Meaningful Art for

All Children

A list of art suggestions

for working with students who are blind or

have low vision.

Michael Donnelly

Art Teacher, Support Skills Program Visiting Teacher

North-Western Victoria Region

Contents The Art Room ............................................................ 3 Art Appreciation ......................................................... 6 Carving ......................................................................10 Ceramics ...................................................................13 Collages ....................................................................17 Constructions............................................................ 23 Drawing .................................................................... 27 Painting .................................................................... 32 Papermaking ............................................................ 35 Plaster ...................................................................... 36 Textiles ..................................................................... 39 Wood ........................................................................ 42 Co-action – Do’s and Don’ts ..................................... 45

Thank you to staff, students and others who have been part of my adventure in art making for all children at the

Vision Australia School and the SVRC Support Skills Program since 1999.

Michael Donnelly

Statewide Vision Resource Centre Post: PO Box 201 Nunawading 3131

Visit: 370 Springvale Rd Donvale 3111 Phone: +61 3 9841 0242 Fax: +61 3 9841 0878

svrc@svrc.vic.edu.au www.svrc.vic.edu.au

2

The Art Room

The Art-making space

needs to be an exciting

and stimulating one,

appealing to all the

senses.

The space also needs to

allow for easy access,

orientation and mobility.

Allow time to adequately

prepare and organise

materials and equipment

for students who are

blind or have low vision,

and then provide

sufficient time for them

to explore, select and

experiment. What every

sighted student takes in

at a glance and make a

decision about may take

a student who is blind or

has low vision half a

session to cover. 3

The Art Room

Organise smocks,

wet area, bench

and equipment

areas in ways

that make for

logical

sequencing and

efficient

movement.

Work space on a

bench also

needs to be ar-

ranged for easy

scanning and

manoeuvrability.

4

The Art Room

Store materials in

containers with

an example of

contents on the

exterior so they

can be easily

touched and

identified.

Arrange materials

for a specific

session in con-

tainers so they

can be easily

perused and

considered.

5

Art Appreciation

Many opportunities exist

for excursions if you

keep a look-out, but

there is also the need

for continual lobbying

of institutions to make

there exhibits more ac-

cessible to people who

are blind or have low

vision. Try:

Melbourne Museum with

its Children’s Museum.

Ask for access to

“Touch Tables”

Special “Touch Friendly”

Exhibitions, such as

the Bruce Armstrong

exhibition held at the

Heide Art Gallery in

1999

6

Art Appreciation

Be aware of outdoor

sculpture shows,

festivals and com-

petitions

eg (in Melbourne):

Gasworks Sculpture

Biennale,

Contempora2 at

Docklands

McClelland Regional

Gallery Sculpture

Park and its sculp-

ture survey

Heide Museum of

Modern Art and

Sculpture Park

7

Art Appreciation

Explore Public

Sculptures in

City Streets

Visit artist’s studios

in small groups

Arrange visits to

the school by

artists (sculptors,

craftspeople,

ceramicists)

8

Art Appreciation

In the classroom make

use of domestic

sculpture, “tourist” art,

and other easily ac-

cessed examples.

A limited number of

tactile art books, “Art

History through Touch

and Sound” are

available through the

American Print

House for the Blind

and Art beyond

Sight.

The internet will lead

you to some

exciting resources.

Eg. www.artbeyondsight.org

www.tsbvi.edu (Texas School for the Blind

& Visually impaired)

sun1.aph.org/ia2005 (American Printing

House for the Blind Insights Art Exhibition)

www.tate.org.uk/imap (online art resource de-

signed for visually impaired people).

9

Carving

Use “soft” materials

like talc stone,

soap, soft mix

plaster,

polystyrene and

even ice.

Have finished ex-

amples to show

students before

they begin their

own work.

10

Carving

Clamp well and

use bench

hooks or bench

vise.

A great variety of

quick release

and sliding

clamps are

available to

use.

11

Carving

Use a variety of

files, awls and

sand papers (wet

and dry).

Keep hands behind

cutting point of

tool.

Use relief carving –

cedar panels,

lino or synthetic /

rubber substitute.

Do crayon rubbings

and inked prints

of carvings.

Paint or stain fin-

ished product.

12

Ceramics

Use all forms of

hand-building

to create

functional pots.

Grogged terra-

cotta will cope

with all sorts of

rule- breaking if

dried and fired

slowly.

13

Ceramics

Press mould clay

into desired forms

or use items to

fold around.

Press casting

objects and / or

use them as a

mould for plaster.

Cylinders or sturdy

templates to wrap

around, are useful

in slab

construction.

14

Ceramics

Pouring and dipping

glazes are useful for

“all over” cover.

Using paint-on glaze is

good but wash hands

afterwards.

Have examples of

different pottery

states – green-

ware, bisque ware

and glazed ware.

15

Ceramics

Mosaic work can

involve found

and hand-made

ceramic

components.

The pottery wheel

is a possibility,

but one-to-one

instruction is

needed initially.

There are some

potters who are

blind or have low

vision.

16

Collages

Clear contact plastic

is useful for

composing and

holding collages.

Use cross refer-

ences made from

anything that is

“stickyback”, for

example stickers,

labels, foam

pieces from

reverse art and

silicon dots from

stationers or VI

equipment stores.

17

Collages

Support for collages

should be well

fixed and not

sliding around

(use non-slip

mats, clips or

clamps).

Use objects such as

pizza trays to

contain work

items. PVA can

then be pooled

within, and items

can be fixed in

place.

18

Collages

Use a framed

support for items

to be placed

against.

19

Collages

Small glue bottles

with nozzles are

useful

Fix an open dish of

PVA to a table in

an accessible

spot. Items to be

glued can be

dipped into the

dish

Sponges should be

available for

wiping sticky

fingers

20

Collages

21

Collages

Assist students

when they are

using hot glue

guns

Staplers, including

long ones, are

very useful

Thermoform

machines can be

a handy adjunct

to collage

activities,

enabling

“editions” of tactile

work to be

produced.

22

Constructions

Use easy to deal

with joining

materials for

assembling:

edible foam,

straws and

skewers

Joining materials

can be as simple

as blu-tak,

plasticine,

tape, small

polystyrene

blocks. . .

23

Constructions

Cellotape casting –

wrap object in

clingwrap first so

it doesn’t stick

Use good tape in

the dispenser and

place on non-slip

mat

Some methods may

need assistance,

but only in terms

of an extra pair of

hands to hold

things in place, as

scanning fingers

check possibilities

24

Constructions

Wind wire around

itself to create

forms and figures

Draw with wire (like

artist Alexander

Calder)

25

Constructions

Use wire to create

Christmas

decorations or for

joining

tins.

Tissue

paper

cre-

ates

light

but

effective forms

when stretched

over a framework.

Any hole in a form is

an opportunity to

push and poke an

interesting material

through.

26

Drawing

Use raised-line

drawing kits,

crayons and wire

boards (use thin

litho paper, shiny

side up for good

contrast).

Wikki-stix (tacky

waxy lengths of

string) are a use-

ful tool;

As is slit tape

(adhesive tape in

ultra-thin rolls for

creating line-

work).

27

Drawing

For children with low

vision use markers,

thick textas,

charcoal, bright

colours, high

contrasts, oil pastels

and brush and ink.

Draw from life –

pets, toys, stuffed

animals.

28

Drawing

Use thick foil such

as aluminium or

copper (image on

reverse).

Draw into

soft

foam

sheets

and

print.

29

Drawing

P.I.A.F. (Pictures in a

Flash), Stereocopy

or “Swell” Paper

provides a less

immediate method of

feedback on

drawings when they

are photocopied

onto the special

paper and then put

through the heat

machine.

Special “hot tip” pens

are available to use

with the paper for

more instant feed-

back (not readily

available in

Australia).

30

Drawing

Make use of bodies,

hands and faces to

trace around and

measure.

Use simple geometric

shape templates.

Use scented markers

for immediate fun

feed-back.

31

Painting

For younger children

especially, use a

variety of added

features like

aromas, tempera-

tures, surfaces and

objects.

Use a variety of finger

painting processes

with various forms

of action painting,

such as dripping,

rolling, stamping,

squirting, spraying

and brushing. As

well as these

techniques, you

can mask areas

with tape.

32

Painting

Use “kinder” paint

pots with brush-

hole cap and one

brush per colour.

Tell the student what

order the colours

are arranged in

and keep to this

arrangement if

possible.

Slant boards are

useful to get close

to the work.

33

Painting

For children with low

vision, work with

large, bold, bright

and contrasting

colours. Use sur-

faces and strong

contrast to paint

within outlines.

Collaged surfaces

make very inter-

esting paint sup-

ports. (Hands do

to. . .)

34

Papermaking

Another good

process to work

through including

tearing the paper

and mixing the

pulp.

Emboss patterns

and objects onto

the wet surface

when couching.

Add interesting

things to the

paper mix.

Assemble cast

paper objects.

35

Plaster

Plastering is a great

process because it

involves mixing,

pouring and spread-

ing.

Cast with clay, sand,

polystyrene and

moulded plastic

packaging. These

materials can also

be carved into.

Add materials such

as sawdust or

vermiculite to soften

the mix.

36

Plaster

The plaster bandage

“Modrock” is great

for wrapping ob-

jects. Use it with

cling-wrap if you

want to remove

what’s underneath

or wrap it around

food such as fruit,

and allow the food

to dry and rattle

around inside over

time.

Use plaster bandage

to create new forms

out of merging and

modifying existing

ones.

37

Plaster

Use “Modrock” to

emulate mummifi-

cation and provide

an example of

Egyptian art and

culture.

Textiles

Felting is a good

active process but

requires good

fine-motor skills.

38

Textiles

Make tactile objects

such as pom-

poms, rag rugs,

pegging, button

and bead pictures,

and stuffed toys.

39

Textiles

When weaving, use

anything that can

be threaded such

as hessian, netting,

wire mesh and

cardboard slats.

If embroidery needles

are difficult, tape

around the end of

the twine / ribbons

to make threading

easier.

40

Textiles

All manner of

materials and

objects can be

threaded, so

long as it has a

hole to thread

through.

Try shells, tubing,

beads, even ice.

41

Wood

Lots of effective

clamping is needed.

Use vises, clamps,

quick grips, bench

hooks and tape.

Use soft woods.

Use good mitre boxes

and sharpened

saws.

42

Wood

Use sanding blocks

and different

grades of paper

for finishing

surfaces.

A sanding panel on

the bench can be

used to make

handling easier.

Wood is a great

material for

collage work and

joining in many

ways.

43

Wood

Organise tools so

they can be

accessed easily.

Use “Blutak” &

“Wikki-Stix” for

planning, design-

ing and marking

wood, along with

traditional

methods of

scoring with

stylus, sharp nail

or saw.

Teach coactively

when using power

tools (see next).

44

Coaction – Do’s and

Don’ts

Coaction (where the adult guides the child’s

hands to perform a task) has been used in the

past as a method of teaching children with a

disability.

However, covering the child’s hands with your

own, or moving their body for them, focuses

their attention on your actions and not on their

own involvement in the task.

Placing the object under or into the child’s hand

allows them to explore independently.

Placing your hands under theirs to demonstrate

an action enables them to feel the movement

and gain an understanding of how to imitate or

repeat the action

themselves.

45