[TAGS] Tactile paintings

[Aishwarya Pillai]

Hi All,

I am Aishwarya and i'm new to this list. I work as a Rehabilitation
Counselor and I'm also into tactile paintings for blind persons.  I
was looking to connect with blind artists from around the world.  In
this regard, I had written to few centres, One of them is NFB. That's
when i got to correspond with Lou Ann who was kind to let me know
about TAGS list.
If i may introduce more about myself, I was struck blind 10 years ago.
One of my interests at that time was pencil sketching.  Unfortunately
I gave it up as I couldn't pursue it any further.  Last year, I
happened to visit a painting gallery in my city.  To my disappointment
I could not enjoy any of the paintings there as all of them were 2
dimensional.  That's when i thought of doing tactile paintings.
I personally believe that art is a form of expression and it should be
experienced by everyone including blind persons.  So I started working
on tactile paintings from there on.  My first task was to define
colors in a way that it would represent an emotion or meaning. For
example, when I say red, it may represent love, passion on the
positive side and anger on the negative side. My second task was to
choose material for the tactile elements of the painting. Combining
both, I was able to paint 4 tactile paintings.  I am planning to do
many more as days go by.  I am also in the process of organizing a
workshop and an exhibition at my work place for blind persons so that
they not only learn how to do it themselves but also touch and
experience it. My aim through these programs is to bring them and the
sighted community together to bridge the gap between the two so that
they can enjoy art under one roof.
I have attached four images of my paintings to this email.  Below is a
description of each one of them for blind persons on this list.
Happy Blossoms:
It has blue background and four yellow flowers. The reason I selected
blue is because it represents gloom and I chose yellow for the flowers
because it represents happiness.  I used dry leaves for the petals.
The center of the flower is a small circle of golden colored beads.
The message it gives away is that despite the sadness in one’s life,
there would always come a moment of happiness that would surely
blossom!
An evening in Paris
The background elements of this painting are a blue wall and a table.
As for the tactile foreground, towards the left-hand side, there is a
burning candle on a stand and a beaded chain hanging from it. The
bottom end of the chain is broken. So few beads are scattered around
two roses that are placed on the table.  Towards the top right-hand
side, a painting frame of the Eiffel tower appears to be hanging on
the wall. I used ice-cream sticks, beads and silver foil for the
candle stand, mixture of glue, water and tissue paper for the candle,
colored paper for the roses and the painting frame of the Eifel tower.
Caribbean feast:
This is a painting of a beach with a sunset sky, the sea and the sand
with two coconut trees.  I used reddish orange color for the sky and
blue for the beach. The sand is real and was glued to the canvas.  As
for the coconut trees, I used silver foil to make its trunks, one
longer than the other.  I later layered them with sheets of blank
paper and colored them brown.  As for the leaves I used thick paper,
cut it in the right shape and colored them green.  I also glued
coconuts that were made of silver foil and tissue paper and glued them
to the trees.  Finally, I cut paper like a shape of a flying bird,
colored it black and glued it on the sky.
 Great Expectations:
It has fenced dry yellow-brown grass, dark grey sky, a lightning bolt,
a hut and a windmill. The grass is made of paper that was colored and
cut into thin conical shapes, the fencing is made of ice-cream sticks
and silver foil, the hut is made of paper and silver foil, the
windmill is made of a bead, paper coffee cup and straws and the
lightning bolt is made of silver foil.  The message that this painting
gives away is that although one has gone through bad times, good times
are yet to come.  The dry grass represents bad times whereas the
lightning bolt reminds one that showers are soon to come, so one can
expect great things to happen!

I am currently looking to connect to other blind artists so that we
can exchange ideas and share experiences.  It would be nice to know
what you think of these paintings. I'm sorry if my email was too long,
going to end it for now.  Looking forward to connecting to you all.

Thanks and regards,
Aishwarya
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