Traffic at fingertips.

By Sriram Narayanan

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 11, 2007: Rajendra Dhanuka (35) seems pretty suave behind the wheel. The 35-year-old valuer is piloting his Honda City on a turbid Sunday morning and cheekily asks his navigator if he is allowed to overtake.

Arun Kurkute (36), his navigator, smiles affirmatively. Dhanuka promptly downshifts a gear and floors the accelerator, hurtling his mellow gold Honda City down Cadell Road.

Meanwhile, Kurkute's slender fingers are feverishly moving on an embossed sheet of paper. Charting his way through a route map, perhaps? Not really. Kurkute is completely blind. And what he has on his hands is a sheet of landmarks and directions in Braille.

And like theirs, there are 63 other cars vying for victory in the Blind Man's Car Rally. Each driven by the owner and navigated by a visually-impaired person. A perfect case of the blind leading the sighted.

Organised by Round Table India (RTI), part of the international NGO Round Table International, this is the third such rally in Mumbai; the last one was held in 1994. The NGO has already built 1,100 schools at the cost of Rs 75 crore and has educated 6,00,000 students.

"We provide primary education by building infrastructure for across the country and by 2008, aim to educate one million children," said Paresh Chaudhry, a member of RTI and corporate communication professional with Hindustan Lever.

Flagged off at Worli seaface by Ajay Devgan, who is a goodwill ambassador of RTI, the route touched Five Gardens, the leafy lanes of Dadar and Shivaji Park to the grandeur that Ballard Pier and Nariman Point that is nearly deserted on non-working days.

Dhanuka was all praise for Kurkute. "Arun quite expertly guided me through those tiny lanes of Dadar's Hindu Colony, which is so easy to lose your way in," he said. "I like his confidence and the world they live in."

However, the pair missed one stopover and did not qualify as finishers. Both seemed the least perturbed, though.

"It was a lot of fun and it is not often that I get to interact with other people," says Kurkute. Besides being a Masters in Social Work, Kurkute is also doing a Phd on the sociology of the blind in Mumbai, has trekked in the Himalayas, ran in the Mumbai Marathon and plans to swim the English Channel soon.

However, out of the 63 participants, only 19 finished. Just to give you an idea of how arduous the route was. The route description in Braille very smartly avoided mentioning important landmarks. Instead, all the clues revealed were tiny, inconsequential places like beauty parlours, travel agencies and small signboards.

Winner of the rally, Zarin Havewala, is a teacher.

"I think this is a great venue for normal and visually-impaired people to interact. My navigator Ketan Kothari was so good, we won the rally," he said.

But while the visually-challenged impressed their keen sense of direction, this reporter asked Kurkute if there are any disabled-friendly cars in India. "None," came the calm but stark reply.

New course teaches UCSC students about disability

The University of California, Santa Cruz, is offering a new general education course on universal access and assistive technology, enabling students from all majors to learn more about disability and the issues that surround it.

The course is taught by Roberto Manduchi, an associate professor of computer engineering whose research includes work on assistive technology. Assistive technology refers to equipment that allows people with disabilities to function in the day-to-day world. Universal access is the goal of assistive technology, which seeks to enable everyone, disabled or not, to communicate and participate in society.

According to Manduchi, the new course is unique in that it addresses both the technological aspects of disabilities and the implications of disability on a personal and societal level.

"There is some technology involved, because this is an engineering course. But mostly the emphasis is on understanding the physiology, psychology, and sociology of disability," Manduchi said.

The course is aimed at anyone interested in the subject, but will be required for those pursuing UCSC's new bioengineering major. Called Universal Access: Disability, Technology, and Society, it will be offered every year and has no prerequisites. The students who are taking the class this year are evenly distributed among engineering, social sciences, humanities, and physical and biological sciences, Manduchi said.

The class incorporates invited guest lecturers to give the students as many perspectives on disability as possible. These include experts who study disability, professionals who work with people with disabilities, and disabled people themselves. Manduchi himself spent almost 10 years working on robot vision before deciding to apply that knowledge to helping blind people. He thought it would be easy, but soon learned otherwise.

"Most engineers are like me. They start proposing solutions to the problem of disability without knowing what the problems are," Manduchi said. "After a while, I realized that you could not start from an engineering point of view. You need to talk to people and understand all the issues that go along with disability. Then you can start trying to solve the problem."

In his research, Manduchi addresses the problem of blindness by engineering equipment that helps blind people sense their environment.

He developed what he calls a "laser cane" that can sense obstacles in a person's path. He is also working on a computer mouse that translates onscreen features into tactile sensations, like the feedback sensors on some video-game controllers. Another project involves using the camera and computer in a cellular phone to "look" for things like bathrooms and elevators in an unfamiliar environment.

Peggy Church, director of the Disability Resource Center on campus, and her staff provided resources and information that helped Manduchi design the new course. Church called the class an important contribution to broadening students' awareness of disability.

"When people think of diversity, they think of ethnic diversity and gender, but not about disability," she said.

The course includes a project that requires students to immerse themselves in a facet of the disability issue. Manduchi said this could include learning some American Sign Language or spending 24 hours with a person with a disability. Manduchi said he hopes that his course will give students an opportunity to explore a field and an issue they might otherwise not have thought about.

"I think the right way to deal with disability is knowledge: getting to know what disability means and entails," Manduchi said.

WHERE THE BLIND WORK …

Note, the first part of this document is an explanation, and the second part is a short form to be filled out. 

The National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division is creating a new accessible and easy to use resource covering the various types of employment that the blind are engaged in and how they do it.  This new resource is called "Where the Blind Work" and it will be hosted on the NFB's Jernigan Institute's web pages.  The format will be unique to other existing resources; there is never enough good information out there on the employability of the blind. 

The target audiences who will benefit from this resource are:

• The blind, who are in the process of figuring out a first job or wanting to change careers.

• Employers who are wondering if the blind are employable within their company.

• Professionals responsible for guidance of career development for the blind.

• Parents who may wonder what the future employability factor is for their blind child.

• The general public who are interested in learning the truth of the human potential to successfully live and work with blindness. 

To accomplish this goal we want to collect as many employment descriptions as we can.  We want to include the widest range of jobs represented as possible and not stop at having just one example of each.  After all, not only do we all not like doing the same thing, but we all wouldn't do a job the same way.  Additionally, to make this resource tool the most effective and user friendly, its setup must follow a strict format.  The result then will be that the readers of this resource can be assured that in going from description to description, they will know where to expect to find certain specifics and it will not be a lot of work to get the information being sought.

Who should fill out an employment description form?  First, our definition of blind is a person who functions at some level of visual deficit, noticeably different than the visual norm and requires the use of an alternative technique to carry out the duties of the job.

Second, we are looking for a person who is now or has in the past been employed.  Thus, you may fill out a form for any or all the jobs you have ever worked.

Please e-mail the completed form to Robert Leslie Newman at <mailto:newmanrl@...>newmanrl@...

Once the description is received, members of the National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division will check them through for any needed minor editing and categorize them into career groupings. 

Employment Description Form

Guideline 1--The total length of a completed form cannot exceed 1,000 words.

Guideline 2--The employment description must follow these five questions:

Question 1.  What is your name and job title? 

Note: If you are open to being contacted, consider registering with NFB LINK; this innovative program pairs individuals seeking information or advice with experienced Federationists.

Question 2.  What do you do on your job? 

Note: Tell of the basic things that any worker would be required to do on this job; any  specialized blindness alternatives appear in the next question.

Question 3.  To what extent are you blind and what special adaptations do you use on the job? 

Note: In respect to your blindness, consider naming the condition.  Otherwise briefly describe it your way.  As for the adaptations, speak of the common sense things you do, to the more formal low vision and/or non-visual alternative methods and/or equipment you will use to perform the duties of your job.

Question 4.  What are the qualifications to enter this job position? 

Note: Tell if there is prior experience needed or special training or education or certificates required , etc.  Mention where you might go employment-wise from here.

Question 5.  What influences did you have along the way which aided you to be successful?

Note: Did you have a mentor?  Did participation within a consumer group aid you?  If so, explain. 

Colorado Ballet’s Department of Education & Outreach Presents:

Where the Wild Things Are

 Sensory Tour for the Blind

The Sensory Tour is designed for the visually impaired and blind community.  The event will include a “tactile tour” of the ballet, with help from tactile artist Ann Cunningham.  The tour will provide the opportunity for patrons to feel costumes and sets, and to participate in a tactile art activity.  Following the tour is a performance of Where the Wild Things Are with Bruch Violin Concerto.  The performance will be audio-described through individual headsets available to blind and visually-impaired patrons. 

GREAT FOR ALL AGES!

You must have a reservation for this event.  For more information or to make a reservation please call 303-339-1632 or email tiffany@....  Only 30 spots are available for the tactile tour so make your reservations soon.

Saturday, March10th, 2007

Tour begins at12PMat the

Ellie Caulkins Opera House - 14^th&Curtis

Audio-describedshow begins at2PM

The pages of Maurice Sendak's award-winning children's book come to the stage in thislively adaptation. WHERE THE WILD THINGSAREdepicts aboy's journey to a land of snuffling, shuffling, but ultimately loveablemonsters; where he ultimately learns that there really is no place like home. Agreat ride for kids of all ages!

Additionally, ColoradoBallet will perform BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTO, which will precede each performance of WHERE THE WILDTHINGSARE.

Tiffany Pallotto

Director of Education & Outreach

Colorado Ballet

1278 Lincoln St.

Denver, CO 80203

303-837-8888 ext. 1632

Direct Line- 303-339-1632

NATIONAL EXHIBITS BY BLIND ARTISTS, INC.

919 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,  PA  19107

(215) 925-3213  ·  (800) 222-1754

CALL FOR ARTISTS

“ART BEYOND SIGHT” – 2007-2008

Sponsored by NEBA, Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Wayne Art Center.

OPENING                              WAYNE ART CENTER

                                                 Wayne,  PA

                                                Fall 2007

*Additional venues are scheduled throughout 2008*

NEBA Selections and Awards Selection Chair:

Jan Baltzell, Artist, Professor at the Pa. Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia

PRIZES:  Best in 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional

EXHIBIT ELIGIBILITY:

1.     All participating legally blind artists must be able to verify the nature of their vision loss.

2.     All participating legally blind artists must be eighteen years or older.

3.     All artwork must have been completed since the vision loss.

4.     Artwork must not have been previously exhibited by NEBA.

5.     Artists may submit slides (preferred); 8” x 10” photographs or electronic files on CD-ROM for three pieces of artwork.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 30, 2007

Send to:

National Exhibits by Blind Artists, Inc. (NEBA)

P. O. Box 1194

Philadelphia,  PA  19105

Notification of the results of the review will be on or around May 1, 2007.

SLIDES:

1.     Slides should be 2” x 2” color transparencies.

2.     a)  Send 1 slide per entry for each two-dimensional work.

b)    Send 2 slides for each three-dimensional work.

3.     Each slide must be marked with the artist’s name on the front, title of work and medium.  Place a dot in the upper right hand corner on front of slide.

4.     Slides must be of actual work available for exhibit.

5.     Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the return of the slides.  Slides of work NOT SELECTED for the show will be returned after judging.

6.     Enclosed form must be completed and returned with slides.

ACCEPTED WORKS:

All artwork accepted for the exhibit must arrive (shipped or delivered) not later than May 24, 2007.  It must be insured by the artist and arrive ready for display.

Ship to:

Postal delivery:  NEBA, P.O. Box 1194, Philadelphia,  PA  19105.

Courier or hand delivery:  NEBA, 919 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,  PA  19107.

PLEASE NOTE:  NEBA RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REJECT WORKS NOT PROPERLY PREPARED FOR EXHIBIT.  WORKS HAVE BEEN REJECTED IN THE PAST AS UNSUITABLE FOR SHOWING BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT CONSTRUCTED PROPERLY OR READY FOR DISPLAY.

1.     Plexiglas is preferred in place of glass.

2.     Sculpture must be suitably mounted; bases must be securely attached.

3.     Textiles or other fiber work must have a rod for hanging.

4.     Paintings or drawings must be framed and wired for hanging.

5.     All work should be professionally packed for shipping (or packed in a comparable manner). Your container will be used for return shipping.

6.     All work must be insured for shipping.  NEBA provides insurance for return delivery.

7.     For any work selected for the show, NEBA will request a short biography of the artist and a description of the work.  This may be a taped message on cassette.

8.     A contract will be sent upon notification of acceptance by the jury.

9.     All works will be returned to the artist or released to purchaser at the close of the contract period for this exhibit.

10. NEBA receives a 20% commission on all sales of artwork.

Submission deadline:  March 30, 2007

Acceptance notification date:  May 1, 2007

Artwork delivery date:  May 24, 2007

Plano Courier-Star, TX, USA,

Saturday, February 17, 2007.

John Bramblitt: Blind artist expresses vision in paintings

By Liz McGathey, Staff Writer

A blind artist.

It may sound a little strange, but to Denton resident John Bramblitt, it's life.

Although Bramblitt sees nothing with his eyes, his art shows that a visual picture is not the only way to see.

Bramblitt will be in downtown Plano at 7 p.m. at the ArtCentre of Plano, 1039 E. 15th Street on Monday Feb. 26. As part of the Plano Art Association's monthly meeting, he will demonstrate his method.

When he lost his sight less than a decade ago, the soft-spoken artist said he was angry.

"At first, I thought I was handling it pretty well," he said. "Looking back I think I was in denial and I was angry but I didn't realize it until I started painting."

Now, he says, he feels better than ever.

"When I first lost my sight, I thought I would never achieve anything past that. I didn't really see myself doing much - a lot of people feel that way when they become disabled," he said.

But, the Texas native said he really doesn't think of himself as disabled. He feels he has only recently accepted his blindness when he dreamt of himself as a blind person for the first time.

"They say you don't really know a foreign language until you start dreaming in that language," he said.

Likewise, he believes his dream portrays this subconscious realization.

What caused him to go blind is unknown, but a seizure disorder he has suffered from since his youth may have caused nerve damage that affected the visual centers of his brain. The loss in his sight was gradual and similar to the fluctuating vision he had after seizures.

"I was legally blind before that but I didn't know," he said.

Bramblitt said he only knows if it's sunny or dark outside. Aside from this limited light perception, he doesn't see anything.

Why would a man who lost his sight later in life choose painting as his creative outlet?

"I always liked to do creative things like creative writing but I thought I couldn't write and I didn't even think about drawing because I couldn't see. But I wanted to get my hands on something. I wanted to do sculpture but I wanted to do something more visual. Painting was a way of getting some sort of vision," he said.

When Bramblitt decided he wanted to paint, he had to find a way to navigate his drawings. When he would make the initial sketch using a flat drawing implement like pencil, he couldn't feel the lines so his goal was to find a line drawing medium that would produce a raised line that he could feel.

At first he tried Elmer's glue but the drying time made for a lengthy project. His next experiment was with White-Out pens because the paint dries much faster but it tends to sink into the canvas making it harder to find the lines as days pass and the project progresses. Bramblitt eventually settled on puffy paint, a crafter's tool generally used on fabrics.

Bramblitt uses the puffy paint to create his drawing and once it's dry enough to maintain raised lines, he paints over it with a primer. Finally, he fills in the lines with oil paints - much like paint by number.

He chose oil paints because they are "easy to feel on a brush." They also take longer to dry so it gives him more working time. He also found that white and black oils each have their own texture so he is able tell which color he's using simply by feeling them. For other colors, Bramblitt has found yet another way to accommodate.

"Some colors are pretty close [in texture]. I can mix in different mediums to change the way they feel so when you first start you know what everything feels like," he said. "Sometimes I find a color that I like the way it feels and I use it just because I like the way it feels."

In fact, painting has become such an big part of his life that Bramblitt feels color when he touches the skin of the people he meets.

"At first I said 'no, that's wrong' but pretty quickly I thought 'if that's the way I see it then that's the way I see it,'" he said. "It's weird though because the colors change all the time. Color is emotion - life just drips with feeling, with emotion and with color. I feel like I have a brighter world because I don't feel constrained by the colors around me. When I touch someone's face I try to put the colors that I feel down so people can see what I see."

And, it seems he is getting that message across. Most of his original paintings have sold and prints are available on his Web site.

"I've been surprised that I've sold almost everything I've painted; I'm pretty happy about that," he said. "I'm not worried about making a living off of it because I'm going to do it regardless."

Bramblitt's paintings range from portraits to buildings. His early works were pulled from his memory but now he uses his hands to see the faces he paints.

"When you feel something, you put so much more information into your brain so it's easier for your brain to remember," he said.

Bramblitt said he finds it comical when art show patrons discover he is blind after they've seen his works.

"When they don't know who the artist is and people will see that I'm blind, they will go back and look at the painting," he said. "I don't know what they're looking for."

Selling more paintings has allowed Bramblitt to do be contacted for appearances like the one in Plano as well as events with sighted and blind children. He said he's impressed when blind children and sighted children who are blindfolded begin painting.

Although Bramblitt never set out to share his craft in this way, he said he plans to continue these types of events in the future.

The University of North Texas student will begin grad school next semester and plans to go on to teach creative writing but his painting will never take a back seat.

"If I stopped painting I would lose my mind," he said. "I sort of wrap the rest of my world around that. If I don't get to paint, that means I don't sleep much that night."

Although Bramblitt believes his method is not much different from sighted painters, he hopes he can shed a new light on his disability. And, he said he looks forward to coming to Plano.

To learn more about John Bramblitt and his craft, visit www.bramblitt.net

SAVE-A-DATE:  September 28 -30, 2007

Art Beyond Sight: Multi-modal Approaches to Learning, Creativity and Communication

An International Conference

Co-sponsored by Art Education for the Blind,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

 and UNESCO

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
1000 Fifth Avenue, New York City

Following the sold-out 2005 conference on multimodal approaches to learning, Art Education for the Blind (AEB) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art are organizing a second international conference to further address the challenges faced by educators, artists, museum professionals, architects and designers to create multimodal learning opportunities and environments that better serve all audiences. This conference will address multiple modalities in the following disciplines: Art history, contemporary art and new media; cognitive psychology and neuroscience; universal/human-centered design, products and environments in the 21^st century; and education for people with sensory and other disabilities.

The conference will bring together educators, museum curators, psychologists, neuroscientists, architects, designers, anthropologists, scientists, and others concerned with multimodal learning, disability, art and education. Among the participants are Stephen Kuusisto (Ohio State University, and author of Planet of the Blind), Yuri Danilov (Brainport), Mandayam Srinivasan (MIT), Alvaro Pascual-Leone (Harvard Medical), John Kennedy (University of Toronto), Marcus Weisen (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, UK), John Zeisel (Hearthstone Alzheimer Care), Jenny Nilsson (Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille), and Linda Pring (Psychology Dept./Goldsmiths College, University of London).

Poster sessions: Call for proposals: Poster sessions focusing on specific projects in areas such as museum programming and technology will further enhance the rich menu of learning opportunities. Proposals for poster sessions are welcome. Please send a description of no more than 200 words to editor-at-large@.... Please include “Poster Proposal” in the subject line.

Registration: The registration fee for this conference is $150 ($75 for students with a copy of ID). The official registration form will be posted on www.artbeyondsight.org after May 1^st. If you wish to have the form emailed to you when available, send your name and email address to: editor-at-large@...; with “September Conference” in the subject line.

Karnataka – Bangalore:

`I want to touch the Vidhana Soudha and draw it'

Staff Reporter

FIVE VISUALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN EXHIBIT THEIR SKILLS IN DRAWING

Bangalore: Mountains are green. The sky is blue. The sun is yellow. There are even two birds to complete the perfect picture.

"Did you ever imagine that the blind could draw, madam?" Mahadevi, a visually challenged student from CSI Victoria School in Mysore, asked a pressperson, pointing to her drawing.

Displaying their ability to draw on a Monday afternoon for the press, five visually challenged children sat and drew mountains, trees, flags and flowers of different colours all by themselves.

Training

Trained by an artist, Mustafa Khan, in what he calls "Pop Up Symbolism", these 10th standard students, Kavitha, Nagamani, Rachna, Sushma and Mahadevi, can now draw by touching objects to understand their shape and then using their fingers to recreate them from their imagination. The children had to be taught to hold a pencil. They were used to punching holes for braille," says Mr. Khan.

Preparing them mentally and continuously motivating them is important in the initial stages.

The children are first taught to be familiar with shapes such as triangles, rectangles andcircles.

Then they are taught to identify crayon colours by associating certain shapes with the colours.

"It has been four years since I started working with these children," says Mr. Khan. Now, he teaches 16 students and is willing to teach more visually challenged hildren.

"I can even provide literature on how to go about the process," he says.

"We did not think that we could draw big shapes when we started off," says Nagamani. "Now I want to touch the Vidhana Soudha and draw it," Mahadevi says.

Freeze frame: See how the blind see . . .

A stunning exhibition shows how ‘photography by the blind creates a thin line between what we would see and ultimately interpret’

Paroma Mukherjee

Mumbai, February 14:  A lone chair beside a beam of light, a multiple-exposure frame of a famous Mumbai monument, a portrait of a blind sitar player and a complex blur of a pattern of steps —this series of abstract, yet real photographs are stunning. More so, when you know they have taken by visually impaired photographers.

The first-ever photo exhibition of its kind by the visually impaired in India, “Beyond Sight”, put up by students of the Victoria Memorial School For The Blind, is slated to travel across Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Kolkata.

Chancing upon an article on accomplished blind photographer Evgan Bavcar, Partho Bhowmick decided to initiate the “Blind With Camera”

project and began working with students of the school that ultimately led to the exhibition.

“I had never taken pictures in my life before this. We were given a few hours and a point-and-shoot camera. So I would compose my frame by sensing movement, noise and measuring the instance between my subject and myself,” says Nikhil Mundhe (17), a partially blind class 6 student, one among the nine students whose work is being displayed.

The children were guided by “helpers” who can see, says Bhowmick, an IT professional.

Sujit Chaurasia (14), born blind, has two interesting exhibits: One is a series of hand movements juxtaposed against a hose-pipe and the other is a classic composition showcasing children playing on a silent afternoon with two trees making up the frame. “I waited before I could gauge where the children were positioned. I could hear them play and wanted my photograph to capture the moment.”

As Bhowmick points out, “Photography by the blind creates a thin line between what we would see and ultimately interpret. Something that looks abstract and unreadable to us is what the blind actually see in every day life.”

The exhibition throws open unexplored areas in photography—something that’s present and something else that’s absent in a composition. Asked if photography could become a viable career after this experience, Nikhil smiles. “I would like to shoot. But, I want to be a music director first.”

Right now, the exhibition is on at the school premises at Tardeo.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=222342

SAVE-A-DATE:  September 28 -30, 2007

Art Beyond Sight: Multi-modal Approaches to Learning, Creativity and Communication . . .

An International Conference

Co-sponsored by Art Education for the Blind, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and UNESCO

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York City

Following the sold-out 2005 conference on multimodal approaches to learning, Art Education for the Blind (AEB) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art are organizing a second international conference to further address the challenges faced by educators, artists, museum professionals, architects and designers to create multimodal learning opportunities and environments that better serve all audiences. This conference will address multiple modalities in the following disciplines: Art history, contemporary art and new media; cognitive psychology and neuroscience; universal/human-centered design, products and environments in the 21^st century; and education for people with sensory and other disabilities.

The conference will bring together educators, museum curators, psychologists, neuroscientists, architects, designers, anthropologists, scientists, and others concerned with multimodal learning, disability, art and education. Among the participants are Stephen Kuusisto (Ohio State University, and author of Planet of the Blind), Yuri Danilov (Brainport), Mandayam Srinivasan (MIT), Alvaro Pascual-Leone (Harvard Medical), John Kennedy (University of Toronto), Marcus Weisen (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, UK), John Zeisel (Hearthstone Alzheimer Care), Jenny Nilsson (Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille), and Linda Pring (Psychology Dept./Goldsmiths College, University of London).

Poster sessions: Call for proposals: Poster sessions focusing on specific projects in areas such as museum programming and technology will further enhance the rich menu of learning opportunities. Proposals for poster sessions are welcome. Please send a description of no more than 200 words to editor-at-large@.... Please include “Poster Proposal” in the subject line.

Registration: The registration fee for this conference is $150 ($75 for students with a copy of ID). The official registration form will be posted on www.artbeyondsight.org after May 1^st. If you wish to have the form emailed to you when available, send your name and email address to: editor-at-large@...; with “September Conference” in the subject line.

Unique "Touch Tour" Brings Art To Blind Students . . .

First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- If you've ever been to an art museum, you know the number one rule: do not touch! That is, unless you had a chance to be on a unique tour at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens on Monday morning.

With every fingertip, gliding over ridges and curls, the image grew clearer. The first visitors to see the Cummer Museum's new exhibit -- didn't use their eyes at all.

"It's like being able to get to know the art and see what it really looks like," said Maggie Meade, who had just finished running her gloved hand over the bends of a bold wooden woman, a forlorn bronze bust, and other works of art.

On this special "touch tour" were students from the

 Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine. Their vision is very low or nonexistent. But their interest in the Cummer's new display of African-American art is extraordinary.

It's more than only "touching." This is about feeling -- in every sense of that word.

"Sitting there, looking at something, and you can't really see it that well -- you're not going to make as good of a connection as you would if you were to feel it," explained Chelsea Stillman, one of about two dozen students who took the tour.

Walter and Linda Evans, the artwork's owners, couldn't take their eyes away. "They can tell things about this art that that I've never known before," Walter Evans said after marveling at the students' ability to understand the expressions on the sculptures' faces and the emotions they conveyed.

These sculptures had traveled to fifty museums. This was the first time their owners had ever let a visitor touch them. "Discover -- by using their hands instead of their eyes. It's very moving," collection owner Linda Evans said.

Monday marked the launch of the Cummer's exhibition of the  Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art.

Eighty pieces, including sculptures, paintings, and more will be on display through Black History Month and on until April 17th.

Note: There is also a video of the news article

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=75290

Artistic touch:

Blind student doesn't let disability affect painting

Skyler Murphy feels the colors he paints with. He likes shades of orange and red, blues and browns.

At first glance, the 10-year-old Rogers student seems to be just another student who enjoys-painting.

But this award-winning artist doesn't see the canvas he's-painting.

Blind since the age of 4, the result of an automobile accident, Murphy doesn't let the disability affect his zest for life -- or art.

"I like to paint and color with crayons at home," he said.

Murphy recently learned he'd won the grand prize in the statewide Helen Keller Art Show.

He competed against other visually impaired and blind students from across the state.

He named his painting "Braille," explaining that the multi-colored acrylic painting had lots of texture, which he formed by using various brushes.

His painting hosts an added dimension of a second brightly colored canvas attached to the larger one.

"It has depth and color, and I'm sure it was one of the more unusual pieces in the contest," said his art teacher, Sonya Skipworth.

Murphy placed first last week with a different painting in his school district's art competition.

Through the Helen Keller Art Show, 20 works of art are selected for a year long traveling art display around the state. Murphy's "Braille" was among them. His painting went on to win the Patty Johnson grand prize award.

Murphy will be featured in the Helen Keller Parade in June and in various venues throughout the festival week.

Lisa Moses, Skyler's former vision teacher who now works for the University of Alabama in-Birmingham as a research assistant professor in the school of optometry, says Murphy's painting will become a part of the permanent art collection at Ivy Green in Tuscumbia.

Moses described Murphy as a hard worker who "loves school more than any student I've ever taught."

"He's a people person, and he has visual memories that come-out in his artwork," Moses said. "Art is truly his favorite mode of expression."

Murphy holds the edge of his canvas as he paints in order to keep his place with his brush.

Murphy's enjoyment while painting is obvious. "You can see it on his face that he absolutely loves to paint," Skipworth said. "You can tell that art makes him happy."

The Guild for the Blind, 180 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601-7463, is accepting applications for Passionate Focus 2007, the Guild’s annual juried art exhibit showcasing work by artists with vision loss. The deadline for applications if Friday, July 6, 2006.

Each application entered must include a 35mm slide, photograph, or electronic file that accurate represents the creative work. Digital format is preferred. Actual pieces of art are NOT accepted during the application process.  All artwork must be original and created by an artist who is legally blind. Pieces displayed in previous Passionate Focus art exhibits will not be accepted.

Artists may submit up to 6 pieces. There is a $30 non-refundable submission fee for all artists. Applications and checks (made payable to Guild for the Blind) should be sent to: Guild for the Blind, Attn: Passionate Focus, 180 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60601. (Note: Artworks accepted for the exhibit are available for purchase. Last year, 22 of the 46 exhibit pieces sold during the show. An additional piece sold after the show.)

For more on this juried exhibit and the application process, visit the Guild’s Web site: www.guildfortheblind.org. (You can view pieces from the 2005 and 2006 exhibits there.)   If you have specific questions, call Cheryl Megurdichian at (312) 236-8569.

Local artist fuses tattoo art, pop art and graffiti. 

THE MONITOR: by Travis M. Whitehead, March 9, 2007 - 10:22AM.

Marcus Farris EDINBURG — When Marcus Farris takes a day off, chances are he’s indulging his creative bent in a variety of styles.

Farris, 35, describes his art as “generally somewhere between what you would call low-brow influence and popular art, a mix of readable images and text.”

Farris, who is legally blind, but can still see well enough to draw at close range, hasn’t let his condition slow him down. He is the head of art education at the University of Texas-Pan American; he said his subject matter ranges pretty freely according to his varying inclinations.

“I just finished a piece the first of this semester that was just simply an adaptation of an old Japanese samurai on kind of a stark background with text running along the side that says, ‘The Trail Ends Here,’” he said. “It’s real simple. Some of it’s real site-specific depending on what the subject matter I’m working with is.”

He draws on a broad collage of influences, from traditional fine art to popular art, underground, graffiti and tattoo flash art.

“For the past two years I’ve been getting my research background in underground and low brow and street art.” he said, “That kind of encompasses everything from turn-of-the-century printmakers to illustrators to the guys that do comic books.”

Farris has managed to create an interesting fusion of pop art and Japanese themes. In the piece “Forget to Think,” a Japanese woman in a blue kimono has her nation’s flag — a rising sun — in bold red colors across her back. Japanese characters run down the side.

The work “Ring Around the Rosie” depicts a young boy looming over a sports car where a pair of hands is raising a broken skull, while a banner with the words “We All Fall Down” flutters around a flower. All of this is created in bold, almost audacious, yet entertaining colors.

Farris’ style also has strong elements of tattoo art. Farris likes to work with tattoo flash art, the name for the pictures people see when they walk into a tattoo shop. This flash art on the wall gives customers a large selection to choose for their own tattoos. The tattoo artist breaks the image down into a line drawing, then colors it in.

“A lot of what I do, I take these line drawings and combine pieces,”

Farris said. “I may add text, turn them into a more painterly standpoint.”

Much of his work is taken from images he’s created or from photographs he’s located, readapted and juxtaposed with readable text, he said; obviously, as in “Forget to Think,” the text isn’t always in English. He has friends who “translate everything from Spanish to Japanese to German.”

Artwork is as much a part of him as breathing; he’s been drawing, he said, since he was “about two feet long.”

“Professionally I’ve been working and selling for about 12 years now,” he said. “Like I said, it’s just kind of been a natural progression. I’ve always just kind of drawn and painted. I really didn’t get super-involved in a lot of stuff probably until right out of high school, in terms of focusing on art being a career, something other than a hobby.”

What motivates him to keep creating?

“Basically I’m kind of just an information and visual junkie,” he said. “Some studies have come out in the last few years that show people look at art for three to seven seconds. Part of my goal is to get you past that seven-second mark. If it doesn’t get you to feel or think something, regardless of the subject matter, you are missing out.”

ChicagoPride.com, IL, USA:

Wednesday, March 21, 2007.

Local Artist Erik Sosa Presents "Color For Your Fingers"

CHICAGO, IL - The 32nd and Urban gallery presents "Color for your fingers: A-Z", an exhibit by Erik Sosa, from March 24th through April 6th.

As an artist, it has been Sosa's goal to overwhelm an audience with bold colors and diversity in lines. In his quest to connect with people, his goal has always been to create pieces that are visually stimulating.

Through this journey, Sosa feels that not all people have been encompassed, specifically, the visually impaired. "Color for your Fingers: A-Z" is a 26-piece art show that incorporates texture and color into letters of the alphabet. This exhibit will be a hands-on experience. Braille has been incorporated into some pieces to allow the blind to enjoy and better understand their surroundings.

The opening reception will be held this Saturday and 32nd&urban: gallery&space at 3201 S. Halsted Street from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.

Erik Sosa has been recognized as a stalwart of the Chicago non-profit community for his generosity. This year, Sosa was awarded the VOX/Out Emerging Voices of Style + Design award, which honors openly gay and lesbian individuals whose works have come to signify style, vision and design. In an airing of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on January 14th, a Sosa painting was featured in the living room space.

For more information and images, please visit www.erikrsosa.com.

link

http://mysite.verizon.net/resvqbxe/princetonbraillists/

THE PRINCETON BRAILLISTS

CREATORS OF TACTILE MAPS AND DRAWINGS FOR THE BLIND

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Maps and drawings are created by hand in metal foil, then duplicated by the Thermoform process to make clear, sharp copies. The 11x11-1/2 inch plastic sheets are bound into volumes with cardboard covers and a spiral plastic binder.

Generally, key letters are used to label cities and areas on the maps. These key letters are identified on key pages preceding each map. The maps sometimes have foldout sections and or appear on facing pages. 

The maps are detailed, and some experience with tactile drawings is recommended. When examining the drawings, place a piece of cardboard under each page to eliminate any texture from the page below. To keep the drawings in good condition, please keep them out of the heat. Store them upright in the shipping boxes or so that they are not squeezed together.

2007 PRICE LIST OF TACTILE DRAWINGS AND MAPS

MAPS OF THE STATE OF HAWAII: includes detailed maps of the eight major islands. Each island has introductory information followed by one or more key pages and a full-page map. A general view of the city of Honolulu and of Pearl Harbor are included in the maps of the island of Oahu. 10 maps with keys, 55 pages total. $11.00

BASIC HUMAN ANATOMY: cross-sections of the head and brain, nose-mouth-throat, tooth, respiratory tract, heart, digestive system, villus, urinary tract, kidney, nephron, nerve cell, eye, ear, skin, male and female reproductive systems, and fetus in the womb. 18 drawings with keys, 31 pages: $15.00.

OUTLINE MAPS OF THE WORLD in one volume. Contains 33 maps showing political boundaries, capital cities, and surrounding bodies of water.

The maps are divided into 5 sections: North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, Africa, and Polar Regions. An index at the end of the volume lists countries and islands, and indicates the page number of the map on which they appear. 33 maps, 79 pages: $19.00

ATLAS OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA: three units in four volumes. Emphasis is on geography. Maps show boundaries, mountains, rivers and bodies of water, elevation, major cities only, climate, land use and resources.

Each unit is self-contained and can be used alone.

Unit 1. NORTHERN NORTH AMERICA: Canada and U.S. 59 pages Unit 2. THE UNITED STATES: (2 volumes) divides the country into 6 regions; maps are shown by region. 124 pages Unit 3. MIDDLE AND SOUTH AMERICA: 51 pages Price of four-volume set is $56.00 including shipping. Individual

volumes: $15.00.

MAPS OF THE BRITISH ISLES: covers England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Overall maps show boundaries, bodies of water, mountains and hills. Maps of each country show cities, towns, major rivers, and counties or regions. Places of interest in the Greater London area and an overall map of London are also included. 11 maps with keys,

46 pages total. $10.00

ATLAS OF WESTERN EUROPE: two volume set covering 21 countries and their nearby territories.

A page of facts and a detailed full-page map is included for each country. The maps show cities and physical features and are labeled with extensive keys. The British Isles (covered in a separate volume – see above) is not included. Vol. I: Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Andorra, Monaco, Luxembourg; 23 maps 72 pages Vol. II: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Greece, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Malta; 13 maps, 48 pages.  Volumes I and II: $25.00; Vol. 1 only: $15.00; Vol. II only: $11.00

ATLAS OF EASTERN EUROPE: covers in one volume Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Western Russia up to the Ural Mountains. The format is the same as described above for Atlas of Western Europe. 21 maps, 80 pages total. $16.00

ATLAS OF THE MIDDLE EAST: covers 17 countries including Bahrain, Crete, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine National Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The format is the same as described above for Atlas of Western Europe. 25 maps with keys, 69 pages total. $20.00

ATLAS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIA: covers 13 countries and Kashmir.

Countries include Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The format is the same as described above for Atlas of Western Europe. 19 maps, 72 pages; $16.00

ATLAS OF EAST ASIA: covers China, Mongolia, Japan, North and South Korea. The format is the same as described above for Atlas of Western Europe. 26 maps, 106 pages; $21.00

ATLAS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA: covers in one volume Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Timor-Leste and the Philippines. The format is the same as described above for Atlas of Western Europe. 23 maps with keys, 83 pages total. $18.00

MAPS OF RUSSIA AND ITS FORMER REPUBLICS: shows boundaries, rivers, and major cities as of 1997. 6 maps, 16 pages $4.00.

For more detailed maps of western Russia and some of the Republics see the Atlas of Eastern Europe and the Atlas of Central and South Asia listed above.

MAPS OF MOROCCO: 7 maps with keys, 19 pages total. $5.00

MAPS OF THE BIBLE LANDS - OLD TESTAMENT: for serious students of the Bible or ancient history. No text; highly detailed; extensive keys.

Covers Ancient World, Abraham, Exodus, Kingdoms of Saul, David, Solomon, Israel and Judah, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Alexander, Seleucids, and Maccabees. 25 maps, 98 pages, $22.00

MAPS OF INDIVIDUAL U.S. STATES: Each of the booklets below contains introductory information and detailed maps showing major cities, rivers and lakes, major highways, physical features, county boundaries, agricultural and mineral resources.

MAINE: 11 maps with keys, 27 pages total NEW HAMPSHIRE: 11 maps with keys, 29 pages total

VERMONT: 9 maps with keys, 18 pages total

MASSACHUSETTS: 15 maps with keys, 48 pages total; includes information about and overall maps of Boston CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND: 13 maps with keys, 38 pages NEW YORK STATE: 14 maps with keys, 44 pages total, also includes information and overall maps of New York City NEW JERSEY: 17 maps with keys, 46 pages total; including overall maps of metopolitan areas around Newark and Camden

PENNSYLVANIA: 12 maps with keys, 34 pages total, also includes information and overall maps of Philadelphia.

FLORIDA: 12 maps with keys, 34 pages total including maps of Orlando/Lakeland, Tampa/Sarasota, Fort Myers/Naples, and Miami/Fort Lauderdale areas.

ILLINOIS: 13 maps with keys, 46 pages total, including overall maps of Chicago and vicinity PRICE OF EACH STATE MAP BOOKLET LISTED ABOVE: $6.00

CALIFORNIA: includes detailed maps showing location of major cities, rivers and lakes, mountains, highways, parks and counties. Subsequent maps show Northern, Central, and Southern California, San Francisco, Yosemite, Los Angeles area and San Diego. About 275 cities are included and indexed. 19 maps with keys, 84 pages total; $15.00

How To Order

ORDERING INFORMATION

Send check or purchase order to

THE PRINCETON BRAILLISTS

76 LEABROOK LANE,

PRINCETON, NJ 08540

Credit card and Fax service are not available. Shipping is by free mail for the blind where eligible. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.

Further information can be obtained by calling:

215-357-7715 (Ruth Bogia) (rhbogia@...) or

609-924-5207 (Nancy Amick) (Jamesaamick@...).

MEET THE PRINCETON BRAILLISTS

      The Princeton Braillists is a small group of senior citizen volunteers whose goal is to make high quality but inexpensive tactile maps and drawings for blind people of all ages.

      Nancy Amick and Ruth Bogia, working as the Princeton Braillists, have been producing tactile maps for about 8 years. Before that, they were active for many years in making tactile drawings for textbooks being recorded by Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. Nancy began making drawings about 40 years ago and was a pioneer in developing the metal foil technique introduced by Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic in 1964. Ruth, a former studio director of the New Jersey Unit of RFB&D and a certified Braillist, joined Nancy in making drawings about 25 years ago. She continues to braille books for the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Fran Gasman joined the group in 2005 and recently became a certified Braillist, also brailling for the New Jersey Commission.  Phyllis Branin finishes the books by punching and binding the volumes.  Nancy's husband, James Amick, helps with the computer and secretarial chores.

*Jim Hansel, Chaska*

Jim Hansel has been painting wildlife scenes for decades. He began painting when he was a youngster (starting with paint-by-numbers) and went on to major in commercial art at the University of Minnesota.

He’s produced prints for Ducks Unlimited and has received a number of honors for his work. He’s an accomplished artist despite having an eye condition called Stargardts, which left him legally blind since an early age.

Some of his prints feature local landmarks, such as a winter scene of Guardian Angels Catholic Church.

Jim Hansel’s art can be found at www.jimhanselart.com <http://www.jimhanselart.com/>