Stop us if you’ve heard this before. You walk into an art gallery and see a sign that says “please don’t touch.”
We can certainly understand the reasoning behind it. More often than not, the artist or crafter has spent many hours working on that piece and it’s probably quite delicate. So they don’t really want you putting your grubby hands all over it – or clean hands for that fact. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to cop a feel to see what it’s made out of.
And if you’re visually impaired, like Stephanie Hurd, you’ve been missing out on all kinds of great art work for many years. That’s why Hurd connected with Catherine Green of the League of N.H. Craftsmen.
Hurd, who sees in what she describes as shapes and shadows, had been to exhibits in the state that were set up for the visually impaired to enjoy through touch and also to the League gallery where she was allowed to feel a couple pieces. (Shhh, don’t tell anyone.)
So she asked Green if there was any chance the League would want to put a similar kind of exhibit in Concord. A few emails were sent back and forth and a meeting was set up to discuss it further. Then Green sent out a simple email to the League’s juried members to see if anyone would be interested in participating in the show.
“I sent out one email to our membership and that’s all it took,” Green said.
And the response was a surprise – one you’ll see if you make your way down to the League headquarters before Dec. 18 and check out Insightful.
“We are so excited to see it come to fruition,” Hurd said, who not only receives services from the N.H. Association for the Blind, but is also its community relations coordinator.
It’s an exhibit that you’re actually encouraged to walk through and touch everything. There are pillows, children’s clothes, a rocking cow, weaved bowls, jewelry and a sweet rocking cow.
“Not only do I work in the field, but I was able to experience it first hand,” Hurd said.
Some of the pieces were made specifically for the show, while others were ones the artists felt would fit well.
“The work is so tactile and we encourage people to touch it,” Green said.
All the descriptions, which are in larger font than normal, are also in braille thanks to the N.H. Associations for the Blind. So the visually impaired can enjoy it as much as someone with perfectly good sight.
“It’s incredibly rewarding and enriching to feel the items and it really takes on a different dimension of the creativity that went into the pieces,” Hurd said.
Green even tells people who can see to walk through with their eyes closed and get an idea of what the exhibit is like for those who cannot. Just try not to knock anything – or anybody – over.
“It encourages the public in a much greater way, so I see doing this again, certainly,” Green said.
And once the exhibit is done showing at the League’s gallery, it will be making its way to libraries in Nashua, Portsmouth, Keene and others starting in February.
“I really love the idea that it’s going to travel,” Hurd said.
So even if your vision is not affected, go check out this exhibit before it starts to make moves. Cause at least you won’t have to pretend like you didn’t touch it when you know you did.
