Her Hands Do The Talking: Breaira's Artist Statement

A big part of the creative process is the opportunity to reflect on one's art and articulate the intent behind the art making process.  One way to do this is to put thoughts into words in an artist's statement.  At Central Riverside Elementary, students in Mrs. Caro's (DHH) class had the opportunity to do this but not in the conventional way.  You see, Mrs. Caro's students are deaf or hard of hearing so they communicate with American Sign Language. Please view this video to see and hear 5th grader, Breaira's artist statement. You will see that her hands do the talking.

CRES Students Explore Art Beyond Sight

This is the short instructional video I created to support the lesson taught last week at Central Riverside Elementary.  My students celebrated Art Beyond Sight  by creating a contour drawing self portrait using Wiki Stix (wax covered string) to allow those of low vision to see the art with their hands. 

Each student was blindfolded then given an opportunity to touch sculpture reproductions to discover how they might feel if, with low vision, they could only "see" with their hands.
After that revealing experience, they were given an assignment: Create a self portrait - then share it with their classmates who were also blindfolded.

It was so rewarding to hear their conversations.  One boy said, "I sure am glad this isn't the way way I have to see all the time."  I was pleased that the students gained this insight of how it may feel to be vision impaired.