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<font size=3>Yes, and several museums allow touching only with thin
plastic gloves, which, for many folks works better than rubber surgical
gloves. Thin plastic gloves can slide over surfaces more smoothly,
without as much drag or stiction as surgical Latex or Nitrile rubber
gloves.<br>
In my own work in my lapidary shop, grinding and cutting rocks, I prefer
to use Nitrile gloves, as they last longer than Latex gloves.<br>
However, and especially with surgical gloves, I find it extremely
difficult to read braille while wearing rubber gloves.<br>
Considering the issues of public health, news reports are indicating that
gloves do not seem to do a lot to prevent spreading of germs, as the
germs can survive for hours on common surfaces and be moved from surface
to surface (including to your mouth or eyes).<br>
It can be easier to effectively decontaminate gloved hands, compared to
decontaminating bare skin and fingernails of your hands.<br>
Public health officials are now recommending decontaminating with either
rubbing alcohol (60 percent or stronger), soap and water, or weak
solutions of bleach.<br>
For touchable art decontamination, these decontamination solutions could
cause damage to the art surfaces and some adhesives or other underlaying
materials.<br>
When decontamination with these solutions is not possible, exposure with
UV lights or direct sunlight might be helpful. Note, they stress
direct sunlight, as sunlight coming through glass windows has had most of
its ultraviolet light blocked.<br>
It would be nice, if we could get more advice from art museum staff folks
who are more familiar with art decontamination and protection
procedures.<br>
Cordially,<br>
Noel<br>
<br><br>
At 10:15 AM 3/12/2020, Deborah Kent Stein via TAGS wrote:<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">In the museums that permit blind
visitors to touch artworks not generally<br>
available for tactile exploration by the public, it is standard practice
for<br>
the blind visitor to wear surgical gloves. Although wearing gloves
somewhat<br>
detracts from the tactile experience, it protects the art and also
helps<br>
avoid the spread of germs. Wearing gloves is a simple precaution that can
be<br>
taken with tactile exhibits during any outbreak of a contagious disease
such<br>
as COVID-19. <br><br>
Debbie<br><br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: TAGS
[<a href="mailto:tags-bounces@nfbnet.org" eudora="autourl">
mailto:tags-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>] On Behalf Of Cheryl Fogle-Hatch<br>
via TAGS<br>
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2020 11:49 AM<br>
To: Tactile Art and Tactile Graphics Specialist list
<tags@nfbnet.org><br>
Cc: Cheryl Fogle-Hatch <c.k.fogle@gmail.com>;
mkolitsky@nextgenemedia.com<br>
Subject: Re: [TAGS] Tactile art and COVID-19<br><br>
Hi Mike, Keri, and everyone<br><br>
An exhibit on universal design that I'm consulting for was postponed,
and<br>
several Maryland museums have suspended public programs through mid
April.<br>
I've been watching traffic on museum listservs, and so far, I haven't
seen<br>
anything specific to tactile art--just general concerns about
limiting<br>
hand-to-hand contact. I think we, as a community of tactile artists
etc,<br>
need to step into the conversation so our voices are found when
someone<br>
searches, as you did.<br><br>
To that end, I'm thinking of writing a text (800-1,000 word blog
post<br>
linking to supporting documents if necessary). This would discuss
the need<br>
to balance tactile access with health concerns--covid19, and for
anything<br>
else that will arise in future. I would offer to host a piece on my
new<br>
website,
<a href="https://museumsenses.org/" eudora="autourl">
https://museumsenses.org</a> and I might also explore possibilities<br>
with my connections to get onto an established museum blog.<br><br>
Keeping in mind that this listserv is publicly archived and
searchable,<br>
please write me offlist if you'd like to contribute ideas and
resources,<br>
and/or review a draft. To join a timely conversation, I'd like to
get a<br>
post online around mid April as museums resume public programming. The
post<br>
should serve as a conversation starter and propose solutions, and show
that<br>
that the community of tactile artists and enthusiasts are thinking
about<br>
these issues.<br><br>
Best Wishes,<br>
Cheryl<br><br>
On 3/12/20, Mike Kolitsky via TAGS <tags@nfbnet.org> wrote:<br>
> Hi everyone, I just received news that an art show in NYC to which I
<br>
> had some tactile art works accepted for entry was delayed due to the
<br>
> COVID-19 pandemic and the need to think about bringing large groups
of <br>
> people together. That led to my thinking about how one can
make <br>
> tactile art so that it can be touched safely, i.e., that each touch
is <br>
> on a sterile or cleaned surface. Can tactile art be sprayed
with a <br>
> lysol-like cleanser between touching episodes or can art be designed
<br>
> to be touched with surgical gloves? Can Braille be read with
surgical <br>
> gloves on the reader's hands? I did a quick search on
"tactile art <br>
> and COVID-19" and found that the Exploratorium in San Francisco
has<br>
temporarily closed the "Tactile Dome".<br>
> Any thoughts about how to make art or objects for public touching
safe <br>
> from passage of COVID-19 from one person to another?<br>
><br>
> Mike<br>
><br>
> Michael A. Kolitsky, Ph.D.<br>
> CEO<br>
> nextgenEmedia<br>
><br><br>
<br>
--<br>
Cheryl Fogle-Hatch, Ph.D.<br>
Archaeologist and Museum Professional<br>
(443) 939-8217<br>
c.k.fogle@gmail.com<br>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/cheryl-fogle-hatch/8/224/538" eudora="autourl">
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/cheryl-fogle-hatch/8/224/538</a><br>
<a href="https://cherylfogle.academia.edu/" eudora="autourl">
https://cherylfogle.academia.edu/</a><br><br>
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