[TAGS] Tactile paintings

Thu Feb 7 18:38:17 UTC 2019

Hello   Don't forget tactiles of cells and anatomy and such are great for blind students learning STEM classes

Michelle Ouellet"Intelligence is the ability to change." Stephen Hawking

-----Original Message-----
From: Valerie Alcaraz via TAGS <tags at nfbnet.org>
To: Tactile Art and Tactile Graphics Specialist list <tags at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Valerie Alcaraz <snowflake9587 at gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, Feb 7, 2019 11:31 am
Subject: Re: [TAGS] Tactile paintings

Hi Aishwarya,
My name is Valerie, and I am a totally blind artist. I have an associate’s degree in art from Fullerton college. My main focus was pottery, but have also done tactile drawings and a painting. I too want to experiment more as I feel 2-dimensional arts are very much an unknown for blind folks.
It is good to meet you via this list.
Best,
Valerie

> On Feb 7, 2019, at 12:05 AM, Aishwarya Pillai via TAGS <tags at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> <Happy blossoms 1.jpg><An evening in Paris.jpg><Caribbean Feast.jpg><Great expectations.jpg>_______________________________________________
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