Touch Art Video

Ceramics from Touch Art Workshops

Below are images of hand built ceramics from our Touch Art workshops this past fall at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. All artwork was created by individuals who are either totally blind or legally blind.

Ceramic Cat by Celeste Compomizzi

Ceramic Turtle by Ed Reid

Figure Reading a Book by Tina Wasserman

Ceramic Dog “Tudor” by Ed Reid

Ceramic Bowl by Karen Seligman

Steps towards inclusion with Ann Lapidus

A photo of Ann from the precious metal clay workshop

 Ann Lapidus participated in almost all of the touch art workshop series and sat down with me to talk about her experience in the classes and where she’d like to see the project go from here.  Ann was born sighted and lost her sight as a young adult, she has been blind for the past 6 years.  Now she is very independently navigating the world and developing an arts practice of her own.   Ann has taken ceramics classes in the past and has been refining her skills at the pottery wheel for the past few years.  In the precious metal clay class and the ceramics class she worked on developing some new skills of texture detail and hand-building in clay. 

 What were some of the things you enjoyed in your Touch Art Classes?

The teachers really got that there was nothing about the material that required vision.  It didn’t feel like a big inconvenience for them to make modifications for the blind community

In your opinion, what is the ideal outcome of the Touch Art Project?

I’d like to see artists in the area be more aware that this is happening.  Ideally this would happen again and include more artist/volunteers.  With a larger group of supporters, more people could learn about accommodations in a low-pressure environment.  Volunteer assistants can feel comfortable asking questions and learning in a hands-on way without the pressures of being ‘in-charge’.  Being in a hands-on learning environment is so helpful! 

Overall, I see the Touch Art project as a step towards a bigger shift towards inclusion in the arts.  There will be lots of tiny steps to bring Pittsburgh to true inclusion and Touch Art is a great starting place! 

A photo of ann in the ceramics workshop

What are your recommendations for next steps? 

When you have your arts-educators seminar in January, I’d like to see demos of the process and blind folks talking about their experience. 

 This workshop series was focused on providing an art making space for the blind community in a separate space.  True inclusion wouldn’t need this separation but it is a starting place – people need direction to learn how to accommodate before they can have full inclusion

In the next phase of the project it would be great to have blind folks as teachers, maybe partnered with a sighted person to teach classes focused on fine craftsmanship.  Students could be put under blindfold and blind instructors could show students their capabilities first hand.  

If the Touch Art Project can start to convince people to be more inclusive and prove that it’s not such a scary process, I would consider the project to be a big success!  We just have to show people how it’s done and we can move forward towards true inclusion.  

Interview with Stephanie Van: Author, Crafter, Vision Rehabilitation Therapist

Interview with Kirsten Ervin

Stephanie Van works as a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist with the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. She is also the author of “Craft Adaptations for Vision Impaired Adults of All Ages”, soon to be re-published.  It draws from her experience of teaching crafts to visually impaired adults for 16 years. Much of Stephanie’s knowledge is first hand, as she is both an avid crafter and a person with a visual impairment.

What is a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist?

VRTs instruct people with vision loss techniques and compensatory skills for maintaining the highest level of independent living possible. We do this for people of all ages, typically in a community setting, either home or work, and sometimes in groups.

When did you start making things?

As far back as I can remember, I loved art class in school. In particular, I like simplistic art, with bold colors, not too much detail, abstract rather than realistic. I grew in learning what I had to adapt for myself in art. In graduate school, I studied techniques that could apply to doing anything and everything in daily living, including arts and crafts.

Describe your visual impairment:

I have Retinopathy of Prematurity. I was born three months early. I had too much oxygen in the incubator and it did some retinal damage. My vision has also changed over the years, I’ve lost some more of my visual field and had cataracts.

When did you start teaching crafts?

My first job out of graduate school was on the Eastern side of the state, at a local nonprofit [serving people with visual impairments]. I was often asked by potential customers and families, “Is there anything I can do to fill time, to make myself feel better, to create again?”

At the same time, I was finding myself having to “sell” rehab teaching to new referrals. People don’t know what they don’t know, and sometimes what they need. I started a craft class for between 6 and 22 people. I began to seek craft projects anywhere and everywhere, at art fairs, in shops, to see what people like. I asked myself, “How can this [craft] be adapted so that it is viable, cost effective, not too complicated, and how can it also provide a sense of self-worth, accomplishment and confidence? How can people ‘do it myself’ with vision adaptations and adhering to vision rehab techniques? “

The class also incorporated five volunteers, and they were instructed to serve as the students’ eyes only, not to do the task for them – I was very strict about this, I insisted. If the volunteers forgot, I reminded them. Let them do it for themselves.

It’s often harder to teach volunteers than the people in the class, because they often don’t have the patience or think they’re being helpful [by being too involved], but it’s really counter-productive to the goal of the project. People who are blind or visually impaired do take longer to complete tasks, yet they can be completed. I chose projects with immediate results and feedback. I didn’t want people to lose interest. The class was only an hour and a half. I taught the class for 16 years.

Tell me about your book.

I also sought funding to write my book about how to set up a craft class for someone with vision loss: “Craft Adaptations for Vision Impaired Adults of All Ages”. The book took what I had learned from my experience, comments from the class, skills I had developed. I provided task analysis of each craft with contraindications for people with additional disabilities.

My audience for the book was individuals with vision loss, senior centers, activities groups, day programs. It’s not really about the specific craft projects, but about the underlining principles, and techniques, using less detail, more tactile elements, using templates. The projects are set up so that each participant made something that was different and creative. The projects are all designed to get people started thinking and to expand on the principles.

The class was also a way to get people to participate in rehabilitation, starting with crafts and then transferring to home skills. They were often reluctant and resistant to rehab, but when these same techniques were introduced in a fun and non-threatening way, they met people, grew in confidence, and then were able to transfer those skills to other areas of their life.

What do you like to make?

I don’t stick to anyone thing for very long. I like to do water color, make strange accessories, using heavy watercolor paper and templates to make flowers, and other shapes as gifts. I also like crocheting and making jewelry from sculpey. I’m also interested in wire jewelry.

What has been your experience in taking art classes?

I’ve not done as many art classes for two reasons: availability and accessibility.I’ve never gone to Pittsburgh Center for the Arts because it would take me 2 hours to get there one way on the bus and then, only at certain times of the day. I’m also hesitant because of generally how people react to blind or visually impaired people – either with pity or awe. Neither of those attitudes work when you want to be a student. Or it’s an attitude of “I don’t know what to do for you”, and because you as the student are new to the medium, you don’t know either, making it hard to advocate for yourself.

I have no issues going places by myself, but from years of experience it’s hard to navigate and orient myself in a large art studio, where things are a very neutral color and there isn’t a lot of contrast.

What would you need to have art classes be accessible?

Contrast, the availability of a task light, orientation to the room, a guided tour of the room, an ability to control my own work area, not in a selfish way, but so that I know where things are and they don’t get moved. Using a cafeteria tray or desk organizer really helps. So does fixing small objects to the table with a duct tape loop.

 Why should blind people make art?

It might seem like an odd question to a normal person, but there is the possibility of making art tactually and appreciating the end result. The art process does a lot for your mind, it’s calming, a stress reliever, and it attacks the common co-disability of depression that a lot of people with vision loss experience. Not everyone is creative or artistic, but it gives an awareness of abilities rather than disabilities, that you are on an equal level with sighted peers. I also don’t know anyone who doesn’t appreciate a gift. I always told my class, the finished product should be quality enough that you could either sell it or give it as a gift.

What are your recommendations to art organizations to increase accessibility to folks who are blind or visually impaired?

 Welcome the person at the door first, in a person-to-person voice. Ask, “What can I do to help you?” Create a clear pathway to the studio, have maximum contrast in the space, define each person’s workspace, with limited distractions, so that people can exercise both independence and control. And I mean control in terms of choices and independence, controlling your little corner of the world.

 

 

 

 

Interview with Artist Karen Seligman: Expanding the Art Community

Karen is a retired Senior Data Analyst. She also draws and paints with watercolor. Both she and her twin sister Celeste were born with retinopathy of prematurity. Karen sat down with Kirsten Ervin to share her love of art, and how her visual impairment has affected her artwork. She is enrolled in a number of Touch Art workshops. Below is one of her pencil drawings.

When did you start making things?

I started drawing and painting when I was about 5 years old. I loved to draw by myself, but both of my parents helped me learn to draw. My Dad taught me about colors and perspective when I was fairly young. My Mom bought my sister and I John Nagy drawing sets and drew along with us.

Describe your visual impairment

I’m blind in one eye, due to retinopathy of prematurity.

Karen explains that she and her sister have been reading “Fixing My Gaze”, a first person account by neuroscientist Susan Barry, who lacked stereoscopic vision for most of her life, then gained the ability to see in three dimensions in her 50s. Like Barry, Karen and her sister lack stereoscopic vision.

I thought I knew what I was missing by not having two eyes, I thought I could see in three dimensions, but I don’t. I thought I could see they way you see. But I realized our sight is very much different than your sight. That’s why I can only draw from pictures, not from life. For example you appear flat to me, you don’t occupy volume or space, but look more like a piece of paper that could bend.

 What do you need for an art class to be more accessible?

Karen explains that she took a watercolor class as an adult at the Carnegie Museum of Art, but near the end, she left the class because she felt rushed and frustrated.

I needed to look a lot closer than other people in the class. I could not go as fast as the others in the class, partly because of my inexperience and partly because of my problematic eyesight. It probably would have helped if I had alerted the art instructor to the problems with my eyes and the extra help I might need.

The Touch Art teacher (Katy DeMent) was so natural, I thought she had been teaching blind people her whole life. She didn’t treat anyone like they were dumb.  That’s one thing that really gets my whiskers up. I’m really sensitive to being treated as if I’m dumb just because I have problems with my eyesight and my need to go slower. If I need to go slower, don’t make a big deal about it.

Maybe that’s why I’m self-taught. In my 20s, I might not have trusted that a teacher could work with me, without making me feel different or dumb. I had bad experiences in high school, so I thought I’d have them everywhere.

What did you think of the first Touch Art class, Paper Making with Katy DeMent?

I loved the class. I loved the paper things I made. I didn’t feel like I was rushed. No one said I couldn’t use my creativity or take the time to do what I wanted to do. Nobody said you can’t do it. I stuck my leaves inside my crochet doily and it looked very Victorian. I loved the fact that I could take the materials I was given and make them my own.

I also liked being around other blind people. They’re like me. It felt good.

 

New Photos from Touch Art Workshops!

Ed, Katy and Joyce share a laugh while making paper

Ann selects leaves to add to her handmade paper

Guide dog Cindy takes a nap

Tirzah and Tammi discuss Tammi’s bowl

Karen cuts out her clay bowl

An unstoppable love of life!

A picture of Ceinwen in-front of her collection of masks from around the world

Ceinwen King-Smith is simply an awe-inspiring woman, maker, singer, world traveler, language expert and so much more!  Ceinwen may have been born blind, but she’s never let that stop her from exploring the world and learning as much as possible.

As a young girl growing up in Chicago, she told me about how her parents didn’t want her to work so hard and tried to calm her thirst for knowledge.  Worried about her sleep schedule and social life, they agreed on a house rule of all homework finished before midnight.  Little did they know she was sneaking around in the late night hours reading Braille in the dark while being tucked into bed!  She is unstoppable when she decides there is something she wants to learn and do.

Ceinwein’s living room and touchable art collection

She became interested in China as a young girl through stories of digging holes to the other side of the world and imagining the starving kids in China that wanted her leftovers from dinner.  When she discovered that the language was tonal in nature, she knew she had to start learning more about the sounds that build this far away place.  She studied Russian Literature at Stanford and then received her Masters of Arts in Teaching at Harvard, all while learning to speak Chinese on the side.  She is now fluent in both Chinese and Russian and teaches these languages locally at the Pittsburgh Gifted Center.

When I walked into Ceinwen’s home, I was greeted by a symphony of wind chimes.  In every shape and sound the entire perimeter of her porch was singing with the wind.  As I walk inside, I start to realize this is no average home.  Every wall and shelf is actually an international, handmade, touchable art museum!  Every wall is covered with art she has collected from around the world.  As she starts to give me the tour of her wall of masks, the series of elephants, and her beaded jewelry, I slowly start to realize every single piece in her collection has a story she’s ready to tell.

One wall of sculpture art

Ceinwen has been to China 22 times, along with other international locations including most recently a trip to Honduras to volunteer last summer.  When she touches a piece of art that needs to come home with her, she knows it almost immediately.   With a collection of mostly wood and stone sculptures, there have certainly been some heavy backpacks and weighty return trips to make this collection complete.

Outside of enjoying the textures and shapes of her art collection, Ceinwen also likes to stay busy with her hands.  As a young girl, she liked to make things out of modeling clay and sell them for $0.25 or $0.50 at church events.  When she sold enough to earn $50 for her church fundraiser, she knew she had a unique ability to craft things with her hands.  She started knitting in college and has knitted sweaters, mittens slippers and some impressive relief blankets for friends and family members.  The Noah’s Arch blanket she made for her father has beautiful pairs of animals knitted and stuffed slightly to bulge up on the surface of the knitted quilt.  Most recently her knitting skills were applied to the Knit the Bridge project where she completed a panel and many railings to cover our beautiful Warhol Bridge.

She also enjoys beading necklaces and likes to do this while listening to books.  Sometimes she sells these pieces but most of the time she gives them to friends and says, “I’m delighted if someone wants to wear something I made, it’s very affirming to know that I as a blind person can make something that is pleasing to a sighted person, I never know if the coloring works okay, of course I go by texture, and usually the coloring works out”.

Ceinwen with one of her favorite elephant sculptures

Ceinwen also told some great stories about the Halloween costumes she’s made over the years.   From a Chinese dragon to a rat, a parrot, a penguin, a giant panda, a spider and an alligator, she knows how to have fun with masks and costumes!  She said, “the thing about my costumes is that they cover my entire head, there’s not an eye hole because I don’t need to see – why would I want an eye hole that don’t belong in this costume?  I have a little hole somewhere so I can breathe that’s all I need! … People always say, ‘ how can you see out of that?!’ and I just say I can see as well as I can see any other day!  They don’t get it – they don’t believe that I’m actually truly blind.”

Due to her work schedule, Ceinwen isn’t able to participate in the Touch Art workshops.  Hopefully with the training for the art educators we will be one step towards making art-making workshops open and accessible to Ceinwen and other folks who are blind or visually impaired and have full time jobs.  When she’s not singing in one of the 4 choirs she participates in, teaching Russian and Chinese, traveling the world, or beading necklaces Ceinwen would love to take an art workshop.  Hopefully with the teacher training we’re offering through the Touch Art seminar in January, this will be possible!

Touch Art on Pittsburgh CBS Radio Tomorrow, Sunday 9/29 at 7 a.m.!

Touch Art: Making Art with the PIttsburgh’s Blind Community is on the Radio tomorrow! Listen to an interview with myself, Kirsten Ervin, Ann Lapidus and Joyce Driben about our project!

The show is on Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 7 a.m. on the following Pittsburgh CBS stations.
KDKA-FM- 93.7 – (Sports)
WBZZ – 100.7 – (Adult Top 40)
WDSY – 107.9 – (Country)

Beauty Inside and Out: Interview with Stephanae McCoy

A portrait of Ms. Stephanae McCoy

Can you tell me about your experience making art? 

My situation is a little different from some of the other folks as I’ve only been legally blind for the last 4 years and 4 years prior to that is when I started to have vision problems. When I was a youngster I loved drawing and later working with my hands from embroidery, to crochet, knitting, needlepoint, latch hook rugs to papier mâché and working with clay. When I was in school I loved being assigned special projects that allowed me to use my imagination to come up with something 3-dimensional. Even when my kids were young I salivated at the opportunity to “help” them with their school projects, which I’m ashamed to admit were probably more mine than theirs. I remember helping my oldest son build a coliseum out of sugar cubes and we sprayed it with a material that gave it a stone-like quality, and if I must say so myself it was some of my finest work.

What type of art do you enjoy making now? 

I don’t so much work with my hands anymore but I occasionally design marketing materials such as flyers, posters, business cards, greeting cards, etc. anything via computer grabs my attention these days.

I am just beginning to get my feet wet with photography and video. I’ve never really been a photographer but I’m inspired to learn more about it since I’ve gotten this idea in my head for a project that could benefit blind and vision-impaired women.  I have a small easy to use camera.  Now that I have a blog and know how to upload pictures to the blog, I’m starting to take more photos with my phone and simple video camera.  I just need to find time for it in-between all my other projects.

Do you think your vision loss has positively impacted your approach to photography in any way?

I think had I not lost my vision, I would have carried on as usual – I would not have slowed down to take pictures.  I was so busy with my job I didn’t take the time to appreciate a lot of things.  Now I’m more aware of the beauty around me.

Instead of recording moments with my eyes, now I do that with my camera.

Something I’ve learned through my experience of loosing my vision – is that I felt very exposed.  I hesitated to use my cane because I didn’t want people to know I was blind, I didn’t want to be taken advantage of.   Some days I feel so raw – especially since I can see a little bit, I notice people turning heads to look at me.  But I just keep on.  Everyday I just keep on and move past people’s assumptions about me.

Can you tell me about your idea for a photography project that could benefit blind and vision-impaired women?

The idea came to me by accident last year, I was giving a presentation to women at the PA Council for the Blind.  I was asked to give a brief talk about makeup tips.  As usual, I always do a lot of research before I give a presentation.  I knew what I personally was doing with makeup and have been doing for years, but I wanted to see what other people were doing.  My research showed there was very little information out there for people with visual impairments, nothing specific about colors or fashion choices, with the exception of www.visionaware.org. The Vision Aware website contained a blog on make-up application that was very useful for my presentation.

The assumption is that because you’re blind or visually impaired, you don’t want to put on make up or don’t care about the way you look or can’t wear makeup at all because you can’t see.  Nothing could be farther from the truth as evidenced by the attendance to the presentation, and attendees engagement on the topic.  There was so much discussion that we ran out of time and didn’t have time to answer everyone’s questions. This year I will be building on this talk by demonstrating makeup application with a representative from Mary Kay.

After the talk, I realized there was a need for this type of information and I can fill this need. My blog site, Bold Blind Beauty – will have online videos to help women feel as beautiful as they can.

Right now I can see colors, but I struggle with the shades and grades of color I have trouble distinguishing colors that are similar like oranges and reds.  This will be an interesting learning process for me and for the people following my blog.  I want the site to be for women with and with out vision impairments.  I want this to be a regular everyday make up site.  Not high fashion and big brands.  I want to get away from the idea that beauty is just outside appearance thing – For me beauty is an internal thing.  Certainly if a person feels good about themselves, and are confident, people will respond to it in a positive way.

I think that makeup doesn’t have to be so serious.  Why not have fun with it and experiment with it – figure out what makes you feel good?  Then you start to use makeup as something that makes you feel like you.

What are you looking forward to in the Touch Art class you are enrolled in? 

I’m very excited about the precious metal clay workshop.  I love jewelry.  When I heard the presentation about it I just knew I had to learn more about it.  PMC is such a new and interesting process to learn.  The teacher’s work is so inspiring and detailed, I look forward to learning as much as I can.

I like taking an idea and letting the idea explode while working with your hands – it’s really amazing.

Continuing Our Creative Lives: An Interview with Artists Suzanne Gibson and Lynda Lambert

“Trombone”, painting by Suzanne Gibson

Suzanne Gibson is a painter who has owned and operated Rivers Edge Studio and Gallery in New Brighton, Pennsylvania for the past 4 years.  She began losing her sight about 6 years ago due to Stargardt disease, which has caused her to lose most of her central vision.

Lynda Lambert is an exhibiting artist and retired arts and humanities professor from Geneva College. She is a member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and Group A at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA). Lynda lost most of her vision 5 years ago due to Ischemic Optic Neuropathy, a stroke-like condition.

Suzanne and Lynda are planning an upcoming exhibition of their recent work,  “Vision: REvision” which will debut March 7, 2014 at the Merrick Art Gallery in New Brighton. The show will travel to six locations over two years and be accompanied by a book explaining their stories and artistic process.

Both women sat down with me to share their stories of finding new ways to make art after vision loss, and the many positive and surprising aspects of this creative journey.

 Interview by Kirsten Ervin.

When did you start making things?

Suzanne: I made art very early on. I had very supportive parents and our house had a painting done by my great grandfather. I went to school for commercial art and gleaned any information I could about other artists and art, anything I could get my hands on. I’ve usually worked as a realist painter, in acrylics.

Lynda: As a small child I made potholders and sold them in my neighborhood, using the money I made to make more potholders! My mom taught me embroidery and I taught myself how to knit. I have both a BFA and MFA in Painting and studied with Akiko Kotani (PCA’s 2013 Artist of the Year).

I’ve always made fiber art, weaving and also made enormous paintings and giant prints from woodcuts. I was always working in a few genres at a time and having those disciplines feed each other.  I’ve always worked in a series.

“Ilsa Butterfly Garden” textile art by Lynda Lambert

Describe your visual impairment:

Suzanne: I have Stargardt Disease, which blocks my central vision. I look at things with my peripheral vision, and I’m not always sure I’m seeing things correctly.

 Lynda: I have Ischemic Optic Neuropathy, which is a stroke-like condition. I lost my eyesight almost instantly about 5 years ago. I lost the vision in my right eye and then, 10 months later, I lost the vision in my left eye. Even if I had been in a doctor’s office, there was nothing anyone could have done to save my eyesight.

How has your art changed since vision loss?

“Cool Jazz” painting by Suzanne Gibson

Lynda: I began with fiber art as a child and it’s come full circle. I work now almost entirely by touch. I paint with a thread and needle. I use a CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) purely for the placement of the needle, but otherwise, I work by touch.

My vision loss is the greatest blessing in my life, because it forced me to see things so much clearer – the essence of a thing, to not be distracted by how things appear.

But, I wouldn’t have chosen my vision loss and when it happened, it was stunning.

With the help I received at BVRS (Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh), I learned there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do, other than drive. I could look at anything and figure out the tools and methods to make things work.

Suzanne: My work has become much more abstracted and I use color in a much different way to emphasize mood and depth. I had to find another way to make my art. It forced me to think about what I was painting for, “How do I get you to feel what I want you to feel?” I feel I’m now doing the best art I’ve ever done; other people say it’s the best work I’ve ever done. It has taught me a lot artistically because I have to think about the essence of something without the detail. Less is more.

I was inspired by an exhibit I saw of John Bramblitt’s artwork. He’s a totally blind artist, who paints with raised edges.  I use a CCTV, a specialized camera on a movable arm that enlarges images to place onto a large screen monitor. I work from photos and select a small portion at a time. I am learning to check myself far less and trust myself more.

Artist Lynda Lambert wearing one of her creations

What are your hopes for your art show, Vision/Revision?

Suzanne: We want to share our positive story, to show that life is not over. Find a way to keep doing what you love to do, just re-think it. Don’t give up and hide.

Lynda: With the right help, we were able to continue our creative lives. My goal has always been to be an exhibiting artist. It took me about five years to get back to where I was, but I got there. I’m a member of Associated Artists, of Group A. My mixed media fiber work was just juried into the upcoming exhibition “The New Collective” that will open at PCA in November. Most people don’t know I’m blind, they see my work first and respond positively.

Suzanne: As a gallery owner, people see your work, Lynda, and say how beautiful it is. When I tell them you are blind, they are astounded. Our show will say as much to people who can see as to people who can’t.