibit for 18
> months.
>
> "The goal of our chapter is to help the public redefine
> sight," Hagan said. "And in doing so, change the perception
> that seeing to be an artist, to create, its not important to
> have sight. Some of our artists have partial sight, some are
> completely blind."
>
> Hagan said a fundraising goal has been set at $20,000 with
> $16,500 already raised. The proceeds go to a program helping
> sight-impaired individuals in northern Idaho.
>
> "We had to raise $5,000 to bring it here, and we're doing a
> special event for children at Woodridge Elementary School,"
> Hagan said.
>
> On President's Day, Woodridge Elementary School children
> will travel to The Gallery At Joel's and interact with a
> seeing eye dog, she said.
>
> Art of the Eye was conceived by Scott Nelson, a sculptor
> with retinitis pigmentosa, in January 1986.
>
> Hagan said that Nelson will use the "Delmonico Technique,"
> which allows people to experience art without focusing on
> sight.
>
> "They put themselves in the place of the artist," Hagan
> said.
>
> The collection was purchased in 1990 by the George Gund
> Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio and presented as a gift to the
> Delta Gamma Foundation because of Delta Gamma's history of
> service and strong commitment to sight preservation and to
> assisting those who are visually impaired or blind.
>
> Art of the Eye II was developed in 1997 by the Delta Gamma
> Foundation using 10 previous Art of the Eye creators.
>
> Art of the Eye II is a project, which utilizes the
> international network of Delta Gamma alumni and collegians
> and accomplishes goals in all three areas of the Delta Gamma
> Foundation: Awareness, Service and Fundraising.
>
> The Delta Gamma Foundation promotes the Art of the Eye
> exhibits for numerous reasons including recognizing that
> vision exists beyond the physical capability to see,
> educating and sensitizing Delta Gammas and the general
> public regarding the nature of visual impairment,
> demonstrating through the exhibits the talents and abilities
> of persons who are visually impaired, increasing member and
> public awareness of the aims of the Delta Gamma Foundation,
> and inspiring greater effort to "do good."
>
> Both exhibits increase knowledge of the Delta Gamma
> Foundation's mission and provide the opportunity to share in
> its success.
>
> Art of the Eye II features works in a variety of media
> including painting, sculpture, ceramics, mixed media and
> photography by artists who are blind or have visual
> impairments such as double vision, macular degeneration,
> retinal detachment, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, diabetic
> retinopathy, monocular vision and retrolental fibroplasias.
>
> Historically, visual disorders have affected many famous
> artists including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Honore
> Daumier, Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Titian
> and Edgar Degas.
>
> If people want to delve into Art of the Eye II, special
> guest and curator of the exhibit Scott Nelson will be
> available for interviews by phone or in person Feb. 4-6.
>
> Nelson is an accomplished artist and lecturer whose
> sculptural tripod sighting instruments have been exhibited
> in art galleries and museums throughout the country since
> 1975.
>
> Nelson has played key parts in both of the exhibits on
> vision.
>
> Art of the Eye II, a compilation of 42 mixed media works,
> will be an artistic expression of vision, not to be missed.
>
> Original Art of the Eye works are still for sale with pieces
> shown on Delta Gamma's Web site or through contacting
> Kathleen Williams at 614-481-8169 ext. 324.
>
>
>
> "Art Of The Eye II" exhibit returns to The Gallery At
> Joel's
>
> Posted on Fri, Jan. 21, 2005
>
>
>  School for Blind students express  themselves through art
>
>
>  First project making molds with clay
>
>  By Bill E. Wambeke
>
>  American News Writer
>
>
>  Even those challenged by the loss of their eyesight can
> express themselves through art.
>
>   Northern State University professor Ruth McKinney and her
> two NSU student assistants  Cassie Houston and Katie Kaiser
> are teaching art to high school-aged students at the South
> Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
>
>  The goal is for the visually impaired students to create
> works of art every Tuesday until the end of the current
> school semester.
>
>  This week, the first art class of the semester, McKinney
> and her assistants were helping the children put clay on
> plastic faces to make molds.
>
>  "Right now they're exploring texture. We're giving them a
> new material to work with," said McKinney.
>
>  With the clay that the students were putting over the
> masks, in the following weeks they are going to add features
> to resemble or exaggerate their own faces.
>
>  In the school, one hall is designated for art pieces done
> by freshmen art students at NSU as  part of their freshmen
> requirements. The pieces have different textures that allow
> the blind students to feel them.
>
>  "You get to have fun with it and do something outside of
> the box," Kaiser said.
>
>  This is not the first art class for the students, as in the
> past they have had pottery and papier
> mache classes through the city's parks and recreation
> department.
>
> In the future Houston would like to give a presentation on
> fibers at the School for the Blind,
>  while Kaiser would like to do painting. Eventually in May
> they would like to have an art show
>  comprised of works created by the school's students.
>  Kaiser, whose mother is the superintendant of the school,
> feels working with the students gives
> her a chance to broaden her teaching horizons.
>
>  "In the art education department, you don't get the chance
> to work with challenged kids. We
> feel really good about what we're doing with them."
>
>  Kaiser said that she would like to teach painting by giving
> each student a block of Masonite. They would paint on it
> what they wanted and create a mosaic from the blocks. With
> the varying  levels of sight in the class, she would try and
> give them a common theme to paint about.
>
>  "Ruth kind of had the idea for this, and I was looking to
> fill my professional credits," Kaiser said about her work at
> the School for the Blind.
>
>  She added that working with the visually impaired kids will
> give her needed teaching experience.
>
>  Kaiser is a junior art education major at NSU and would
> like to teach secondary art when she
> graduates.
>
>   "These kids haven't had the chance to work with art a
> whole lot. This is providing them with an
>   opportunity to express themselves."
>
>
>
> CAR RALLY
> Surat holds car rally for blind
> Express News Service
>
> Surat, January 10: The eighth car rally for the blind
> organised by the Surat Round Table-135 concluded on Sunday
> with about 86 car rallyists participating in the 76 km
> rally. The rally was flagged-off from the Indoor Stadium by
> Additional Commissioner of Police (administration), Meera
> Ramnivas on Sunday morning. The blind rallyists who were
> guiding the navigators using a Braille map, began the 76 km
> drive from Athwalines and covered Rander, Barbodhan, Dandhi,
> Kachla and Setula areas.
>
> The members of Surat Round Table-135 have been organising
> the car rally for the past eight years.
> The aim of the rally is to boost self-confidence among the
> blind and give them a chance to prove their abilities.
> Chairman of the Surat Round Table-135, Jitendra Patel said,
> ''We have been organising the event since last eight years."
>
> He added, "The participants are provided with the braille
> map of the entire route and they have to guide the
> navigators accompanying them.''
>
> Patel added, ''Our main aim behind the car rally is to boost
> their self- confidence,''he added.
>
>
>
> January 14, 2005 ¤Ñ In the Miari area of northeastern Seoul,
> a couple of streets are lined with houses bearing such signs
> as Yeeonga (Prophet), Cheolhakwon (Philosophy House) and
> Jakmyeongso (Name-Making House).
> The area is rather dreary. That may be simply because it is
> poorer than other parts of Seoul, or because it was the site
> of a cemetery during Japanese colonial rule and was the
> first place in Seoul to be invaded by the North when the
> Korean War began. Miari Hill used to be called the "Hill of
> Tears" because of the historical traumas it suffered.
> Now, these streets have become a "fortune tellers' village."
> Yet, what particularly sets them apart is that all of the
> fortune tellers there are blind.
> Lee Do-byeong, 63, was the first one to settle in the area.
> "I lost my vision when I was only two years old, from
> cataracts. I met a teacher who taught me how to read Braille
> and how to predict people's fortunes, when I was 15," he
> says. After completing his lessons, he moved to Miari and
> opened a fortune-telling business in 1966. "The rent was
> cheap, since the area was not so popular," he says.
> Mr. Lee became well-known, and the number of customers rose.
> "Since I became famous, more blind people gathered in the
> area and started the same business," he says.
> There were more than 100 fortune tellers in the area in the
> 1980s, when the economy was booming, but the number has
> dropped to around 60 now, and they find making a living much
> more difficult.
> Demand for fortune-telling services traditionally grows in
> the spring and fall, when many people marry or move. Around
> the time of the College Scholastic Ability Test in the fall,
> the fortune tellers used to see as many as 10 customers a
> day, Mr. Lee says. Now, he scarcely has one customer a day,
> regardless of the season, because of the weak economy.
> "Usually, a bad economy increases the number of customers,
> who want to know when the situation will improve," he says.
> "But the economy has been stagnant for so long, people don't
> want to spend money that way."
> The growing number of "modern" fortune-telling shops in
> other areas of Seoul, such as Sinchon and Apgujeong, does
> not help the situation either, he says.
>
> A serious financial struggle
> Mr. Lee adds that life as a blind person involves serious
> financial struggle. "In Japan, the United States and Europe,
> the blind receive decent financial support from the
> government. In Korea, only extremely poor ones without any
> family members to support them get about 400,000 won ($380)
> a month.
> "That money is not enough to make a decent living, and it is
> not so easy to get it," he adds. Therefore, fortune telling
> is a way for blind people to earn a living.
> The fortune tellers in the area use books called
> "Cheonseryeok (Life Map)" and "Jakmyeong (Name-Making
> Book)," written in Braille, and a calculator or abacus to
> forecast a client's fate. "The books come from ancient China
> and were written based on the belief that humans have cycles
> and seasons just like nature," Mr. Lee says.
> "When you were born you received a certain energy, based on
> the time, date and year of your birth. They determine your
> physical and mental tendencies and strong and weak points."
> he says.
> Even though society has modernized and relatively few young
> people follow these customs, fortune telling persists, and
> the reasons for visiting fortune tellers are as varied as
> the people who go to them.
> According to Lee Seon-bok, another fortune teller in the
> area, some customers seek guidance about their jobs, life
> goals or the overall blueprint of their future. Mothers ask
> about how well their children will do on tests. Single women
> ask about when they will meet "Mr. Right," and some couples
> come to seek the best name for their newborn baby because it
> has been a traditional Korean belief that a person's name
> affects his destiny.
> One of the most common questions, says Ms. Lee, is about
> gunghap, or "marital harmony," often asked by single people
> who want to know whether their boyfriend or girlfriend would
> make a good spouse. Since some Koreans are strong believers
> in destiny and fortune telling, there are even cases of
> people who break up with their partners after getting a
> negative prophecy, she says.
>
> Destiny can change
> Ms. Lee says a person's destiny can change if he knows when
> to be careful and when to be bold. "My prophecies might not
> be 100 percent accurate either, because there are too many
> factors that affect people's decisions," she says. But some
> people are surprised at how accurate the fortune tellers
> are, and keep coming back to them, she adds.
> Kim Min-jung, 26, who lives in Suyu-dong, said she went to a
> fortune teller in Miari recently. "I went with a friend, and
> the fortune teller described each of our jobs correctly.
> There was no way that he could have guessed by observing us,
> because he was blind. He told us the specific names of our
> jobs, not a broad category. I'm still waiting to see if his
> prophecy on my future will be correct, as well."
> Han Min-gyu, 39, who lives in Sinchon, said he went to one
> of the fortune tellers in the area a few years ago. "At that
> time I was planning on opening a business. The fortune
> teller said that my business would go very well, ¡®like fire
> on a match.'"
> Soon, he started the business he planned. "Even though I
> didn't believe what the fortune teller said entirely, things
> seemed to be going perfectly at first. But I later went
> bankrupt, after extending my business too much."
> Mr. Lee notes that fortune telling has been a part of Korean
> culture throughout history.
> "Fortune telling started in the Goryeo Dynasty a thousand
> years ago, and became very common among blind people in the
> Joseon Dynasty," he says. "But under Japanese rule, fortune
> telling was considered to be merely ¡®superstitious.'"
> Mr. Lee says he has learned wisdom in life through fortune
> telling.
> "My predictions may not be correct all the time, but I'm
> sure about one thing through my experience," he says. "When
> you are going through a bad time, it means you possess too
> many unnecessary things. You have to be extra generous to
> others in order not to get ill.
> "When you are sick, get involved in charities, or start
> giving what you have to others," says Mr. Lee. "You will get
> better after that."
>
>
> by Choi Sun-young <sunyoung78 at joongang.co.kr>
>
> A visit to a Miari fortune teller costs around 30,000 won
> ($28). The village is about a five-minute walk from Sungshin
> Womans University subway station on line No. 4, exit 7. No
> reservations are needed.
>
>
>
>
> Blind Engineering Student 'Reads' Color as Sound
> Libraries
> Science News
> Contact Information
>
>
> Victor Wong, a blind Cornell University graduate engineering
> student from Hong Kong, is helping to develop innovative
> software that translates color into sound to enable him to
> read color weather maps.
>
> Newswise - A melody of staccato piano notes sings out from
> the speakers of Victor K. Wong's desktop computer. But it is
> not a melody made by Bach, or Liberace, or even Alicia Keys.
> It is the melody of color.
>
> Wong, a Cornell University graduate student from Hong Kong
> who lost his sight in a road accident at age seven, is
> helping to develop innovative software that translates color
> into sound. "Color is something that does not exist in the
> world of a blind person," explains Wong. "I could see
> before, so I know what it is. But there is no way that I can
> think of to give an exact idea of color to someone who has
> never seen before."
>
> He helped develop the software in Cornell's Department of
> Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) with undergraduate
> engineering student Ankur Moitra and research associate
> James Ferwerda from the Program of Computer Graphics.
>
> The inspiration for using image-to-sound software came in
> early 2004 when Wong realized his problems in reading
> color-scaled weather maps of the Earth's upper atmosphere --
> a task that is a necessary part of his doctoral work in
> Professor Mike Kelley's ECE research group.
>
> It is a field dubbed "space weather," which attempts to
> predict weather patterns high over the equator for use by
> Global Positioning System and other satellite
> communications. A space weather map might show altitude in
> the vertical direction (along the "y" axis), time in the
> horizontal direction (along the "x" axis), and represent
> density with different colors.
>
> As a scientist, Wong needs to know more than just the
> general shape of an image. He needs to explore minute
> fluctuations and discern the numerical values of the pixels
> so that he can create mathematical models that match the
> image. "Color is an extra dimension," explains Wong.
>
> At first, the team tried everything from having Kelley
> verbally describe the maps to Wong to attempting to print
> the maps in Braille. When none of those methods provided the
> detail and resolution Wong needed, he and Ferwerda began
> investigating software. Moitra later became their project
> programmer."We started with the basic research question of
> how to represent a detailed color-scaled image to someone
> who is blind," recalls Ferwerda. "The most natural approach
> was to try sound, since color and pitch can be directly
> related and sensitivity to changes in pitch is quite good."
>
> Over the summer of 2004, Moitra wrote a Java computer code
> that could translate images into sound, and in August he
> unveiled a rudimentary software program capable of
> converting pixels of various colors into piano notes of
> various tones.
>
> Wong test-drove the software by exploring a color photograph
> of a parrot. He used a rectangular Wacom tablet and stylus
> -- a computer input device used as an alternative to the
> mouse -- which gives an absolute reference to the computer
> screen, with the bottom left-hand corner of the tablet
> always corresponding to the bottom left-hand corner of the
> screen.
>
> As Wong guided the stylus about the tablet, piano notes
> began to sing out. The full range of keys on a piano was
> employed, allowing color resolution in 88 gradations,
> ranging from blue for the lowest notes to red for the
> highest.
>
> The software also has an image-to-speech feature that reads
> aloud the numerical values of the x and y coordinates as
> well as the value associated with a color at any given point
> on the image. "In principle I could turn off the music and
> just have the software read out the value of each point. I
> would know what the gradient is in a more absolute sense,
> but it would get annoying after some time. It keeps reading
> out 200.1, 200.8, 200.5, and so on," says Wong.
>
> One of the biggest challenges of the project is the
> so-called "land-and-sea" problem. "Sometimes I just want to
> know where is the land and where is the sea," says Wong --
> meaning that he would like to have an idea where the major
> boundaries in an image lie, such as the boundary between the
> parrot and the background. The problem hinges on shape
> recognition, which for Wong can be difficult.
>
> In the simplest situation, the right half of an image would
> be completely blue and the left half completely red. To find
> the boundary Wong has to move the stylus continuously back
> and forth from one color to the next along the length of the
> tablet, which is both time-consuming and error prone.
>
> To solve the land-and-sea problem, Wong, Moitra and Ferwerda
> tried printing the major boundary lines of an image in
> Braille and then laying the printed sheet over the Wacom
> tablet, combining both audio and tactile detection. However,
> they are still working to develop software that can
> effectively pick out the important boundaries in an image so
> that it can be printed.
>
> "It is also important that there is no time delay between
> notes," says Moitra. "That is something we need to improve.
> Otherwise the image will become shifted and distorted in
> Victor's mind."
>
> One of the major issues facing the project is funding. "The
> initial work was done on a shoestring as a side project to
> grants Kelley and I have received," says Ferwerda, who is
> preparing a proposal to the National Science Foundation to
> extend this work and explore other ideas for making images
> and other technical content accessible to blind scientists
> and engineers.
>
> Says Wong: "Tackling complex color images is only one
> problem out of many that blind scientists are facing. But I
> think this is a pretty important idea."
>
>
> January 6, 2005 E-mail story   Print   Most E-Mailed
>
>
> Loss of Sight Focuses His Artistic Vision
> Mostly blind, a Studio City photographer has found a new way
> of seeing the world.
>
> By Bob Pool, Times Staff Writer
>
> It wasn't until he went blind that Michael Richard found his
> photographic vision.
>
> That's how the Studio City photographer describes what
> happened after he lost virtually all his sight three years
> ago.
>
> Surgery to remove a tumor behind one of his eyes left him
> able to see only gauzy, indistinct shapes. Richard, 57, felt
> that his days as a scenic and documentary photographer were
> over.
>
> "I figured photography was out of the picture. I couldn't
> see to focus. So how could I shoot photos?" he reasoned.
>
> But a visit to the Braille Institute in Los Angeles to learn
> to use his white cane unexpectedly led to his becoming an
> acclaimed abstract-art photographer.
>
> Richard was startled to find that the Vermont Avenue agency
> offered a photography class. On a whim, he signed up.
>
> "You sure don't think of photography when you think of the
> Braille Institute," he said. "I was thinking that it would
> probably be a lecture course, something covering the history
> of photography."
>
> Richard, whose primary occupation is as a musician, had
> specialized in nature photography before surgery in early
> 2002 to remove a malignant tumor left him sightless in his
> right eye. Born with a condition called acute amblyopia that
> made his left eye basically nonfunctional, he suddenly found
> himself unable to see anything distinctly.
>
> For a visual artist, it was devastating.
>
> Richard could only make out shapes with his left eye.
> Objects in front of him were ethereal and diffused, as if
> viewed through glass smeared with petroleum jelly.
>
> "It's like the world is a very Impressionistic painting," he
> said. "Only the broadest of lines are shown - it's like the
> most extreme soft-focus photo that you can imagine."
>
> So he wasn't expecting much when he enrolled in the photo
> class taught by former Life magazine photographer Jack
> Birns.
>
> "I was anticipating that this was going to be a joke,"
> Richard said. "How can the blind take pictures?"
>
> Birns was quick to build confidence among his 10 students.
> They could use automatic-focus cameras and commercial film
> processing, he promised. They would find plenty of pleasure
> in pointing and shooting.
>
> Richard remembers being pleased when he got his first roll
> of film back. There were lines and forms that even he could
> make out.
>
> Sighted viewers of his pictures praised their composition.
> He'd not lost his feel for photography, they assured him.
>
> Richard's wife, graphic artist Patrice Hughes, began driving
> him around Los Angeles to potential photo sites. From the
> start, he decided to leave his white cane at home when
> carrying his camera.
>
> He had learned through a self-defense class at the Braille
> Institute that blind people are often targeted by thieves,
> Richard said.
>
> "You can't run from anybody trying to rob you," he said.
> "You can't chase anybody, either."
>
> Richard carries a magnifying glass to help him adjust the
> settings on his Nikon 35-mm camera. A magnified monocular
> helps him find distant subjects to photograph. He often
> paces off the distance between them and his camera in order
> to set the proper focus.
>
> He develops black-and-white film himself and prints his own
> 20-by-24-inch enlargements at a Burbank photo lab that is
> open to the public.
>
> "I have to use both my monocular and my magnifier just to
> see if the negative is in the enlarger's carrier. I find a
> sharp edge in the picture and get in real close on the easel
> with my magnifier to focus the enlarger. Sighted people who
> use the lab have learned not to walk too close to me in the
> darkroom," he said.
>
> His blow-up prints depicting such things as shadows from a
> window falling across a tile floor, balconies marching in
> rows across the side of a skyscraper and rain puddles on
> pavement show Richard's skills at powerful abstract
> composition.
>
> During the last two years, his photographs have been shown
> in nearly a dozen exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco
> and Philadelphia.
>
> "He's learned to adapt to his loss," said Christine Leahey,
> director of the Santa Monica-based "The View From Here"
> organization, which showcases art of the visually impaired.
> She estimates that 100 such photographers are working in the
> state.
>
> It was Richard and his photographs that motivated her to
> start the nonprofit group, Leahey said.
>
> "Michael not only has a beautiful, mature portfolio but he
> has a sensitivity to the issue of disability," she said. "He
> looks at lighting and composition in a much different way
> than before. The camera has allowed him to reassert his
> independence."
>
> Altadena art director Les Sechler purchased one of Richard's
> photographs after seeing it in an exhibition. "I was
> astounded, blown away," by his pictures, Sechler said.
>
> For his part, Richard acknowledges that his work is
> "inspired and perhaps even enhanced by my visual
> disability."
>
> Several of his images will be on display beginning Jan. 26
> at the UC Berkeley Art Museum. His photographs are also
> scheduled to be included in exhibitions later this year in
> Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
>
> "To think that a visual impairment could stimulate a
> photographic career," he said.
>
> "I'm letting the camera be my eyes."
>
>
>
> Eyesight not required for artistic vision
>
> Sculptor's imagination 'as fertile as ever' after she became
> blind
>
>
> 05:52 PM CST on Saturday, January 8, 2005
>
>
> By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News
>
>
> Gisela-Heidi Strunck did not let going blind prevent her
> from continuing to be an artist. A little more than a year
> after an operation to remove a brain tumor, the sculptor has
> new works on display at Irving Bible Church.
>
> "It is a blessing to be able to work," Ms. Strunck said. But
> at first she held little hope of doing what she loves.
>
> "My first thought was, 'Oh my God, I can't work,' " she said
> about waking up in the dark. "I was pretty miserable."
>
> Although her tumor was benign, it disturbed nerves. Not only
> did she lose her sight but also her sense of taste and
> smell, and a little bit of feeling.
>
> But her memory and talent were not lost.
>
> "Her imagination and creative energies are as fertile as
> ever," wrote Marcie Inman in a guide to the exhibit. Curator
> of the galleries at the Irving Arts Center, Ms. Inman has
> known the artist for a long time.
>
> "She is amazing," Ms. Inman said about Ms. Strunck's
> resiliency. "She is still an avid explorer, eager student
> and tireless worker. She rewards us [in this exhibit] with
> her obvious love of life and making art."
>
> Ms. Strunck couldn't imagine a life without art. Born in
> Germany in 1945, she left home at a young age to study
> painting in Madrid, Athens, Florence and Oslo. She came to
> the states in the late '60s to visit a man she had met on a
> Greek island.
>
> Romance blossomed and Juergen Strunck became her husband.
> Also an artist, Mr. Strunck joined the faculty at the
> University of Dallas in 1968 and still teaches at the
> liberal arts college in east Irving. The couple resides in
> Southlake.
>
> Ms. Strunck worked in ceramics at the university and tried
> sculpture in the early '70s. Her first sculpture exhibit was
> at the university in 1975. She has had solo exhibits
> throughout Texas at colleges, galleries and art centers and
> group exhibits not only in Texas but also in Indiana,
> Arkansas, Kansas and Washington, D.C.
>
> At first she didn't like Texas, but she admits she now is
> fond of her home. While living here, she continued to travel
> and made several trips to India in the '90s. "I love
> traveling," she said, and she draws inspiration from the
> places she's visited.
>
> She uses exotic woods, such as purpleheart, yellowheart,
> lacewood and zebrawood, adding metallic floss that flows
> from the woods and fixtures.
>
> About half of the pieces in the exhibit were created after
> she lost her sight. She credits her friends and fellow
> artists with encouraging her not to give up.
>
> "People said you are strong and you can handle this," but
> she did not want to believe them. "Everyone has been so
> special. They have helped me realize being blind is not the
> worst thing," she said.
>
> Most of the encouragement and assistance, however, comes
> from her husband. "Being an artist he was able to help in
> many ways," she said. He made a guiding device to help her
> separate the spools of floss so she can choose and combine
> colors.
>
> Although she cannot see her work as she creates it, she
> guides her hands along the piece to feel if it flows and
> comes together.
>
> One of her new pieces is called Prayer Posts, a display of
> seven 84-inch tall totems in an omega shape. Ms. Inman
> describes the work as "occupying and engaging space more
> actively with modular characteristics" than her earlier
> works.
>
> Ms. Strunck's work reflects a strong spiritual influence as
> well as inner strength and rich vision. But she wants her
> story to be about the power of art and "not about me."
>
> Art has lessened her pain. "Art is soothing and calming,"
> she said. "I am thankful to do what I do. I have a very good
> life."
>
> E-mail dfleck at dallasnews.com
>
> IF YOU GO
>
>
> Exhibit: "Seeing and Imagining: Gisela-Heidi Strunck
> Sculptures"
>
> When: through Jan. 16
>
> Where: Irving Bible Church, lower level hall, 2435 Kinwest
> Parkway
>
> Call: 972-560-4600
> _______________________________________________
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