[Artbeyondsightmuseums] art, photography

[fnugg at online.no]

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*Watkins Glen students turn blind eye toward art

Acclaimed artist shows youngsters what it's like to create with a visual 
impairmentWATKINS GLEN* --- It had the potential to be real messy. It 
was, in a controlled sense. Art can be that way.

Plastic coffee and yogurt containers held reservoirs of color for 21 
Watkins Glen Elementary School third-graders. They spread paint, 
thickly, onto square pieces of Plexiglas. Nearby, a few at a time, built 
a blue background for a large painting of a sunflower.

And they all wore goggles, the dollar-store kind, with layers of clear 
packing tape covering the lenses.

"It felt weird," said Molly Dunham, 8.

"I just kind of randomly stuck my brush in the paint and then I just 
smeared it," said Noah McCauley, 9.

Perhaps for the first time, these 8- and 9-year-old art students were 
seeing the world as the visually impaired do, including two third-grade 
classmates and guest instructor George Mendoza.

Mendoza, 57, is a legally blind painter, author and textile designer who 
came from New Mexico to spend Monday through Thursday at the Watkins 
Glen school. A $5,000 grant from the ARTS Council of the Southern Finger 
Lakes covered his visit

http://www.stargazette.com/article/20121017/NEWS01/310170082/Watkins-Glen-students-turn-blind-eye-toward-art?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE&nclick_check=1


Blind artist visits Watkins Glen
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=CB&Dato=20121017&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=310170046&Ref=PH

Blind artist will bring special skills to Watkins Glen

George Mendoza, a legally blind painter, textile designer and author 
from New Mexico, will visit Watkins Glen Elementary School from Oct. 15 
to 18.

He will demonstrate his unique artistic expression to staff and 
students, and raise awareness about the needs and gifts of blind 
students in the building.

Mendoza's work is on display at a Smithsonian-affiliated museum in 
Texas. Mendoza experienced vision loss at a young age from an incurable 
eye disease. His abstract work reflects his current physical sight 
combined with dreams, memories and emotional experiences.

http://www.stargazette.com/article/20121006/NEWS02/310060035/Blind-artist-will-bring-special-skills-Watkins-Glen

Blind artist will bring special skills to Watkins Glen
http://www.stargazette.com/article/20121006/NEWS02/310060035/Blind-artist-will-bring-special-skills-Watkins-Glen?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp

article

Being legally blind hasn't kept Joan Lautensack from her needlework
About a decade ago, Joan Lautensack learned that she had age-related 
macular degeneration. Accepting the reality that she would likely lose 
her vision, the longtime needlework artist began teaching herself how to 
work without seeing what she was doing.

"I basically do mostly just free form kind of things --- no counted 
cross stitch or anything I have to be specific about where I'm putting 
the needle," Lautensack said. The Jeffersonville woman, who began 
stitching at a young age, once taught home economics and stitching at 
night schools.

Now that she's legally blind, her proactive efforts have paid off, as 
Lautensack spends much of her time stitching.

"At some point in my life, maybe 20 to 25 years ago, I decided I was 
going to (stitch) a garden in every (needlework) technique," Lautensack 
said, explaining that there are many different techniques.
On display at Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library through 
October is "probably 25 years or more of work" that Lautensack began 
before she was legally blind, and much of which she finished after her 
sight began to leave her.

http://www.thereporteronline.com/article/20121008/LIFE01/121009615/being-legally-blind-hasn-t-kept-joan-lautensack-from-her-needlework



A more blind-friendly island?

It's a mixed report card on whether urban changes have all been for the 
better

SINGAPORE - At the Marina Bay Sands' ArtScience Museum exhibit, blind 
visitors can trace, with their fingers, the outlines of six artworks by 
legendary artist Andy Warhol done in an embossed reproduction for their 
benefit.

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC121006-0000041/A-more-blind-friendly-island


Sacramento's Blind artists
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/10/4806859/sacramentos-blind-artists.html?mi_rss=Photo%20Galleries

Gallery showcase for blind artist
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2923294


Niagara's Do It! listings
Cultural Reflections: Through My Eyes. Selected works in graphite by 
visually impaired Ojibwa artist Richard Langlois. 5017 Victoria Ave., 
Niagara Falls.
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2012/08/23/niagaras-do-it-listings


Seeing life in another dimension

SNAP HAPPY: Josh Wilkinson was born blind which makes his choice of 
career remarkable. His devoted parents worked to develop his sight and 
he is now a professional photographer.

Josh Wikinson's lifelong dream was always to be a photographer. Which is 
kind of strange when you consider the 19-year-old was born blind. But 
just like glasses helped him see better as a youngster, the camera these 
days acts as his eyes.

Get him behind a lens and he sees things from a whole new dimension.

His work has already won him a national competition and earned him his 
own exhibition at Hebden Bridge Arts Centre. Josh could not see anything 
as a baby, and for many years his parents, Nigel and Sue Wilkinson, of 
Mount Tabor, Halifax, had no idea how his sight would develop.
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/health-and-family/seeing-life-in-another-dimension-1-3782697