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Contact:
Kirsten Ervin
Creative Citizen Studios
412 -576-6254
kirsten@citizenstudios.org
www.citizenstudios.org
www.touchartblog.wordpress.com
For Immediate Release
November 25, 2013
What:
Touch Art: Making Art with Pittsburgh's Blind Community
Art Accessibility Seminar for Educators and Administrators
Why should blind people make art? How do blind people make art? How can
schools and cultural organizations welcome blind and visually impaired students
into art studios and classrooms?
The Touch Art Educational Seminar will address these and other questions on
Thursday, January 16 at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. The event is the
culminating effort of Touch Art, an inclusive art making program with the blind
community launched by Kirsten Ervin and Tirzah DeCaria of Creative Citizen
Studios. The seminar will feature a short video documentary of the Touch Art
process by filmmaker Keith Tassick, followed by a panel discussion with artists
and educators who are blind, visually impaired and sighted. Lastly, the audience
of art educators, art administrators and others will have an opportunity to view the
artwork and interact with participants from the Touch Art workshops.
$15 Seminar Fee
Class registration at www.citizenstudios.org
When:
Thursday, January 16, 2014, 2-4 pm
Where:
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Simmons Hall
6300 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232
Additional Information:
"We want people to leave the seminar knowing what the next steps are," explains Kirsten
Ervin. "We don't want Touch Art to be a one time experience, but rather, a blue print for
future art making opportunities that are accessible and inclusive."
Financed by the Sprout Fund, Touch Art provided a series of quality, professional art
workshops to interested adults from the blind community at the Pittsburgh Center for the
Arts during September and October of 2013. Teaching artists Amanda Gross, Katy
DeMent, Donna Penoyer, and Tracey Donoughe taught fiber art, papermaking, precious
metal clay jewelry, and hand building with clay to about 20 individuals.
Prior to the workshops, Touch Art coordinators provided comprehensive training to
teaching artists on art accommodations, teaching techniques and social etiquette and
communication. Teaching artists also had individual studio consultations specific to their
workshop. The results paid off.
"The teachers really got that there was nothing about the material that required vision, "
said Ann Lapidus, a local ceramicist and Touch Art participant. "It didn’t feel like a big
inconvenience for them to make modifications for the blind community."
Karen Seligman, another participant, concurred, "The Touch Art teacher (Katy DeMent)
was so natural, I thought she had been teaching blind people her whole life."
Connecting with blind community was a key factor in the success of the Touch Art
program. Members of Blind Outdoor Leisure Development (BOLD) and the Golden
Triangle Council of the Blind (GTCB) were essential in providing Touch Art
coordinators with leadership, advice, guidance and outreach, and for their overall support
of the project.
The result was a mutual learning experience between Touch Art participants and teaching
artists.
"I was floored by how detail-oriented the Touch Art students turned out to be", said
Touch Art teaching artist Donna Penoyer. "They created some wonderfully crafted
pendants. But more important than the finished product was the reminder of how much
we can accomplish with open minds, a willingness to try new things, and the strategy of
focusing on people's strengths rather their limitations. It was one of the best teaching
experiences I've ever had. "
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