Custom Braille Signs

I found this resource in the peachtree business products magazine.
Typically the signs are for public places, like plastic bathroom signs, but I foresee making future art projects.

Happy Belated Birthday!

In my leave of absence from blogging, I missed the bicentenary of the birth of Braille's inventor Louis Braille on 4 January.

I want to give a shout out to the birthday boy:
"Happy birthday Louis!! Thank you for creating an easier code to read! I have many fond memories studying and reading in Braille."

what does that say?

Let's lighten things up a bit. My cousin emailed this to me. Thank you!

Tactile Color

"Tactile Color" was inspired by an art show I went to of visually impaired artists. There where lots of things I wasn’t use to: for example, next to each art work there was the artist’s statement in print and Braille. There where lots of guide dogs. And a booklet was handed out about the artists that could be read by the sighted and the visually impaired.

Even though I want people to touch my art, at the show I couldn’t bring myself to feel the oil paintings. The visually impaired touched them but I couldn’t. I think that’s because of conditioning from galleries and museums. Feeling the art helped to understand the meaning and create an experience, where as I just used my eyes.

Another surprise at the show was the use of color. It was everywhere! It reminded me of a children’s book in Braille called “A Color of His Own” by Leo Lionni, transcribed by Dorthy Johnson. The pages are printed on thin, white plastic. The pictures are raised, just like the Braille, so they can be felt. The tactile illustrations are by Marcy Meyer. At the beginning of the book, Meyer, created a texture legend, that assigns a color to each texture. The pictures are highly textured, making them exciting to feel and beautiful to look at. It is so much fun imagining the colors of the pictures by the textures.

These experiences inspired me to make a sculpture that allows touch in a gallery setting. The sculpture is a table and chair covered in soft, knit materials. It is entirely white. I picked Braille to be an integral part, because it’s agreed upon as an acceptable thing to touch. To further encourage interaction, I used a variety of textures, such as super fuzzy yarn and soft clothes line.

Paying homage to the creator of Braille was also important to me because of his tenacity and generosity. Louis Braille, the inventor, experimented with writing his code using knitting needles. So I chose to knit a large majority of the sculpture.

The Braille book of “A Color of His Own” made me question what a sculpture would look like if it had a texture legend. On my sculpture, the desk drawer has a legend where each texture represents a color. The clothes line is turquoise. The poofy boa is yellow…

Elizabeth Symington, Tactile Color, 2008
53" x 27" x 20"
Mixed Media
Special thanks to Carolina Huerta
Photos by Luke Goodman

Braille

left: 7 blind mice by Ed Young. Transcribed by Dorthy Johnson. Tactile illustrations by Marcy Meyer.

Last fall, I took a 15 week course on teaching principals and practices. I learned how people learn, how to teach and how to evaluate to see if they learned. The first lesson plan I made was on a topic of my choice. It was suggested that I research something that I have always wanted to learn. I made a list, because I love making lists, and decided on teaching braille.
I taught my peers how to play go-fish using cards in braille. Everyone wore pirate eye patches and bandannas so no one could see.
One of my teachers from last spring told me about the Lighthouse, which is a non-profit that helps the blind and visually impaired. They have an art show at City Hall every Fall. I went with my boyfriend to the opening reception. It was unlike any reception I'd been too, because everyone was touching the art, including the oil paintings. I want the viewer to interact with my art, but it is a social no-no to touch art, especially in a gallery.
I tried checking books out in braille at the San Francisco public library, peninsula library and Berkeley public library but I wasn't aloud because I am not blind.
At Christmas time I played braille go-fish with my cousins ages 6,10 and 11. The next day, the oldest was making flashcards of the alphabet and punctuation with the help of the youngest. The eldest memorized the alphabet that day! That night we were writing questions to each other in braille using fabric paint.
above: The foot book by Dr. Seuss.
Transcribed by Marcy Mayer.

Fabric paint comes in a small tube with a pointed tip. It dries raised, so it can be red like braille.
I looked online for books in braille at her public library and they had a bunch of kids' books. She went to the library and the reference desk didn't know they even had any. They found them on a shelf right behind them. She even checked out a book that teaches braille to the sighted.

My cousin has been loving these kid's books in braille, like books by Leo Lioni and Dr. Seuss! She checked some out for me to read! They are written in type 2 braille, which is the alphabet with contractions. So my cousin went online and printed off a list of some of the contractions for her and me. There are about 190 contractions so there is a lot to memorize.

above: Ruby bakes a cake by Susan Hill from the Children's Braille Book Club. The page on the left is paper and the right page is plastic with braille printed on both sides. Under that plastic page is a paper page with more words and illustrations.

I came across a font in braille, so of course I had to tell my cousin. We're planning to transcribe a book into braille, including thermoformed pictures. We are planning on transcribing Shel Silverstein's, "A light in the Attic." We're going to look into how to do our own thermoform, which is similar to embossing.
We would love to visit a transcriber and see how they work. I am guessing that a printer does the thermoform, but I am not sure. I could see this as a possible job while getting my sculpting career going. In her city there are a couple of transcribers, same with my city. I'll let you know what comes of it.
What is most amazing about the kid's books is that the pictures are raised, so you can feel them. They are beautiful works of art. They simplify the original illustration for clarity. Also it has objects that are closer to you, like a body in profile has a higher raised arm then the face. This is called form on form. It also emphasizes texture, since there are no colors.
Some of the books are a little different, like Leo Lionni's A color of his own. Some of the braille books come with the same book in print, so a parent could help their kid with reading. At the top of every page is the title of the book. In this Lionni book there is a row of dots to delineate between the title and the story.



















































above: A color of his own by Leo Lionni. Transcribed by Dorthy Johnson. Tactile illustrations by Marcy Meyer. The page with cirlces isn't in the print book. It is a texture key for the story. The top left color is black and it is the roughest texture. On a page not shown the white texture key is totally smooth. In the second row, second one down, it's the key for gray. Later in the book you will meet an elephant, and he has this gray texture.