[Artbeyondsightmuseums] Alert IV THE EIGHTH ANNUAL ART BEYOND SIGHT AWARENESS MONTH

[fnugg at online.no]

  Forwarding

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery kicked off Art Beyond Sight Awareness 
Month with the museum's "ORLAN: The Harlequin Coat" exhibit as the focus.
“The Harlequin Coat” is an installation work by French artist Orlan. 
Using the patchwork motif characteristic of harlequin as a metaphor for 
the fragmented, multicolored, multilayered performance of the human 
signature, she questions identity and every defining aspect of being 
human – gender, ethnicity, religion, beauty, physiognomy, and even 
physiology itself. It is her most collaborative work to date, involving, 
at different stages, artists from the worlds of fashion, design, film, 
and technology.


The Orlan exhibit is set up as a round-chair discussion forum, which 
invites visitors to sit and discuss art. In January 2011, this exhibit 
will host another Art Beyond Sight Awareness Round Chair Discussion. The 
discussion will address blindness in correlation with the visual arts. 
Participants will be encouraged to sit in chairs that are part of the 
exhibition. The chairs were designed by Philippe Stark in the style of 
Louis the XV; they and their placement in the artwork create a 
democratic forum for discussion and debate.


"In a nutshell, this is really what the museum is trying to do," said 
Daniel Veneciano, the director of the Sheldon Museum, in regards to the 
Orlan exhibit. "Bring in art that provokes conversation."

According to Sarah Baker-Hansen, public relations and marketing manager 
of the Sheldon, Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month has made it a goal to 
provide the blind with tools to experience visual aspects of life. 
"We've been working with the Lincoln blind and vision-impaired community 
to make the museum more accessible," Baker-Hansen said. "Some blind 
volunteers have been working with the Orlan exhibit, and we'll have some 
programming early next year based on what we've learned from that 
partnership."


For further information on the exhibit, visit 
http://www.sheldonartmuseum.org/exhibitions/current_exhibitions.html


Lithuanian Library for the Blind, Vilnius, Lithuania


lithuaniaLibrary


litlib2

The Lithuanian Library for the Blind organized the 5th LAB’s Tactile 
Book Contest. The library received thirty-eight tactile books, most of 
them made by second-year graphic design students from Vilnius Technology 
and Design College. One book with illustrations on swell-paper was made 
by a group of professional artists and painters composed of Odete 
Abromaviciute, Diana Raudoniene, Virginijus Kašinskas, and Asta 
Jonaityte. Another book, a sewn one, was made by folk artist Lina 
Norkiene, who is a teacher of crafts at the Vilkpede’s Social Services 
Centre in Vilnius. The books are organized according to their medium: 
some are made with cardboard in the style of appliqué, others with 
textile or using the “BrlPaint” software (created by Sergejus Mechas) 
and embossed on Braille paper, and finally with swell-paper. The results 
can be seen at http://labiblioteka.lt/FN.HTML

The authors of the best tactile books were awarded diplomas and 
presents. The books are on exhibit at the library until October 31. 
Visitors who are sighted are encouraged to close their eyes and feel the 
surface.


Text by Laura Juchnevic, administrator, and Audrone Gendviliene, tactile 
book contest coordinator. Translated from Lithuanian by Audrone Gendviliene.


Access Advisors Open House and Disability Arts Festival

de Young Museum, Goldengate Park

The Museum’s Open House created an opportunity to demonstrate every-day 
accessibility at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. About four 
hundred people attended the festival, which featured works by artists 
with low vision; performances by Maia Scott (see photos by John Spicer); 
touch tours; art-making activities; and Art Slam, which consisted of a 
non-juried slide show of work by artists with disabilities.



For more information on programs at the de Young Museum, please contact 
Tish Brown at tbrown at famsf.org or call 415-750-7645

Maia and Selma


maia scott as Blob


Performance artist Maia Scott as the Blob

Performance artist Maia Scott as Mother Nature

Literature Corner

Viviane Sarraf, Author

Museum Rehabilitation: Cultural Inclusion Policies through Accessibility

Published in March of 2010, Vivian Sarraf's “"Museum Rehabilitation: 
Cultural Inclusion Policies through Accessibility” is based on the her 
masters theses. The text analyzes the relationship between museums and 
people with disabilities through an examination of the practices and 
theories that are designed to improve cultural actions and inclusive 
programs. It also investigates accessibility and inclusion concepts in 
relation to museums and cultural mediation. Sarraf evaluates the success 
of various museum programs through first-hand accounts from both 
directors of public and private museums and cultural institutions, and 
the target audience--people with disabilities. The book is available 
from Amazon.com and other international bookstores.


Side Notes:


1. For people who called during the Telephone Crash Course on Monday, 
Erin Narloch from the Leigh Yawkee Museum, WI mentioned you could find 
the speakers’ papers from the UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education 
online, below is the link:

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=39674&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html


2. Recordings from some of the Telephone Crash Course sessions will be 
soon available on our Itunes site. Meanwhile, you can always log in and 
check Art Education for the Blind’s verbal description of various 
artworks and New York City landmark. To download Itunes, go to 
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Once you are set up, go to Itunes Store and type “Art Beyond Sight” into 
the search engine on the top right of the page and you should reach our 
page. Enjoy!



3. Reminder: If you haven’t already done so, I do hope you’ll make sure 
your museum is registered on www.projectaccessforall.org. It’s free, 
it’s easy, it takes just 10 to 15 minutes, and you and you alone control 
the content and can update it as often as needed.



4. Don’t forget to check the Calendar of Events to see what other Art 
Beyond Sight Awareness Month participants are doing to celebrate: 
http://www.artbeyondsight.org/change/aw-calendar.shtml