"Touch the Art" at IDB

Last Friday, July 10, the Iowa Department for the Blind invited the community to an event called "Touch the Art."


Here are some photos from snapped by IRIS director Rob Davis, with captions supplemented by news releases from the Iowa Department for the Blind:


Renowned tactile artist Ann Cunningham of Denver, Colorado, unveiled her public art exhibit. The exhibit features seven 3-D pieces installed throughout the Department's Des Moines office. In this photo, Cunningham and a blind community member touch the tactile representation of Grant Wood's "American Gothic", made from slate, bronze, and cherry wood.




Visitors touch the "Regionalist Landscape," which is a tactile representation of farm fields. This mixed-media piece uses bronze, slate, and cherry wood to depict a country road replete with a farm house, barn, large poplar tree, and child using a cane and leading a piglet on a rope.



"Most art is of the 'don't touch' nature," said Colleen Armstrong, Iowa Arts Council board member. "But this artwork is meant to be touched and interpreted. It represents how the Iowa Department for the Blind gets in touch with the blind and visually impaired, with their families, with employers."



Artist Ann Cunningham, pictured at the podium, has been sculpting for more than 30 ears. Her accessible fairy tales have been seen by over 150,000 people. Her work is in many public and private collections, including the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Outdoor Arts, Englewood, Colorado, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind.

Karen Keninger, Iowa Department for the Blind director, also announced that the Department will expand its field staff-- phasing in new counselors and teachers over the next three months to better serve all areas of Iowa. In addition, the Department unveiled a new logo, which emphasizes the lower case "i." Keninger says, "We believe the new logo and tagline exemplifies the mission of the Iowa Department for the Blind, which is to create opportunities for independence for all blind and visually impaired Iowans." State Senator Staci Appel (D-Warren) is pictured above with Keninger.


The Des Moines Register's Mark Hansen covered the story in Saturday's paper. Check it out at the Register's website:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907110323