[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] art, photography, InSights Art Competition

[Lisa Yayla]

Hi,
Articles about sighted artist learning about visual impairments, 
photography, Ann Cunningham, and InSights Art Competition for the Blind 
and Visually Impaired
Best,
Lisa

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=12&screen=news&news_id=54409

Taking the ‘visual’ out of visual arts
By Alexa Hinton, ahinton at nashvillecitypaper.com
February 02, 2007

When Lanie Gannon first experienced glaucoma she was rushed with 
feelings of claustrophobia and panic.

“It makes you internally focused,” Gannon said. “Your world becomes this 
small world and you live on the inside of yourself rather than on the 
outside of yourself.”

Fortunately for the local sculptor, the glaucoma she experienced was 
only the effects of goggles fashioned to mock symptoms of the 
blindness-causing eye disease. She, along with 13 other established 
Nashville artists, was participating in a project to create “altered” 
works of art wearing glasses that simulated an eye condition such as 
cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or macular degeneration. The 
broad variety of work — paintings, drawings and three-dimensional pieces 
— are featured along side similar content from the artists current body 
of art in an exhibit, Altered Vision: Artists Look Beyond Sight Loss, 
now on display at the Nashville Downtown Public Library.

Altered Vision’s curator, Anna Jaap, served as the artists’ eye doctor 
of sorts, assigning their eye condition and telling them the realities 
of their temporary diagnosis. A local artist herself, Jaap experienced 
first-hand the scary portends of blindness. A decade ago, the now-40 
year old developed cataracts that left her unable to work, drive or 
recognize people she knew until she had emergency surgery to restore her 
vision.

“It was as if [Jaap] was the doctor who fits you with glasses. She said, 
‘I think I’ll give you cataracts,’ and I was relieved, frankly, having 
tried on the glaucoma goggles. Mine were sanded and tinted this yellow 
color, and when you looked through them everything was yellow and 
blurred,” Gannon said. “They didn’t really cause this sort of panic 
response like the others, but when anything is wrong with your vision, 
your brain is constantly trying to adjust. I’d suddenly have headaches 
because I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t wear them for very long and had to 
work very slowly.”

It was Trent Boysen, a University School of Nashville art teacher, who 
was tapped to wear the glaucoma-simulating goggles. His eye pieces were 
blacked out except for two off-center pin holes.

“Wearing the goggles was very sobering,” Boysen said. “During the 
process what affected me the most was the idea that if I were to become 
blind because of glaucoma, I wouldn't have images to put with memories. 
To me, past memories often look incomplete and lacking full detail, 
little snapshots frozen of a specific time, and wearing the glasses made 
me realize that I often took for granted the daily experiences that 
would soon become a memory without much detail. This work attempts to 
put an image to past experiences in a way that I remember them, giving 
me something solid to hold on to.”

The goal of the project, led by Prevent Blindness Tennessee, a 
state-wide health organization dedicated to preserving sight and 
preventing blindness, was to educate its audience about the effects of 
compromised sight upon an artist’s creative process, but — perhaps more 
importantly — to educate about eye health. An estimated 650,000 
Tennesseans suffer eye disorders even though, with early detection and 
education, experts say 50 percent of blindness cases can be prevented.

“Art is such a powerful tool for communication— it can touch people in 
ways that words cannot, and because vision is tied in so much with 
visual arts, it felt like the perfect combination to educate people 
about preventing sight loss,” Jaap said. “I really felt like a visual 
artist — they are so keenly aware of what they see and how they see — 
that they would be the perfect community to involve in an education 
project like this.”

For Boysen, the experience was more than just a community service 
project. It was a personal lesson.

“ I am at risk for [glaucoma], and this has allowed me to look at my 
feelings about the loss of sight in a way that I had never done before. 
Until now, I would just hide my fear of the disease away only to think 
about it when I went in for bi-yearly testing,” Boysen said. “I should 
not take my sight for granted causing me to miss the detail in everyday 
life.

“I hope that people see more than the art, that they will have a new 
reconnection with how sight plays a roll in their lives.”

Read this article online:
/index.cfm?section=12&screen=news&news_id=54409


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http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_195/thelistings.html
Soho Photo Exhibitions “Seeing the Unseen” features work by members of 
the Seeing With Photography Collective, a group of visually impaired, 
sighted, and blind photographers. “Upstate, New York” features 
collection of photos by Soho Photo memberVeronica Szarejko, of women in 
a small town restaurant,“Off the Beaten Path: Minorities in Asia” is an 
exhibit of photographs taken along the Silk Road by Michael Schenker. 
Tyko Lewis’s first exhibit at Soho Photo is untitled. Feb. 6- Mar. 3. 
Soho Photo, 15 White Street., 212-226-8571, www.sohophoto.com.

article

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29616.asp

InSights Art Competition for the Blind and Visually Impaired


Legally blind children and adults from all over the world participate in 
the annual InSights art competition sponsored by the American Printing 
House for the Blind.

Each year children from preschool through high school, as well as 
adults, enter all kinds of art in the InSights competition. Painting, 
drawing, and printmaking are examples of two-dimensional art that may be 
submitted; three-dimensional pieces might include sculptures in wood, 
wire, ceramics etc. Fiber arts may also be entered, such as needlepoint, 
knitting, and crochet.

Any visual art piece may be entered, so long as the design is original. 
Pieces made from a kit or mold will not be accepted.

The InSights competition is juried (judged), and there are several ways 
entries receive recognition. About 500 pieces are entered in the 
competition each year, and approximately 80 pieces are selected to be 
placed on exhibit at the American Printing House for the Blind annual 
meeting, held each October in Louisville, Kentucky. Judges also choose 
the top three entries from each of the nine categories, and these 
winners receive special certificates and cash prizes. Several honorable 
mentions may be selected for special recognition. All winners are 
invited to attend the APH annual meeting to receive their awards.

Outstanding work may be recognized in two other ways. First, special 
pieces may be chosen to appear on birthday, Christmas and other holiday 
cards. These cards feature braille and large print text, and are truly 
beautiful. Second, the collectible annual InSights calendar features a 
different work of art for each month; the calendar has both braille and 
large print numbers and text, and is spiral-bound for easy use.

According to an APH press release, artists who enter the InSights art 
competition "must meet this definition of blindness: corrected visual 
acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, or a visual field limited to 
20 degrees or less."

Each artist may enter only one piece in the general competition. Artists 
wishing to participate in the special art card competition, new in 2007, 
may enter a second piece; this section is limited to works appropriate 
for birthday and December holiday cards.

The deadline for submitting entries is April 1 for children (preschool 
through high school), and April 15 for adults.
All entries MUST be accompanied by an application.


Applications for the InSights art competition are posted to the APH 
website in February. Visit the APH website at:

www.aph.org

For more information, or to request a paper application, call the 
American Printing House for the Blind at 800-223-1839, x357.

To order beautiful calendars and Christmas cards featuring art from past 
competitions, visit:

www.aph.org


article

http://www.aph.org/advisory/2007adv02.html


Call for Entries: APH InSights Art Competition and Exhibition 2007

APH invites visually impaired and blind artists of all ages to submit 
artwork for its sixteenth annual international art competition, APH 
InSights 2007.

There are two deadlines this year: April 1, 2007 is the deadline for 
entries from students in preschool through high school; April 15, 2007 
is the deadline for entries from adult artists. To enter, artists must 
meet this definition of blindness: corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or 
less in the better eye, or a visual field limited to 20 degrees or less.

Last year, 490 entries were received. From these, jurors selected 
eighty-two pieces for the exhibition, which was shown in Louisville in 
October 2006 at the Annual Meeting.

Artists may send one entry for the General Competition. New this year is 
a special Art Card Competition. Those who wish to send a second entry 
whose subject is specifically targeted for an art card, may do so. The 
subject of this entry should be appropriate for use as a birthday card 
or for one of the December holidays. If the subject of a General 
Competition entry is appropriate, it will also be considered for the Art 
Card Competition.

To receive complete rules and entry forms, send an email to 
rwilliams at aph.org, or call 800/223-1839, ext. 357. Let us know if you 
want a print or a braille copy. Rules and entry forms will also be 
posted on this web site by the end of February.


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http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr20/fr05ci09.htm



Art and Emotions: A Tactile Art Activity
by Ann Cunningham


Jenny Wing-Proctor of Michigan works on her clay mold.
Editor’s Note: Here is a report on one of the NOPBC-sponsored workshop 
activities offered to blind and sighted youth at the 2005 convention. 
The report is written by the artist who also conducted the workshop. For 
teachers who would like to duplicate this workshop, Cunningham provides 
a materials and techniques guide elsewhere in this issue. Here is what 
Cunningham says:

A lively bunch of students were happy to jump in and get their hands 
dirty in our 2005 Artistically Expressing Emotions workshop at the Galt 
House in Louisville. By making expressive art of their own, blind and 
sighted youngsters had the chance to explore one of the ways artists 
communicate artistically.

Artistically Expressing Emotions is a perfect art class activity for 
students with a wide variety of abilities. It is to everyone’s advantage 
to conduct this class under sleepshades since it is important to focus 
on internal feelings. By using sleepshades, all students are released 
from the pressure of making their work “look right.”

At the Colorado Center for the Blind, this course is taught in fifteen 
hours of class time and explores eight different emotions. We
follow that up with the creation of an original work of art of the 
students’ choosing. The last class is a field trip to a museum or park 
with access to art work.

In the Louisville 2005 workshop we modified this program and focused on 
learning the skills to work in water-based clay with hands and tools in 
a manner that allowed the students to first express “anger,” followed by 
a second piece exploring “joy.” Once the students were finished working 
in the clay, we used the clay as a mold to create a finished piece of 
artwork in plaster. After the plaster piece was freed from the clay 
mold, we lined up all the “angers” side by side on the table and talked 
about similarities and differences between each other’s work. We then 
did the same with “joy.”

Students gained insight into themselves through talking about how they 
expressed emotions in their art; and by comparing their work with other 
students, they learned more about their classmates. Finally, by applying 
this insight to artwork they experience in school or accessible 
collections, they can converse with artists and the world of art.

About Ann Cunningham

Ann Cunningham stands next to her bas-relief exhibit of Erik 
Weihenmayer’s ascent of Mount Everest.
Ann Cunningham has been carving stone since she was fifteen years old, 
but it wasn’t until 1990 that she wondered if the slate low-relief 
sculptures she was making could be interpreted by touch as well as sight.

This question led Ann to explore how the sense of touch might be trained 
through art to gather more pictorial information. The bas-relief stories 
and exhibits that she has developed out of this exploration includes a 
commission for the National Federation of the Blind. It depicts Erik 
Weihenmayer’s ascent of Mount Everest as the first blind climber to 
reach the summit. Since 1998, Ann has been teaching art classes to 
develop self-expression through the sense of touch at the Colorado 
Center for the Blind. She has also started teaching a class on Picture 
Interpretation and Creation at the Anchor Center which serves children 
who are blind or visually impaired.

Cunningham is currently launching Sensational Books!, a series of 
original, visually and tactually accessible books. These multi-sensory 
books are designed to create an engaging experience and provide 
meaningful information for people of all abilities and ages. Sadie Can 
Count is the first book in a series which teaches basic picture 
recognition of common objects. Each subsequent book will expand the 
scope of the information provided by the pictures.

Ann’s sculptures can be viewed at <http://www. acunningham.com> and the 
books can be purchased at <www.SensationalBooks.com>.


article about Ruthe G. Pearlman, 93, artist, teacher
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070201/NEWS0104/702010362/1060/NEWS01

She was extremely strong willed, said her son, noting that she survived 
the death of a grown son and infant daughter, the death of her husband 
and a potentially life-shattering diagnosis of macular degeneration in 
1988. "That was a terrible adjustment for her, since her great joy in 
life was seeing things and painting them," he said.

She worked through it and went on to teach others with visual 
impairments. That led her to Art Beyond Boundaries, which was created in 
2005 for people with disabilities who want to create art.

link

http://www.artbeyondboundaries.com/

blog
Visually impaired photographers
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/58141


Book
Seeing Beyond Sight
http://www.seeingbeyondsight.com/book/index.htm

Film Proof
Plot:The life of a blind photographer who is looked after by a 
housekeeper is disrupted by the arrival of an agreeable restaurant worker.
http://www.amazon.com/Proof-Jocelyn-Moorhouse/dp/B0002XNT12