Many Ways of Seeing

Many Ways of Seeing Slidshow (3MB, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Many Ways of Seeing
Teaching Art to the Blind and Visually Impaired

Marcus is blind.  He is 13 and has never been able to see.  He carefully rolls clay and shapes pieces that his student partner helps him use in the sculpture.  Elza is in her 80s and losing her sight to macular degeneration.  She wets the growing sculpture with a paintbrush as her partner helps fit each piece.  There are many ways of seeing, and a group of students from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design used clay to explore the possibilities, one-on-one, with the consumers of Washtenaw County's Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled (LBPD).
 

A unique collaboration between the school and the Library brought about Many Ways of Seeing—Teaching Art to the Blind and Visually Impaired, a credited course in which U-M students apply their understanding of ceramics as they assist LBPD consumers in creating art works using clay.  In addition to guest speakers and discussions on campus, one class each week was held at the Washtenaw County Library.  Working with people who have limited visual abilities or other physical disabilities, students had an opportunity to explore perception—the many ways of seeing.
 

"It's not what you see, it's what you do that counts," says Elza as she marvels at the lighthouse that her student partner helped her create over several weeks.  Working together, these students and individuals with disabilities find their confidence on the rise, both as teachers of art and teachers in life.
 
 
 
 
 
 

"I really didn't think I had a bit of artistic ability and would never have thought of trying this," says Richard, who lost his capacity to read after a stroke some years ago.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

U-M Associate Professor Sadashi Inuzuka, visually impaired himself, believes in the mutual benefit of bringing sighted and non-sighted individuals together through the medium of ceramics.  "For these students, such experiences will encourage sensitivity toward other ways of perception and expression.  This sensitivity will make them stronger artists, future educators and contributing members of society."
 
 
 
 
 

"Many Ways of Seeing has been an absolutely stunning success for all concerned.  These students certainly bring their talent, but they have also brought their curiosity and willingness to listen.  The energy in this building is remarkable during the classes—and the sculptures themselves are fantastic," says Washtenaw County Library Director Mary Udoji.

An exhibit of the ceramic works produced by participating LBPD consumers was held at the Work Gallery in downtown Ann Arbor from May 5-June 4, 2006.   In addition to ceramic pieces, photographs documenting each consumer's progress during the course were displayed.  Photographs were taken by Harriette Hartigan and U-M student Eugene Robertson.

One U-M student, Heather Levitt, also exhibited a bust of her LBPD partner which she will eventually cast in bronze for him.  She commented that "through this class I met a group of people who I probably would never have otherwise encountered.  I was able to look at the world through their eyes, and use their insight to inspire my own worldviews."

The Ann Arbor News noted, "Granted, the U-M students assisted the library clients in twisting, shaping, and glazing their ceramics - and their assistance is sometimes telling. But the pieces represent hard-fought battles with raw earth itself. Nothing more can be expected of any art, or any artist."

Get a good idea of the course's highlights with a pdf slideshow. (3MB, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)  It will take a while to download.  When it is open, use your right/left directional keys to move from slide to slide.

Another Many Ways of Seeing series was held in 2007.  Read about it here.
 
 

Read what the Ann Arbor News has to say about Many Ways of Seeing.