[Artbeyondsightmuseums] Art Beyond Sight Telephone Crash Course

Lisa Yayla fnugg at online.no
Fri Oct 16 07:52:54 UTC 2009


Hallo,

Again Art Beyond Sight hosts it's wonderful telephone course this coming 
Monday.
So in the comfort of your own living room or office, a cup of coffee 
within reach Art Beyond Sight
brings you stimulating speakers, conversation, ideas. Have a notepad 
ready. It is really a lift,
I think to listen to all the speakers and those that call in. So many 
ideas and thoughts. And the
whole thing is free. So forwarding the program sent out by AEB

Regards,
Lisa

Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month: Alert III

October 15, 2009

Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month:

October 2009

Alert III



Dial In and Speak Up: Here’s your chance to learn from the experts, ask 
questions, and network!


Seventh Annual Telephone Conference Crash Course:
Monday, October 19, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.



Art Education for the Blind’s Annual Telephone Conference Crash Course 
will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on Monday, 
October 19. Callers-in pay normal long-distant phone charges, but NO 
additional fees.



The teleconference number is (712) 432-0220.
Our conference access code is 232-2009.



9 – 9:30 a.m.: Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for 
Disability Policy, with Elisabeth Axel and Joan Pursley, Art Education 
for the Blind.



9:30 – 10 a.m.: Highlights of the 2009 Art Beyond Sight International 
Conference

Discussion Leader: Marie Clapot, Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Lotfi Merabet, Harvard Medical Center

Rebecca McGinnis, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wilford Scott, National Gallery of Art, DC



10 – 11 a.m.: Diversity and Inclusiveness at Museums: Museums Reflecting 
their Communities.

Discussion Leader: David Ross, Independent Curator

Speakers: Connie Wolf, Contemporary Jewish Museum, CA

Aaron Betsky, Cincinnati Museum of Art

Lauren Schloss, Queens Museum of Art

Maxwell Anderson, Indianapolis Museum of Art



11 – noon: Perspectives from Curators and Conservators

Discussion Leader: Rosalyn Driscoll, Artist/Educator

Speakers: Daniel Mason, Independent Curator

Lynda Zycherman, Museum of Modern Art, NYC



noon – 1 p.m.: Accessibility Programs and Visitor Studies

Session Leader: Christine Reich, Museum of Science, Boston

Speakers: Kirsten Ellenbogen, Science Museum of Minnesota

Theano Moussouri, Audience Focus

Carey Tisdal, Tisdal Consulting



1 – 2 p.m.: Museum Practices: New Strategies and Approaches

Session Leader: Marsha Semmel, Institute of Museum and Library Studies

Speakers: Debra Hegstrom, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Hope McMath, The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, FL

Joel Snyder, Audio Description Associates; Audio Description Project, 
American Council of the Blind



2 – 3 p.m.: Small Museums, Outreach and Community Resources

Discussion Leader: Lauren Silberman, Jewish Museum of Maryland

Speakers: Jayne Griffin, Creative Discovery Museum, TN

Judy Kirk, The Mathers Museum, IN

Mary Anne Meagher & Paul Hammock, Columbus Museum of Art, OH



3 – 4 p.m.: Re-representing Disability: Artists with Disabilities in 
Museums/Galleries [Marker]

Discussion Leader: Marie Clapot, Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Busser Howell, Artist

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Emory University

Riva Lehrer, Artist



4 – 5 p.m.: Inclusive Education and the Role of Art and Cultural 
Exposure: Resources, Challenges and Strategies

Discussion Leader: Nina Levent, Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Kenneth Eklindh, UNESCO

Jim Modrick, VSA arts

Bernadette Kappan, New York Institute for Special Education

Rodrigo Mendes, The Rodrigo Mendes Institute



5 – 5:30 p.m.: Reflections on the Day

Discussion Leaders: Nina Levent & Marie Clapot Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Callers-in (Open Discussion. Participants are invited to share 
their views, suggest topics for future teleconferences, etc.)



The fruit of partnership: news from the museums and galleries



Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) formally inaugurated its new access 
program for people who are visually impaired on October 7th. Thanks to a 
grant from the Department of Education of Puerto Rico and the Institute 
of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Museum has acquired computer 
equipment and assistive technology to enable the accessibility of MAPR’s 
Research Center. In close collaboration with Puerto Rico’s Department of 
Education and the Puerto Rico Assistive Technology Program (Programa de 
asistencia tecnológica para personas con impedimento, PRATP), The 
Research Center’s librarian, Prof. Sofía Cánepa, was able to make this 
venture a truly innovative project.

Javier Gonzáles (PRATP), Hugo Mardales, Sofía Cánepa and Manolo Álvarez 
(PRATP)


Other programs at MAPR include:

- Touch Tours of selected works from the Museum`s Sculpture Garden 
offered by a museum educator in collaboration with Luis Passalacqua, a 
blind Puerto Rican Sculptor and long time consultant for MAPR.

- A collaboration with the University of Turabo, which has Puerto Rico’s 
only BA degree program in sign language interpretation, to assign 
graduate candidates to interpret public programs and events.



The Charlotte Art League (CAL) partnership with the Metrolina 
Association for the Blind (MAB) in NC

CAL opened its Art Beyond Sight 2009 exhibit on October 2nd.The 
exhibiti9on features tactile and multi-sensory artworks created 
specifically for people who are blind or visually impaired to actively 
explore. Many of the works were created by students participating in 
CAL’s art classes for the visually impaired. These classes, which are 
part of CAL’s Outreach Program, are held in collaboration with The 
Metrolina Association for the Blind, which provides the students with 
opportunities to experience and create art. These students work with 
paint, clay, mosaics, fabric, and papier mché for a full art experience.



During the exhibit opening, visitors were invited to experience low 
vision or blindness while creating small clay shapes (see pictures). 
Timmy Hord, who has been working closely with the Outreach Director at 
CAL, Sandra Gray, and has been involved with the project since its 
inception, says: “When I first heard about CAL’s desire to hold 
workshops for the visually impaired, my first thought was clay. Months 
later I was invited by Outreach Director, Sandra Gray, to attend a 
‘sensitivity training’ workshop with the MAB’s director, Laura 
Park-Leach. Being a professional photographer, painter and potter, it 
was a heart-opening experience for me to wear goggles simulating some 
form of eye disease and be led around the building ‘blind.’ Even though 
I knew the building very well, it was quite disconcerting.”





Mother and son Community Participants in one of the Workshops





Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) and the Indiana School for the Blind 
and Visually Impaired

On October 1st, twenty-five students from the Indiana School for the 
Blind and Visually Impaired visited the IMA

Following a picnic lunch, the group toured the museum’s extensive 
gardens. Master Gardener Sue Arnold escorted the group to the fruit and 
vegetable garden, where horticulturalist Geoff Von Burg passed around 
berries, green beans, limas, and a kohlrabi. Students guessed what the 
items were based on the feel/shape of each object. The berries, beans 
and asparagus plumes were tasted by some and felt by others.



The group then discussed and touched the “Spider Boy” and “Mother and 
Child” statues, and the “LOVE” and “Number” sculptures (see pictures 
below). From there they went to the Garden for Everyone – a garden 
designed for all five senses.



They walked around “Deer Zink” and past “God's Tree” and the wall with 
the secret stone cowboy boots and back across the historic bridge toward 
the Rain Garden. They visited an area where the ginkgo fruit is falling 
on the road and is quite pungent and then split into smaller groups for 
visits to the greenhouse, Lily House, and the Cutting Gardens.

Meaningful Access Programme (MAP) organized at the Iziko South African 
National Gallery for Students from the Athlone School for the Blind

An exhibition of works by the internationally acclaimed architect Jo 
Noero inspired discussions about architecture at the Iziko South African 
National Gallery’s workshop for students from the Athlone School for the 
Blind. Special attention was paid to carved wooden doors that students 
were able to touch in the museum’s atrium, where the workshop was held. 
Also included were a drumming session that emphasized rhythm and balance 
(it attracted other visitors, who became involved and were intrigued by 
the MAP concept) and an. art workshop at which individual dream rooms 
were designed to be entered through grand doors (see pictures below).





Don’t forget

Display this year’s Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month poster and give 
brochures to the public (insert a sheet re your own programs). If you’re 
out of brochures and need another batch, contact Marie at: 
aeb at artbeyondsight.org

v If you know of organizations that should be a part of this 
international initiative, please send contact information to 
aeb at artbeyondsight.org and we will get in touch with them next year.



spread the word to everyone in your community! FORWARD THIS EMAIL to 
friends and colleagues!


Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month: Alert III

October 15, 2009



Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month:

October 2009

Alert III
Dial In and Speak Up: Here’s your chance to learn from the experts, ask 
questions, and network!



Seventh Annual Telephone Conference Crash Course:
Monday, October 19, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.



Art Education for the Blind’s Annual Telephone Conference Crash Course 
will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on Monday, 
October 19. Callers-in pay normal long-distant phone charges, but NO 
additional fees.



The teleconference number is (712) 432-0220.
Our conference access code is 232-2009.



9 – 9:30 a.m.: Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for 
Disability Policy, with Elisabeth Axel and Joan Pursley, Art Education 
for the Blind.



9:30 – 10 a.m.: Highlights of the 2009 Art Beyond Sight International 
Conference

Discussion Leader: Marie Clapot, Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Lotfi Merabet, Harvard Medical Center

Rebecca McGinnis, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wilford Scott, National Gallery of Art, DC



10 – 11 a.m.: Diversity and Inclusiveness at Museums: Museums Reflecting 
their Communities.

Discussion Leader: David Ross, Independent Curator

Speakers: Connie Wolf, Contemporary Jewish Museum, CA

Aaron Betsky, Cincinnati Museum of Art

Lauren Schloss, Queens Museum of Art

Maxwell Anderson, Indianapolis Museum of Art



11 – noon: Perspectives from Curators and Conservators

Discussion Leader: Rosalyn Driscoll, Artist/Educator

Speakers: Daniel Mason, Independent Curator

Lynda Zycherman, Museum of Modern Art, NYC



noon – 1 p.m.: Accessibility Programs and Visitor Studies

Session Leader: Christine Reich, Museum of Science, Boston

Speakers: Kirsten Ellenbogen, Science Museum of Minnesota

Theano Moussouri, Audience Focus

Carey Tisdal, Tisdal Consulting



1 – 2 p.m.: Museum Practices: New Strategies and Approaches

Session Leader: Marsha Semmel, Institute of Museum and Library Studies

Speakers: Debra Hegstrom, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Hope McMath, The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, FL

Joel Snyder, Audio Description Associates; Audio Description Project, 
American Council of the Blind



2 – 3 p.m.: Small Museums, Outreach and Community Resources

Discussion Leader: Lauren Silberman, Jewish Museum of Maryland

Speakers: Jayne Griffin, Creative Discovery Museum, TN

Judy Kirk, The Mathers Museum, IN

Mary Anne Meagher & Paul Hammock, Columbus Museum of Art, OH



3 – 4 p.m.: Re-representing Disability: Artists with Disabilities in 
Museums/Galleries

Discussion Leader: Marie Clapot, Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Busser Howell, Artist

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Emory University

Riva Lehrer, Artist



4 – 5 p.m.: Inclusive Education and the Role of Art and Cultural 
Exposure: Resources, Challenges and Strategies

Discussion Leader: Nina Levent, Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Kenneth Eklindh, UNESCO

Jim Modrick, VSA arts

Bernadette Kappan, New York Institute for Special Education

Rodrigo Mendes, The Rodrigo Mendes Institute


5 – 5:30 p.m.: Reflections on the Day

Discussion Leaders: Nina Levent & Marie Clapot Art Education for the Blind

Speakers: Callers-in (Open Discussion. Participants are invited to share 
their views, suggest topics for future teleconferences, etc.)

The fruit of partnership: news from the museums and galleries


Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) formally inaugurated its new access 
program for people who are visually impaired on October 7th. Thanks to a 
grant from the Department of Education of Puerto Rico and the Institute 
of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Museum has acquired computer 
equipment and assistive technology to enable the accessibility of MAPR’s 
Research Center. In close collaboration with Puerto Rico’s Department of 
Education and the Puerto Rico Assistive Technology Program (Programa de 
asistencia tecnológica para personas con impedimento, PRATP), The 
Research Center’s librarian, Prof. Sofía Cánepa, was able to make this 
venture a truly innovative project.


Javier Gonzáles (PRATP), Hugo Mardales, Sofía Cánepa and Manolo Álvarez 
(PRATP)



Other programs at MAPR include:

- Touch Tours of selected works from the Museum`s Sculpture Garden 
offered by a museum educator in collaboration with Luis Passalacqua, a 
blind Puerto Rican Sculptor and long time consultant for MAPR.

- A collaboration with the University of Turabo, which has Puerto Rico’s 
only BA degree program in sign language interpretation, to assign 
graduate candidates to interpret public programs and events.



The Charlotte Art League (CAL) partnership with the Metrolina 
Association for the Blind (MAB) in NC

CAL opened its Art Beyond Sight 2009 exhibit on October 2nd.The 
exhibiti9on features tactile and multi-sensory artworks created 
specifically for people who are blind or visually impaired to actively 
explore. Many of the works were created by students participating in 
CAL’s art classes for the visually impaired. These classes, which are 
part of CAL’s Outreach Program, are held in collaboration with The 
Metrolina Association for the Blind, which provides the students with 
opportunities to experience and create art. These students work with 
paint, clay, mosaics, fabric, and papier mậché for a full art experience.



During the exhibit opening, visitors were invited to experience low 
vision or blindness while creating small clay shapes (see pictures). 
Timmy Hord, who has been working closely with the Outreach Director at 
CAL, Sandra Gray, and has been involved with the project since its 
inception, says: “When I first heard about CAL’s desire to hold 
workshops for the visually impaired, my first thought was clay. Months 
later I was invited by Outreach Director, Sandra Gray, to attend a 
‘sensitivity training’ workshop with the MAB’s director, Laura 
Park-Leach. Being a professional photographer, painter and potter, it 
was a heart-opening experience for me to wear goggles simulating some 
form of eye disease and be led around the building ‘blind.’ Even though 
I knew the building very well, it was quite disconcerting.”


Mother and son Community Participants in one of the Workshops



Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) and the Indiana School for the Blind 
and Visually Impaired

On October 1st, twenty-five students from the Indiana School for the 
Blind and Visually Impaired visited the IMA

Following a picnic lunch, the group toured the museum’s extensive 
gardens. Master Gardener Sue Arnold escorted the group to the fruit and 
vegetable garden, where horticulturalist Geoff Von Burg passed around 
berries, green beans, limas, and a kohlrabi. Students guessed what the 
items were based on the feel/shape of each object. The berries, beans 
and asparagus plumes were tasted by some and felt by others.



The group then discussed and touched the “Spider Boy” and “Mother and 
Child” statues, and the “LOVE” and “Number” sculptures (see pictures 
below). From there they went to the Garden for Everyone – a garden 
designed for all five senses.



They walked around “Deer Zink” and past “God's Tree” and the wall with 
the secret stone cowboy boots and back across the historic bridge toward 
the Rain Garden. They visited an area where the ginkgo fruit is falling 
on the road and is quite pungent and then split into smaller groups for 
visits to the greenhouse, Lily House, and the Cutting Gardens.





Meaningful Access Programme (MAP) organized at the Iziko South African 
National Gallery for Students from the Athlone School for the Blind

An exhibition of works by the internationally acclaimed architect Jo 
Noero inspired discussions about architecture at the Iziko South African 
National Gallery’s workshop for students from the Athlone School for the 
Blind. Special attention was paid to carved wooden doors that students 
were able to touch in the museum’s atrium, where the workshop was held. 
Also included were a drumming session that emphasized rhythm and balance 
(it attracted other visitors, who became involved and were intrigued by 
the MAP concept) and an. art workshop at which individual dream rooms 
were designed to be entered through grand doors (see pictures below).

Don’t forget

Display this year’s Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month poster and give 
brochures to the public (insert a sheet re your own programs). If you’re 
out of brochures and need another batch, contact Marie at: 
aeb at artbeyondsight.org

v If you know of organizations that should be a part of this 
international initiative, please send contact information to 
aeb at artbeyondsight.org and we will get in touch with them next year.



spread the word to everyone in your community! FORWARD THIS EMAIL to 
friends and colleagues!








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