About Art Education for the Blind
Art Education for the Blind Publications
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| Elisabeth Salzhauer Axel AEB Founder and Executive Director |
"As a museum educator, I also knew that we could find ways to bring art to blind people, and that learning about, appreciating, and creating art would improve and enrich the lives of blind people as it does for sighted people."
Art Education for the Blind, Inc. (AEB)
AEB’s mission is to make art, art history, and visual culture accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired. Our goal is to provide and promote the tangible benefits of art education, museum visits, and art making for children and adults with sight loss – to give those who cannot see equal access to the world’s visual culture and the opportunity to experience the life-enhancing power of art.
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Students and instructors in AEB's first art history class for visually impaired and blind people, July 1987 |
Headquartered in New York City, AEB carries out its work as the leader and facilitator of an international, multi-disciplinary collaborative of sighted and blind museum professionals, artists, educators, scientists, scholars, rehabilitation professionals, and blind and visually impaired advisors throughout the world.
Activities of AEB
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Francesca Rosenberg (left), Museum of Modern Art Director of Community Outreach and Access Programs, with a blind visitor |
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A touch tour at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, Florida |
AEB partners with museums in New York, across the nation, and around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, Whitney Museum of American Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, Guggenheim, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Miami Art Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum in England, and Musée du Louvré in France.
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2004 Awareness Week Poster |
3. AEB coordinates the activities of the Art Beyond Sight Collaborative and its annual Awareness Month. Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month is an annual series of special exhibits, demonstrations, and conferences at museums, schools, libraries and other educational and cultural institutions, along with online discussion groups and a unique interdisciplinary telephone seminar. The goals of Awareness Month are to raise awareness and to bring together professionals, educators, researchers, the media, sighted and blind artists, and art lovers from around the world.
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Dr. John Kennedy (right) Chair of the Department of Life Sciences, University of Toronto, conducting research with blind artist Esref Armagan. |
4. AEB advances knowledge in the issues of blindness, art, sensory perception, and the capabilities of blind people by bringing together professionals working in many different disciplines including museum education, psychology, brain research, and software development.
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Esref Armagan demonstrates his technique at the reception honoring his work. |
AEB also introduced Mr. Armagan to the NYC museum community at a symposium organized at the American Folk Art Museum.
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Chandler Burr |
Check out the wide range of recent AEB activities!
2007. Occupational and Art Therapy with school-age children in Brooklyn public schools. A model project.
FOLK ART MUSEUM SYMPOSIUM
June, 2004. Pearl Rosen, National Center for Disability Services, at AEB's Symposium "Re-Visioning Art, Art History, Aesthetics and Creativity" at the American Folk Art Museum.
AWARENESS MONTH PRESS CONFERENCE
October 11, 2004. Associate Director Nina Levent kicks off the Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month Press Conference, with representatives of the NYC museum and arts community and the National Federation of the Blind.
ESREF ARMAGAN RECEPTION
June, 2004. At the AEB-sponsored exhibition and reception for blind artist Esref Armagan, from left, Kicki Nordstrom, Secretary General of the World Blind Union, Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic Records, Esref Armagan, AEB Director Elisabeth Axel.
AEB/APOLLO THEATER EVENT
November, 2004. From left, AEB Director Elisabeth Axel, Jimmy Carter of The Blind Boys of Alabama, and guests Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hill.
AEB AT ITALIAN CONFERENCE
October, 2004. Associate Director Nina Levent represented AEB in Ancona, Italy, at Museo Omero's "Art Within Reach," an international conference on museum accessibility for blind people.
Art Education for the Blind Publications
Art History Through Touch and Sound: A Multisensory Guide for the Blind and Visually Impaired
(multimedia package)
A groundbreaking multi-volume art history series for people who are blind or visually impaired that is the result of nine years of research, development, and testing by Art Education for the Blind. The series spans the history of art, from prehistoric through contemporary, guiding the reader through a journey that has long been denied to blind and visually impaired audiences.
Each volume contains a bound book of tactile diagrams and a companion audio narrative. The diagrams use a lexicon of seven standardized patterns, enabling the reader to acquire a tactile vocabulary. The narrative guides the reader through the diagrams, providing art historical information and richly detailed descriptions of major monuments in the history of art. The success of this two-part system depends on these complimentary components. Professional art historians collaborated with Art Education for the Blind's development team to create audio narratives that convey the historical richness and formal range of some 30,000 years of visual art.
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Six volumes of this series were co-published by the American Printing House for the Blind and Art Education for the Blind. For information on purchasing them, contact: coordinator@artbeyondsight.org.
Art Beyond Sight: A Resource Guide to Art, Creativity, and Visual Impairment
(book published by AEB and AFB Press)
A 500-page book that addresses all aspects of developing museum and community art education programs for individuals with visual impairments.
With the companion video described below, this book serves as a training tool for museum educators, school teachers, or anyone working directly with adults or children with vision loss.
- You can buy this publication from our co-publisher
American Foundation for the Blind.
Art Beyond Sight. A Demonstration of Practical Techniques for Teaching Art to People with Visual Impairments
(video produced by the Museum of Modern Art and Art Education for the Blind, narrated by Meredith Viera)
A one-hour video documentary demonstrating how to make art accessible to children and adults with sight loss; this is followed by eight short bonus instructional features with detailed information on different learning tools, including verbal description, touch tours, tactile diagrams, and art making.
With the companion book, Art Beyond Sight: A Resource Guide to Art, Creativity, and Visual Impairment, this video serves as a training tool for anyone working directly with adults or children with sight loss.
- You can buy this video from the American Foundation for the Blind or the American Association of Museums.
Copyright Art Education for the Blind 2005
