Peter Coppin remembers the discussion with a visually impaired student that helped him understand how much can be misunderstood when a person has to depend on words to understand what someone else can see.They were talking about Italy and the student knew that Italy is shaped like a boot. But when Coppin described it as a boot with a high heel like the Three Muskateers would wear, the student laughed out loud. He had been envisioning Italy as an entirely different kind of boot shape, and the idea of Italy as a Muskateer boot was comical to him. It’s these chasms in understanding that Coppin and the Art Gallery of Ontario are trying to bridge with a program that brings multi-sensory projects, based on works of visual art, to AGO museum tours for people in the blind and low vision community.While in the past museums have relied heavily on audio recordings and guides to bridge that gap, new practices are being brought on board, including multi-sensory aids designed by graduate students at OCAD University.“Visuals are dominant in our culture. If you are a part of society and you don’t have access to visual items, then you don’t have access to a lot off stuff about the culture that people who have vision have access to,” says Coppin, associate professor of the inclusive design graduate program and director of the perceptual artifacts lab at OCAD University.In Coppin’s graduate class, students select a work of art at the AGO to interpret for people living with vision loss.This year — the second year of the program — the works included four paintings: Tom Thomson’s The West Wind, Otto Dix’s Portrait of Dr. Heinrich Stadelmann; La Demoiselle de magasin by James Tissot and Jar of Apricots by Jean-Siméon Chardin.In a way, it’s about getting back to the roots of what museums used to be, said Melissa Smith, co-ordinator of the gallery guide, adult education officer and access to art programs for the AGO. ...
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