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 __________________________________________________________________ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] Administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Questions may be addressed to list owner at: [log in to unmask]