[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] links to articles, artists,
tactile pavement, exhibitions, IFLA
Lisa Yayla
fnugg at online.no
Sat Aug 13 03:06:49 CDT 2005
Hi,
Enclosed are links to news articles, and text of most of the articles
follow the link list. A few of the articles are perhaps one that have
been posted before, am unsure, sorry about the doubling up.
For those interested in libraries the IFLA is having its conference
these days in Oslo and on thursday the 18 having papers about blind and
libraries link to conference and following the articles have included
the posts about libraries for the blind
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/index.htm
Disabled need better beach access
tactile pavement
http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/20050709/letters/003.shtml
THE BLIND LEADING THE SEEING
http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=9578&topic_id=4
Sensory garden
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/07/Hernando/What_s_happening.shtml
artist Chen Hui-kun
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/07/15/2003263566
Feel for painting: Blind Texas artist uses memory and touch (posted ??)
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/12160185.htm
Spike Mafford photo - calendar
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0529/050720_arts_vacalendar.php
Spike Mafford
http://www.komotv.com/stories/38302.htm
Peter Moore artist
http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2005/07/25/news/news03.txt
Art after dark
Local artists find a home downtown for the 'Midsummer Nights Eve'
Gallery Night
link to full article, excerpt included further on
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/LIFE/507260305/1004
link to artist talked about in article above
http://www.artbykimchi.com/
Bitter over losing her sight, artist finds her strength
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/articles/2005/07/30/news/news97.txt
Touch-read cards for your hearts only
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=141759
Art's inner voice speaks to distinct sense of self
link to catched article
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:ZmM7Hpa7Z44J:www.commercialappeal.com/mca/exhibitions/ar
ticle/0,1426,MCA_570_3977587,00.html+Art%27s+inner+voice+speaks+to+distinct+sense+of+self&hl=
en
excerpt
"Looking ... Seeing" by Bonnie Tate is an installation dwelling on the
loss of sight.
Portraits of five blind people are accompanied by photographs stamped in
braille and a
light-proof booth with recordings of the blind. The work challenges
ideas about the
accessibility of art, and what it means to create art for the blind in a
museum environment
where one mustn't touch.
-------------------------------------------------------
THE BLIND LEADING THE SEEING
(July 22, 2005) It seems somewhat insensitive to call an exhibit about
the loss of sight a
“must-see.” But in fact what “Shooting Blind: Photographs by the
Visually Impaired” reveals
is that, rather than our sympathy, many of the visually impaired deserve
our admiration.
The traveling exhibition, which is currently on display at Sala Gasco’s
fully exposed
street-side gallery, is the first large-scale project by Seeing with
Photography, a
collective of New York photographers with visual limitations ranging
from partial to complete
blindness. In photography, its members have found various opportunities
– to see the world
more clearly, to understand vision and how it is translated into the
language of photography,
or to develop pride in succeeding at a seemingly impossible task –
according to interviews
they gave for the exhibition’s accompanying book.
The photographs in this consummate exhibition have been made using
Polaroid’s
positive/negative film, and in some cases, an old technique called
“painting with light,” in
which flashlights are used to illuminate the subjects over long
exposures in complete
darkness (www.apperture.org).
Whichever techniques each artist employed, however, the final products
are all otherworldly
and entrancing. Most of the images are warped or watery – as if seen
through shallow rippling
waves. They often play with shadows, patches of illumination or
scratches of luminescent
rays, like in Victorine Floyd Flood’s “Radiant Abyss.” Some, like “Sara”
by Roseann Kahn, are
dazzling like a psychedelic circus.
However, the subjects – often the artists themselves – are what truly
captivate. Eyes, often
glazed, rarely wide open, seem to float beyond the frames, and when the
faces are distorted
or shrouded, their presence is all the more felt. Hands play a
compositional role as well,
perhaps to emphasize the importance of touch.
The photographers have obviously put a lot of thought into their
compositions in order to
convey the experience of being blind. Some are disquieting, such as
“John with Welder’s
Goggles,” by John Gardner, Steven Erra and Mark Andres, which closes in
upon a man whose
eerie gas mask looms above all else. Others are thought-provoking, such
as Stephen Dominguez’
“Light Bound,” which shows a man’s face wrapped in bands of light. Is it
simply a
representation of the restrictions of being blind or does the title hint
that perhaps it is
not blindness itself that is restricting, but rather a world constructed
by the seeing?
By Nina L. Vizcarrondo (culturalreview at santiagotimes.cl)
“Shooting Blind: Photographs by the Visually Impaired”
Until July 30, Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sala Gasco Arte Contemporaneo, Santo Domingo 1061, Santiago
Tel: 694 4444, web site: www.salagasco.cl
Sensory garden
The Rotary Club of Spring Hill completed its centennial project in June
- construction of a
"sensory garden" for the Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind.
The project was headed by Rotarian Carol Okula and took nearly six
months to complete. The
garden is designed to provide an experience to those with no or limited
sight. It features a
large patio and mobility path, a trellis entrance, a fountain, wind
chimes and bird baths.
The plants and trees were chosen not only for their beauty, but for
their durable foliage,
strong scents and vibrant colors. The project was completed on June 18,
when Rotarians were
assisted by a group of volunteers, Team Depot, from Home Depot's
community service group.
The volunteers and Rotarians cleared the garden, planted, edged and
mulched. Many local
businesses and individuals donated time and money to make the project a
success.
Feel for painting: Blind Texas artist uses memory and touch
BY TERRY LEE GOODRICH
Knight Ridder Newspapers
DENTON, Texas - (KRT) - John Bramblitt's world began to shrink four
years ago, when he
noticed friends' faces becoming blurrier.
At first he shrugged it off. After all, Bramblitt, now 34, had worn
glasses since he was 11.
But his eyesight declined to legal blindness - and worse. Now he barely
perceives light and
uses a cane to find his way.
But it wasn't until he could no longer see vivid images that he decided
to capture them in
oil on canvas.
"I got more and more angry because I felt everything was on hold," said
Bramblitt, a senior
English major at the University of North Texas. "I didn't leave the
apartment much; I
couldn't read. I kept going to school, but I was getting incompletes. I
thought, `Art isn't
going to be another thing I can't do.'"
The blue-eyed man put aside the question of why he became blind -
doctors still don't know -
to concentrate on a different issue: How to create.
Bramblitt found a way, using touch and visual memories, to teach himself
to paint. He
recently sold his first painting, a portrait of a blues musician, for
$650. A solo exhibition
of his works opens July 18 at the University of North Texas.
Back when he could see, he had sketched idly, then tossed the drawings.
But he wanted to try
again, this time to fill the void in his life.
First he found a way other than vision to visualize.
On a trip to Mexico with friends about a year ago, the El Paso, Texas,
native was struck by
the serenity of a stranger he met. Bramblitt asked an unusual question:
Could he explore the
man's face with his hands? The stranger said yes.
At a Denton nightclub, Bramblitt asked the same question of Pops Carter,
86, a blues musician
whose music he likes. Carter agreed.
"I wasn't doin' nothin'," Carter said. "I was standing right there on
break. It didn't
tickle."
At home, Bramblitt's fluffy little dog, Ann - part papillon, part
Chihuahua - was an even
easier subject. The image of Ann, 10 years old, was already etched into
Bramblitt's memory,
and he did not need to ask permission to touch her to refresh it.
Besides, Ann held no
grudges from the day he fumbled for the remote control and accidentally
bopped her with it.
Scrutinies done, it was time for Bramblitt to convey his feelings -
tactile and emotional.
"I painted many paintings in my mind, stroke for stroke, before I ever
bought a brush," he
said.
Next, he experimented to find a substance he could use to make raised
outlines, patterns to
follow for the impressions tucked into his mind.
Glue took too long to dry; correction fluid seeped into the canvas. But
a fast-drying fabric
paint works well.
When it comes time to bring an image to life with color, touch helps
again. He cannot read
labels identifying hues of oil paints, so friends helped at first. Then
he began to recognize
textures, enabling him to blend colors and paint more rapidly. Black is
slicker than white;
burnt sienna is like jelly. And aquamarine glides onto the canvas after
it has been mixed
with white.
"Then I just try to remember how light and shadow were," he said.
He also draws from his past. He started college after high school but
took several years off
because he has a seizure disorder that often left him weak. As he tried
various medicines to
control the seizures, he worked as an office manager for his father's
diesel injection shop.
He resumed college and was awarded a fellowship. He made the dean's list
and - even better -
the president's list for his 4.0 grade-point average before his vision
deteriorated.
For the past two years, he has painted rodeos and nudes. Churches and
billiard players. Wine
bottles and his girlfriend. Even a disturbing self-portrait depicting
his frustration at
sinking into darkness.
At first he was hesitant to let others see an in-progress image, but now
he turns to
girlfriend Jacqi Serie - he calls her "Gorgeous" - and others for feedback.
"John has definitely evolved into a more receptive artist," said Serie,
who has a degree in
art photography and is a wedding photographer. The two began dating two
years ago, when
Bramblitt's sight was virtually gone. He enlarged a photo of her, hoping
to see what she
looks like, but the image was obscure.
"I admire his ability to capture something realistically, even if he
can't see it, but also
put his own twist on it," she said. "I'm honest with him if I think
something is a little
awkward, and he's never gotten upset.
"Sometimes, he's like, `Well, yeah' and will rework it," Serie said.
"Other times he says: `I
like it. I'll leave it.'"
Bramblitt jokes that if he is a terrible painter, at least he will never
have to look at his
art.
But he also does not believe that "bad art" exists.
"Art is expression. Liking one person's art over another doesn't mean
that the art is any
better or worse," he said. "But I don't like it when people don't feel
one way or another. At
least, even if they don't like it, they're connecting in some way with
the artist."
Bramblitt said he is encouraged by knowing that other artists have
wrestled with impaired
vision, including Claude Monet and Edgar Degas.
Some painters turn to other media, such as sculpture, as they begin to
lose their sight, said
Vickie Collins, vice president of National Exhibits by Blind Artists, a
Philadelphia-based
nonprofit organization that holds juried exhibits.
Some use extremely bright colors and a large canvas to compensate; many
use magnifiers, she
said.
And some, like Bramblitt, begin when they no longer see.
Whatever their stories, "our artists want to be able to stand on their
own," Collins said.
Bramblitt recently made his first sale, the portrait of bluesman Carter,
for $650 to Tim
Trawick, owner of the Texas Jive bar and restaurant in Denton, Bramblitt
said.
"I'm a big fan of Pops, and John's been in my club a number of times,"
Trawick said. "I knew
John was blind, but I didn't know he was a painter."
Trawick was captivated when he saw Carter's likeness at one of the bar's
sporadic art
exhibits.
"I thought, `That's incredible,'" he said. "Then I found out John had
done it. That put it
over the top - that he did it from feeling Pops' face and features and
that he did it so
well."
Carter was equally impressed. A friend gave him a printout of his
portrait from Bramblitt's
Web site, and Carter hung it on his living-room wall near an autographed
photo of B.B. King.
"Boy oh boy. That painting is amazing - it's me," he said.
Several of Bramblitt's paintings have been chosen by the art faculty and
staff for a solo
exhibit at the Union Gallery at the University of North Texas, said
Carol Wilkinson, manager
of the university's Design Works.
One who looks at Bramblitt's art from a clinical standpoint is an
optometrist, Stephanie
Fleming of Dallas, a specialist in low vision.
She began testing Bramblitt extensively two years ago.
"I'm not an art critic, but I was really appreciative of how realistic
things were from his
visual memory," she said.
The cause of his blindness remains a mystery, she said.
"Sometimes there's just no answer," Fleming said. "I'm very surprised at
how well he's
handled it. He's been very upbeat."
Bramblitt has his blue times.
"Eyes are so hard to paint," he said. "Before, people's eyes told so
much. That was the first
thing I always looked at."
But he is determined his world will not shrink again.
So he taps his way along Denton sidewalks, avoiding sidewalk cracks and
sidestepping trash
bins that protrude.
He has completed more than a year of mobility training, even navigating
his way through
downtown Dallas and Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. He looks forward
to getting a guide
dog eventually - a Lab, perhaps, or a boxer - although Ann will never
slip in his affection,
he said.
Using a computer program with a scanner and an automated voice, he can
read again. His grades
have improved, and he plans to graduate in May, head on to graduate
school, become an English
professor - and paint.
"For a while when I started painting, it was almost as if I was trying
to throw my blindness
back in God's face," he said. "I feel a lot calmer now, a lot better.
It's become like maybe
it was God's plan.
"I don't want to stop."
---
ONLINE: www.bramblitt.com, National Exhibits by Blind Artists at
www.nebaart.org
excerpt from article
One of Mondello's current featured artists is pastel artist Kim Chi
Tinnirella, 38, of
Navarre. Tinnirella, who was born in Vietnam and raised in Pensacola
after her family fled to
the United States in 1975, feels her artistic abilities come naturally.
"I always loved to draw," she said. "If you had asked me as a child what
I wanted to be, I
would have said an artist."
Tinnirella only became serious about art as an adult, after painting a
picture as a present
for her husband.
"He loved it, and he really encouraged me to get back into art," she said.
Tinnirella is legally blind because of a degenerative genetic eye
disease. She uses a
magnifying glass when she draws and paints.
"But I think my work is better," she said. "I have to concentrate much
more now than I did
when I was younger, and it shows."
Examples of Tinnirella's work can be seen on her Web site --
www.artbykimchi.com.
Touch-read cards for your hearts only
Its aimed at sensitivity to build a vision into their lives
Aishwarya Mavinkurve
Pune, July 30: The 3 X 3 card feels good to touch. It’s also appealing
in many ways — a
pastel colour, a boy’s face drawn by blind artist Sudhir Shende, a
couplet by blind poetess
Gunjana Kharat and lots of smileys. There’s also the white cane. And if
you buy one, it will
help the visually-challenged.
The card, made by a team of six visually-impaired students of the NGO
Niwant Andh Mukta
Vikasalay (NAMV), has a lot more to say. Open the card and read the
translation of the
two-line poem in Braille with the help of the Braille alphabet. And
you’ll enter the world of
the visually-impaired. Already, two sets of five such cards each — one
in Marathi and another
in English— have been designed and are ready for distribution.
‘‘The idea is to sensitise more people to the needs of the visually-
impaired, and help
students to be self-reliant. The concept of space, shapes and lines is
novel to these
students hence the sketches, though not perfect, indicate their efforts
at understanding our
world. Also the Braille greeting card, is an invitation to their
world,’’ says Meera Badwe,
founder of NAMV. The money generated from the sale will go towards
helping students become
independent and sustain activities that NAMV conducts — recording texts
on cassettes for the
visually-impaired, a library of books in Braille and a computer section
which these students
can operate.
Interestingly, the cards are postage free as they contain Braille
literature. Orders for the
greeting cards have already been placed by a few corporate entities. The
cards will be
available at the NAMV’s Vidyanagar premises.
excerpt from article
"Looking ... Seeing" by Bonnie Tate is an installation dwelling on the
loss of sight.
Portraits of five blind people are accompanied by photographs stamped in
braille and a
light-proof booth with recordings of the blind. The work challenges
ideas about the
accessibility of art, and what it means to create art for the blind in a
museum environment
where one mustn't touch.
IFLA
Thursday 18 August
155 SI - Libraries for the Blind with Public Libraries
Achieving inclusion through partnership
· The three tiers of government and the many tears of librarians: library
and information services for people with print disabilities in South Africa
JOHAN ROOS (South African Library for the Blind, Grahamstown, South
Africa)
· [ http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/084e-Nguyen.pdf ]Services for the
blind in the public libraries of Vietnam: making Vietnamese public
libraries more accessible to visually impaired people
NGUYEN THI BAC (General Sciences Library, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
· Visunet Canada Partners Program: a partnership offered by the CNIB
Library to libraries and library consortia in Canada to extend their
services to members of their communities who are unable to read and print
MARGARET McGRORY (CNIB Library, Toronto, Canada)
· [ http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/083e-Keun.pdf ]Public library as
an agent of a Braille library
KEUN HAE YOUK (Korean Braille Library, Seoul, Korea)
· [ http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/082e-Brazier.pdf ]Charity,
charges and chaos: the story of library services for visually impaired
people in the UK
HELEN BRAZIER (National Library for the Blind, Stockport, UK)
· [ http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/085e-Beckman-Hirschfeldt.pdf
]Library services for all: the Swedish way
INGAR BECKMAN HIRSCHFELDT (Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille,
Enskede, Sweden)
· [ http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/178e-Byrne.pdf ]Advancing Library
Services for the blind in the global information society
ALEX BYRNE (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
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