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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Yama,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Welcome to this list. I wish I could come to Austin for your exhibit. I know a few people there because my late brother, John Slatin, was a prominent member of the blind community there for many years. I’m also blind and live in NYC, and was a painter in a former life. Anyway, I applaud your explorations and interest in tactile and haptic art; if you make it to New York, feel free to reach out.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Best, Petr</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> TAGS [mailto:<a href="mailto:tags-bounces@nfbnet.org">tags-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Yama Paper via TAGS<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, September 6, 2018 9:08 PM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:tags@nfbnet.org">tags@nfbnet.org</a><br><b>Cc:</b> Yama Paper <<a href="mailto:touchthisart@gmail.com">touchthisart@gmail.com</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> [TAGS] Introduction Yama Ploskonka, Austin, Texas</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Because introductions of new members of a list are a Good Thing, here goes</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Yama Ploskonka, known in the 'net as yamaplos, an Austinite-born-elsewhere since 2002, a paper maker since 2016, now fixin' to open *Touch This Art!* in Austin on September 21, 2018 (a separate email with that, coming soon) website: <a href="http://bit.ly/touchthisart">bit.ly/touchthisart</a></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">My first patent was supposed to be about a haptic output peripheral, that I dropped on the wise advice of a blind PhD at Brigham Young University that I am sorry I forgot the name of, that I was visiting the week prior to 9/11. He was right, the way I had designed the thing was not just derivative of devices I had no idea of, it would also overheat and be quite useless. Many years later I submitted a somewhat similar idea as a 3D printer, then abandonned the patent. Have fun: <a href="https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140120195A1/en">https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140120195A1/en</a></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">So, years later, after a fair where some blind people touched some of my high-relief paper art and "got it" (I am a paper maker, not a paper artist, but then, paper art sells better than quality classic handmade archival paper for artists, so, what can I do?), I applied for a City of Austin grant in record time, got it, and now I am writing emails 15 days before opening day, yikes. :-)</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">So I built a CNC carving machine, the YamaCarver <a href="https://youtu.be/3_95Vq5KvDE">https://youtu.be/3_95Vq5KvDE</a> , and finally today achieved full success in making it punch Braille. Slow, 6 minutes for a page, but it does it. Besides, more importantly, being the thing to carve my art...</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">So here I am. Doing some "due diligence" right after I submitted my grant application, I saw the FABULOUS stuff from AEB, but it seemed to stop in 2014. Two other publishers of art for the blind art-books seemed to also vanish thereabouts. Between one thing and another, until I found this list (and others of the NFB), I was feeling very, very, very alone...</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">I am so glad that is not the case.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Let me write a little blurb about the exhibit in another email, but first indicate that 1) I know I am quite ignorant of BVI issues and art for the blind and etc. 2) still, I want to do something 3) ergo, I need help, advice, and (hopefully gentle) criticism... So do feel free to deliver all of the above and then some. Oh, and I looooove to share. Someday I should put together the design for my $500 CNC + Braille puncher + embossing plates maker, etc. </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Yama</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>