Dear ARLIS Members and Friends:
I have been asked to forward the following press release about recent
publications from the Art Education for the Blind.
Two new publications, "The Building Blocks of Art" and "The Art of Ancient
Egypt" join "European Modernism 1900-1940" in the series "Art History
Through Touch and Sound."
Claudia Hill
Avery Cataloger
Columbia University
---------- Forwarded message ----------
ART HISTORY THROUGH TOUCH AND SOUND
A MULTISENSORY GUIDE FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
1. EUROPEAN MODERNISM 1900-1940
2. THE ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT
3. THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ART
The First in a Pioneering Multivolume Series
Tactile Illustrations of the Major Monuments in the History of Art
With a Companion Audio Narrative
The Art Education for the Blind has released EUROPEAN MODERNISM 1900 - 1940,
THE ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT and THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ART the first three
volumes in a groundbreaking multivolume art history series for people who
are blind and visually impaired. Developed by Art Education for the Blind,
Inc., ART HISTORY THROUGH TOUCH AND SOUND: A Multisensory Guide for the
Blind and Visually Impaired is the result of nine years of research,
development, and testing. This innovative audiobook series spans the
history of art from prehistoric through contemporary, including some 600
tactile diagrams illustrating major monuments in the history of art. The
next volumes BUILDING BLOCKS OF ART and ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT are scheduled
for release in spring 2000.
"Art History is no longer a closed book but an open map, leading
the senses through a concert of ideas, a garden of delights," Marilyn
Stokstad, Ph.D., author of Art History (Abrams/Prentice Hall).
"An interdisciplinary approach incorporating the most recent
research in the fields of education, psychology, and art history," says
Paula Terry, Director of Access Ability, National Endowment for the Arts.
"A model for other institutions in their search for ways to reach
out to special constituencies," says David A. Ross, Director, Whitney
Museum of American Art.
"Timely...a lesson for scholars and students of perception
worldwide," says John M. Kennedy, author of Drawing and the Blind:
Pictures to Touch (Yale University Press).
From the Venus of Willendorf, dated to about 28,000 B.C., to the most
recent developments in contemporary art, the series guides the reader
through a journey that has long been denied to blind and visually impaired
audiences, as well as to people with diminished sight resulting from age.
Each volume of ART HISTORY THROUGH TOUCH AND SOUND comprises a bound book
of tactile diagrams and a companion audio narrative. The diagrams utilize
a lexicon of seven standardized patterns, enabling the reader to acquire a
familiarity with the tactile vocabulary. The narrative guides the reader
through the diagrams, providing art historical information as well as
richly detailed descriptions of the works. The success of this two-part
system depends on these complimentary components. Professional art
historians, in many cases highly regarded specialists, collaborated with
Art Education for the Blind's development team to create narratives that
convey the historical richness and formal range of some 30,000 years of
visual art.
Color and black-and-white photographs of the works accompany the tactile
illustrations. Image captions which include attribution, date, media,
dimensions, and location or custodian of the work are provided in both
large print and Braille. Additionally, interpretive sound-compositions
offer alternative ways of understanding a work of visual art's thematic
essence or compositional dynamic. Each volume includes art-appreciation
activities and a short bibliography. All volumes undergo extensive clinical
trials with blind advisors for content, clarity, and accuracy.
The multivolume series includes THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ART, which introduces
the reader to formal concepts in fine art such as perspective, line, color,
and shadow. Among the range of visual arts featured in subsequent volumes
are painting, sculpture, architecture, mosaic, manuscript illumination,
textiles, ceramic ware, tribal art, earthworks, and installation art. In
some cases, multiple diagrams are used to examine a single work of art. For
example, architecture is explored through diagrams that illustrate ground
plans, elevations, sections, decorative orders, and structural elements.
For complex paintings, a sequence of diagrams is used to illustrate figures,
background, and composite views, as well as details. By separating the
visual information into layers, or stages, the diagram sequence allows the
reader to assemble, piece by piece, an image of a highly complex work of
art.
THE ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT surveys the visual culture of an immense span of
time, nearly three thousand years. The art works of this remarkable
civilization are direct, physical and functional. They were created with a
devotion to established ways of working with both material and design, from
Narmer Palette to true-to-nature relief of wildlife found in the Temple of
Ramesses III. This volume explores maps of Africa, design conventions of
ancient Egypt and twenty works of sculpture, relief, painting and
architecture.
EUROPEAN MODERNISM 1900-1940 surveys the visual art born of transitional
and turbulent time: the space between two wars, ripe with scientific
discoveries and a new frontierpsychology. In the arts it was an explosive
time as artists searched for new forms and developed radically different
styles of expression. This volume explores works by fourteen major artists
and seven art movements in twentieth-century Europe.
Today, at least 40 million people worldwide are blind. Approximately 10
million Americans have some degree of serious vision loss or are totally
blind. Age- and AIDS-related eye disorders affect growing numbers of our
population, and each year, 50,000 more Americans become blind. Access to
the history of culture is a right not a privilege. The series is suitable
for a range of audiences, including senior citizens, college students, young
adults, and independent learners. Early versions of ART HISTORY THROUGH
TOUCH AND SOUND have been used in courses at The Museum of Modern Art, New
York, and Drew University, New Jersey. Sighted readers also benefit from
the method used in the series.
Founded in 1987, Art Education for the Blind, Inc., a nonprofit
organization, provides access to visual art through a range of educational
materials and programs. All profits from the sale of books will be invested
into product development and programming, fulfilling Art Education for the
Blind's mission of providing full intellectual access to the history and
culture of our world.
ART HISTORY THROUGH TOUCH AND SOUND
A Multisensory Guide for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Authors for this volume: Art Education for the Blind
Illustrator: Teresa Kardoulias
Trim size of package: 10 1/2" x 13",
includes spiral-bound soft-cover book and audio-cassettes
Type: 18-point Helvetica & transparent Braille
Illustrations: 34 tactile diagrams; 19 color black-&-white photographs
Audio running time: approx. 9 hours
Price of each volume: $99.00
EUROPEAN MODERNISM 1900-1940
ISBN: 1-890116-07-6
THE ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT
ISBN: 1-890116-09-2
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ART
ISBN: 1-890116-08-4
The innovative methodology developed by the AEB is documented in the
brochure MAKING VISUAL ART ACCESSIBLE TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE THE BLIND AND
VISUALLY IMPAIRED. This is available at a cost of $25. The brochure has to
be pre-paid.
The book has to be prepaid, please send a check to:
Art Education for the Blind, Inc.,
160 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10012
For more information please contact AEB staff: (212) 334-3700
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.arteducation.org
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