kestrell

Kes: This sounds so exciting that I may have to plan a trip to NYC to participate in this study.

Posted to the Art Beyond Sight mailing list:

Dr Simon Hayhoe, visiting academic in LSE's Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, has won a Fulbright All-Disciplines Scholar Award to study blind and visually impaired people's understanding of paintings in galleries and on the web, as part of a visiting fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The research project, which will start in July 2011, intends to survey and interview English speaking people of all ages who are registered blind and who visit the Metropolitan, in order to discover:

* their strategies for conceptualising paintings
* the problems blind and visually impaired museum visitors encounter whilst visiting the Metropolitan
* whether blind and visually impaired museum visitors 'picture' images
* how blind and visually impaired museum visitors imagine paintings'
subjects and compositions
* what understanding blind and visually impaired museum visitors
have of visual concepts discussed in the composition of paintings,
and in particular: tone, perspective, and colour

The research will contribute to a new book on arts, blindness and technology, and will help to inform arts teachers and curators in the UK
and US, as well as future web developments for people wanting to make paintings accessible to blind and visually impaired people through the web.
For more information on the project, email Dr Hayhoe at s.hayhoe@lse.ac.uk
<http://uk.mc272.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=s.hayhoe@lse.ac.uk>.