Art Beyond Sight Awareness Alert 3: Accessible Programming
Art Education for the Blind’s Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week. Celebrate October 11-25!
Awareness Week is a chance for museums, libraries, schools and other community institutions – even individuals –to showcase the work they are doing to promoteart education for people who are blind or visually impaired.
DON’T MISS OUR FREE TRAINING!
This Monday, October 18. 9 am – 9 pm EST.
ART EDUCATION FOR THE BLIND’S TELEPHONE CRASH COURSE
This 12-session course covers a wide range of topics, from research on tactile perception to best-practices for developing a program for people who are blind. Click for schedule and instructions about dialing in. Join us for one or all of these sessions. This is a FREE telephone conference call.
Art Beyond Sight Awareness: You Can Do Your Part!
- Send this email to everyone on your list
- JOIN ART BEYOND SIGHT ONLINE COMMUNITY: in your Field or in your Neighborhood
Discussion Groups -- share your experiences and talk to experts. We have five different discipline-based groups: Museums, Educators, Learning Tools, Community and Advocacy, and Theory and Research.
Listservs. State-by-state or Around the World
- Participate in our eBay Benefit Auction.There are three easy ways you can help: Sell an item on eBay on behalf of Art Education for the Blind (you choose the percentage of your proceeds that go to AEB); buy an item being sold to benefit AEB or make an in-kind donation!
- Register your accessible art program or museum on Vision Connection’s Help Near You searchable database at This will increase participation in your programs and attract local patrons and tourists who are blind or have low vision.
- Become a mentor ! If you are a museum or an arts professional and would like to participate in an e-mentoring program for someone who is blind or visually impaired, please email your contact information to ; subject line: Mentor program
What is Art Beyond Sight?
Art Beyond Sight is an international collaborative of community-based groups and local affiliates of national agencies; museums and other arts-related organizations; elementary and high schools; colleges and universities; national and international advocacy groups; and blind, visually impaired, and sighted art enthusiasts. Art Beyond Sight provides a forum for ongoing interdisciplinary dialogues among researchers and practitioners, who share expertise and materials. On the local level, the collaborative assists museum professionals and other educators; parents; artists; and art lovers to create vehicles for lasting change in their communities.
Art Education for the Blind's October 11 Press Conference to be televised
Manhattan Neighborhood Network, MNN cable television, will broadcast Art Education for the Blind's October 11 Press Conference, held on the steps of New York City's City Hall, at the times below. The press conference was held to officially kick off Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week. Speakers included: Elisabeth Axel, founder and Executive Director of Art Education for the Blind, Mindy Fliegelman, Second Vice President of National Federation of the Blind of New York, Dr. Dennis Sparacino, AEB Consultant and Volunteer; Ken Struve of the South Street Seaport Museum and also a member of the NYC Museum Access Consortium; Rebecca Hinde, access advisor, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and secretary of the Museum Access Consortium; Reed Devlin, representative of the Museum of Modern Art; Dr. Carole R. Gothelf, Assistant Executive Director of Programs and Services, The Shield Institute; Leon MCCutcheon, an Artist and Participant in The Shield Institute’s Program; Carl Jacobsen, President of National Federation of the Blind of New York; Dr. Nina Levent, Associate Director of Art Education for the Blind
Airing times are:
Sunday 10/17/2004 at 12:00 pm (noon)
Sunday 10/17/2004 at 4:00 pm
Wednesday 10/27/2004 at 12:30 pm
Friday 10/29/2004 at 12:00 pm
Wednesday 11/10/2004 at 10:00 pm
MNN broadcasts in the NYC area on Time Warner's channel 34 (with converter box) or 78 (without converter box) and RCN Cable's channel 107 (with converter box) or 110 (without box). There is a possibility of additional showings, but they are unscheduled, so we cannot alert you to them in advance.
READ on for more on the artists, museums and exciting projects and events of the Art Beyond Sight Collaborative and Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week 2004.
International Conference: Ancona, Italy. October 21-23, 2004
“Art Within Reach: Achieving Barrier-Free Educational Access
To Our Cultural Heritage”
Organized by the Museo Tattile Statale Omero and the Istituto dei Ciechi F. Cavazza of Bologna.
Conference goals
The long standing debate about access to culture, accessible museum pathways, integration of the visually impaired into mainstream schools, the workplace and society in general, has led public and private museums to examine the multiple psycho-rehabilitative functions of an aesthetic education. The perception, cognition and interpretation of aesthetically-rich images can induce structured and creative learning processes which play an important role in both the individual and collective formation of the person.
The subjects to be discussed at the conference have been chosen to contribute to our overall aim which is to create methods of teaching Art that can be used by the visually impaired and the sighted of all ages and in diverse contexts. Our starting points will be disciplines such as the physiology and phenomenology of vision, the psychology of optical and tactile perception, typhlology, aesthetics, pedagogy, theory and teaching of the arts and epistemology. The conference prepares the ground for a fruitful interdisciplinary debate between the various experts whose fields of knowledge we consider to be complementary. The results will be published as a scientific paper, which will describe the current situation in this field at both national and international level. It will also be a useful handbook for anyone working in art education in museums, art galleries, or schools.
The conference will be held over three days: the first two days will focus on aesthetic, cognitive and psycho-rehabilitative approaches, as well as the importance and benefits of a special artistic education for both the sighted and the visually handicapped. The third day will concentrate on access policies to museums and, in particular, access for the visually impaired. The day will start with speeches by international experts in accessibility and heritage preservation and continue with reports from some of the most prestigious museums of the world detailing their experience in this area. There will be guided tours of the Museo Tattile Statale Omero and there will be an illustrative exhibition with translations of some famous paintings into bas-relief, organized by the Museo Anteros of Bologna.
For more information, go to:
Contemporary Artist Focus
Ann Cunningham, sculptor and educator
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 underutilized sense of touch might be trained through art to function on a higher level. The bas relief stories and exhibits that she has developed out of this exploration include most recently a commission for the National Federation of the Blind. It depicts Erik Weihenmayer's assent 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.
Cunningham is currently launching a publishing house to present affordable visually and tactually accessible books. This multi-sensory reading experience is designed to create a deeper and more meaningful impression for students of all abilities and ages. You can see the work at:
Current exhibition The Feel of Flight (October 9 through December 5, 2004) at The Wildlife Experience, 10035 South Peoria, Parker, Colorado 80134 (720) 488-3300 Bronze, marble, slate and painted plaster; 3D and low relief sculptures that explore birds and the world from their perspective. This exhibit is entirely tactually and visually accessible. The exhibit has Braille and print text, sound recordings of bird calls and a tactile graphic to take home.
Image left: Young smiling girl touches edge of a white marble sculpture of bird,displayed on pedestal. Braille and text information is visible on pedestal.
Project Focus:
Non-Visual Art Project
Orchard House Preparatory School, Chiswick; Dorton House School for the Blind, Royal London Society for the Blind; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK, are running an experimental art project concerned with integrating a partially non-visual art curriculum in schools. The premise behind the project is to create art through non-visual reference, which is appreciable by students who are blind and sighted. Throughout October, students at Orchard House will attempt to represent pieces of art verbally to each other through non-visual reference, and attend programs by visually impaired students and art educators on understand artifacts through non-visual means. Students from both schools will then collaborate to create non-visual self-portraits and work related to pieces from the Victoria & Albert Museum collection, with an exhibition of the students work proposed for early Spring 2005.
WXXI-FM and Reachout Radio Program
The Radio Reading Service For The Blind/Visually Impaired, Rochester, New York
WXXI Reachout Radio is a radio reading service that provides 24-hour per day readings of local and national newspapers, magazines, and books for people who are print-handicapped. Eligible print-handicapped* individuals include those with visual impairment or blindness, those who suffer from a physical disability which prohibits the holding of printed material, or one with a learning disability such as dyslexia. WXXI Reachout Radio is closed-circuit and is accessible through a specially-tuned radio which is provided free of charge to eligible applicants. The service is also made available for people who are temporarily disabled due to surgery or accident. WXXI Reachout Radio is provided in partnership with ABVI-Goodwill Industries of Greater Rochester.
Reachout Radio is located in the WXXI Public Broadcasting facility at 280 State Street in downtown Rochester. The service is broadcast on a subcarrier frequency of 91.5 FM in Rochester, and 90.3 FM in Houghton. Its broadcast reaches listeners in Monroe, Orleans, Wayne, Genesee, Ontario, Wyoming, Livingston, Yates, Seneca and portions of Allegany and Steuben counties. WXXI Reachout Radio is one of more than 120 radio reading services available through the United States that are members of the International Association of Audio Information Services (IAAIS).
In recent years, our service has broadened our mission beyond making the printed word accessible to Rochester's visually impaired community, and we've moved into making community arts programs/exhibits accessible as well. For our first project, “Horses on Parade,” we described nearly 100 painted/decorated horses that had been created and exhibited around our community. This 4-part program was broadcast on our radio reading service. The next year we took on an exhibit at the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, entitled "Picturing What Matters." This was an exhibit of photographs from the 9-11 tragedy, as well as photographs submitted by citizens from this community and around the world of "what is important in life" since 9-11. This exhibit was extraordinarily moving to describe. Currently, we are working on another exhibit from the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, entitled "The Remarkable George Eastman: Vision and Obsession," an exhibit celebrating the 150th anniversary of George Eastman's birth. This program is scheduled to air in early November.
For more information, please contact: Ruth C. Phinney, WXXI-FM and Reachout Radio Program Director, P.O. Box 30021, Rochester, NY 14603, . (585) 258-0333
Selected Art Beyond Sight Awareness Week Events
October 15
Arts and Health Outreach Initiative, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA , kicks off a three-day "Audio Description Training Institute" that includes an audio-described performance of "Mamma Mia!" at Penn State 's Center for the Performing Arts. On or before October 1, the conference registration fee is $145 ($95 for full-time students). To register, call 800-778-8632 or visit .
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, FL , is hosting a community art and literary workshop, modeled on the Women of Vision program. Participants will create a work of original poetry and a painting. In addition, participants will be led on a touch tour of the galleries, gardens, and educational center.
MAC Museum Access Consortium, NYC , is hosting a 10 a.m. to noon professional training session, titled "Assistive Technology for Computers and Navigation for People with Visual Impairments," at the Computer Center for Visually Impaired People, Baruch College (151 E. 25th St., Room 648). The session is free, but reservations are required. To RSVP, call Fran Prezant at (516) 465-1601, or e-mail (include your name, institution, phone number, date of event and any access accommodations needed).
October 16
Colorado Ballet, Denver , is sponsoring a Backstage Sensory Tour for the Visually Impaired re its production of "Dracula," $20, at 11 a.m. This program has been developed in collaboration with tactile artist Ann Cunningham. followed by a 1 p.m. performance of "Dracula" with audio description. Call (303) 837-8888, ext. 19, for information and reservations.
October 16 & 17
Lower East Side Tenement Museum, NYC , is doing fully hands-on tours of the Confino Family Apartment at 12 noon, and 1, 2 and 3 p.m. In addition, it is offering public programs accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.
October 18
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England , offers a tour, touch session and plaster-casting workshop for visually impaired visitors, based on Helen Chadwick's work on exhibition display. These events begin at 1 p.m.
Polk County Memorial Museum, Livingston, TX, opens a showing of Iron Thunderhorse's paintings, all of which he created after losing his vision. For information on Mr. Thunderhorse and his art, visit ; for information on the exhibition, call (936) 327-8192. Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
October 19:
Metropolitan Museum of Art , NYC , is offering a course titled "Tools & Techniques: Developing Programs for Visitors with Visual Impairments," from 3 to 5 p.m. ; for details, call (212) 879-5500, ext. 3561.
The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark , NJ , is making its audio-described Tour of Exhibition "Resource-Full New Jersey" available at no charge throughout Awareness Week, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The tour and tactile maps of the Historical Society are available at the front desk. For more information, call (973) 596-8500, ext. 237.