Alex Leaver: May 2010

My Comfort Pillow won first prize for 3D art in A Different Vision, an art show for the blind now showing at the Plymouth Guild. Best of all, it made people laugh!

Patriot Ledger, The (Quincy, MA)

Estimated printed pages: 4

April 29, 2010
Section: News
Page: 21, 22

A Feeling For Art
Exhibit in Plymouth invites visitors to Please Touch
Jody Feinberg; The Patriot Ledger PLYMOUTH There are no Do Not Touch signs in the exhibit "A Different Vision" at Plymouth Center for the Arts. On the contrary, visitors are expected to run their fingers along the paintings, sculptures, textiles and mixed-media art.

"We had works created specifically for this show that people can touch,"said the show's curator, Honey Weiss, a member of the Plymouth Art Guild. "People with visual impairments don't often get the opportunity to enjoy visual art." The 60 pieces offer an unusual artistic experience not just for people who are blind or have limited vision, but also for people with sight. "It's a beautiful and colorful exhibit on its own, and being able to touch is a real treat," said Amy Davies of Plymouth, a volunteer at Each item is accompanied by a description in print and braille, and an audio guide is available. All works were judged by Hannah Goodwin, manager of accessibility at the Museum of Fine Arts, and Valarie Burrows, accessibility coordinator at the MFA. Awards will be announced at the opening reception Friday. In judging the works, Goodwin closed her eyes and touched each piece before looking at it. "The visual component is important, but I felt I had to understand the tactile experience first," Goodwin said. In recognition of the exhibit's particular challenge, Goodwin and Barrows created an award category called artist stretch. Awards also were given for 2-dimensional wall art, 3-D art and multi-sensory. "'A Different Vision' has inspired a lot of experimentation and creative thinking on the part of artists," Goodwin said. "Some of the art is more successful tactilely, some is more successful visually, and some have the tactile and visual delightfully in sync." One example where both the visual and tactile are strong is "Robin's Nest," by Kathleen Mullins Mogayzel. She fashioned an egg-filled nest amidst tree branches out of a variety of tactile materials: foil, metallic waxes, brass wire, glass beads, copper leaves, and a printmaking plate, Goodwin said the MFA strives to make its art accessible to everyone, but restrictions exist because of the valuable nature of the art. Even if people can touch an object, they must wear gloves. "This exhibit sets a very high bar, because there are no physical barriers," Goodwin said. "It's pretty unusual to have the opportunity to touch everything, including things like paintings that pretty much can never be touched." To enhance the tactile possibilities in a painting, the artists used a variety of brush strokes and raised paint. "Taste the Rainbow,"by Heather-Marie Ham, has thin textured ribbons of paint, and "Rainbow Kisses," by Jeffrey Dawley, has hundreds of small, raised points. For "Sea Storm," Miriam Walsh applied various textures to create strong contrast between a rocky shore, stormy sea, swirling winds and calm moonlit sky. Instead of paint, Mary Anne O'Brien used aromatic beeswax and damar resin to define the fish in her piece, "Three Fish," and made the ocean from rippled rice paper and dried seaweed. Some works appeal to the senses of hearing and smell. Ceramic sea urchins, coral and clams, in "Rhythm of the Sea" by Brenda O'Rourke, sound like tinkling bells when shaken. Raise the silky, polished lid of the wooden box in "Moon Tide" by George Mitchell, and smell the sweet scent. The sculptures take on added meaning when touched. By running fingers over "The Matriarch" by Valerie Mine, visitors get a more intimate sense of how facial features express emotion. A number of artists took a playful approach, which children will appreciate. There's a 3-foot tall pink dragon hand puppet, "Hot Pink Dragon Extraordinaire" by Barbara Harold, and a "Touchable Crazy Quilt" by Marilyn Ferkinhoff, which has multiple textures and removable objects such as jewelry and a magnifying glass. Some works are humorous, particularly the textile piece "Comfort Pillow" by Alex Leaver. She fashioned nine felt and yarn breasts atop a pillow, separated by tufts of fur. Visitors can reach inside the pillow, to touch the plush fur and removable crochet pillow. Leaver described it as an expression of the feminine ideal of "humor, nourishment and warmth." A few pre-opening visitors couldn't resist touching the comfort pillow-and laughing. "We'll be able to tell how far people have come in the exhibit when we hear their laughter," said Elise Pennypacker, who developed the exhibit with Weiss and displays two quilts in it. Most works are by professionals and amateur artists, but there also is a group project from disabled adults at New England Village and one by students from Manomet Elementary School. And three paintings were made by artists who themselves are nearly blind, including "Man's Best Friend,"by Frances McLaughlin, a lovely image of a man patting his dog in a woods of falling snow. "I find that a lot of people with sight assume that people who are blind are not interested in visual art, but that is just not true," Goodwin said. "It's wonderful to have an exhibit like this." Reach Jody Feinberg at jfeinberg@ledger.com.