2023 InSights Art

On this episode of Change Makers, learn more about the upcoming InSights Art competition. Held during APH’s Annual Meeting, hear more about the contest and from an artist who will have a piece on display.

On this Podcast (In Order of Appearance)

• Narrator
• Sara Brown, APH Public Relations Manger
• Meg Outland, APH Visitor Services, InSights Art Coordinator 
• Sugandha Gupta, InSights Artist

Additional Links

• InSights Art at Annual Meeting
• Tactile Book Builder Kit
• Paint by Number Safari ™ – Tropical Rainforest
• Braille Beads
• Picture Maker Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit
• TactileDoodle

Transcript

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Narrator 0:00

<silence> Welcome to Change Makers , a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.

Sara Brown 0:15

Hello and welcome to Change Makers. I'm APH's Public Relations Manager, Sara Brown . And on today's episode, we're learning more about the upcoming InSights art competition that will be held during a's annual meeting. We'll learn all about the InSights art and hear from an artist who will have a piece on display up first. We have a's Visitor services and InSights Art Coordinator, Meg Outland. She's here to tell us more about the competition and what we can expect during this year's event. Hello Meg and welcome to Changemakers.

Meg Outland 0:50

Hi there.

Sara Brown 0:52

Just off the top, do you mind to share what it is that you do at APH?

Meg Outland 0:57

Typically, when we're not closed down for renovations, for The Dot Experience, I run our tour program where folks all across the country come and visit and take a tour of the , um, museum and the factory and see how braille textbooks are being made. We also have , um, our Talking Book Dtudio where we record books from a National Library Service, so you get a little bit of a factory experience and a cool history experience too. And when I'm not doing that, I also run the InSights Art Competition and Program and that is an international art program for blind and low vision artists.

Sara Brown 1:35

Can you talk to us about InSights, Art and what it is for those who just might not be aware?

Meg Outland 1:41

Yeah. So the program was established in 1992 to kind of promote and uphold visual arts for those blind and low vision students in adults. Um, visual arts often kind of succumbed to the chopping block when um, it's considered an education kind of throughout the country. So when you consider that, and then add those individuals who may be blind and low vision, this number dwindles even further , which not a lot of access to arts education . So our program , um, InSights Art was a established to kind of put a stop to that and to encourage artists to still create.

Sara Brown 2:22

And I'm sure as the InSights Art Coordinator, you've seen so many phenomenal pieces. Can you talk about some of the work that you've seen that have been submitted in the past?

Meg Outland 2:32

We get a lot of really exciting things each year. So typically we get anywhere between 300 to 500 entries, and these can include craft artworks. Um, an example of that would be like a crochet or felt, I have an individual that makes beautiful jewelry each year. We also receive ceramic sculptures , um, 2-D artworks. And a lot of these are really neat visual works , um, that can be textured as well. So those are a couple of examples.

Sara Brown 3:05

And for anybody out there listening wondering how to get their child who might be blind or low vision into the world of art, can you talk about what products are available for children who are blind or low vision?

Meg Outland 3:17

One that comes to mind that I've actually received in a few entries is our Tactile Book Builder Kit, which is really neat. It's like a big book that is full of different tactile , uh, texture shapes , um , raised line drawings and a lot of multi-sensory elements for children to use and explore with their hands. I had actually received one a couple years ago where they had used , um, our book builder kit and they created , um, the Los Angeles skyline with it. Um, and all of the different buildings were various different textures that they had cut out of the kit, which was really, really cool.

Sara Brown 3:56

Talk about this year's InSights Art. Can you share some of the details about the pieces you've seen this year?

Meg Outland 4:04

Yeah, definitely. We received , um, a lot of really cool pieces in person this year. A lot of folks who had never entered the competition previously, I noticed a lot of new names. So I'm pretty excited to meet some of these individuals if they come out and visit in October during our exhibit. But we received a lot of really pretty sculptures. We received one artwork from the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind. That is a large goodness. It's probably a four by four canvas that's extremely textured. It was a group of artwork done by the adult artist at that institute and it has a huge shark on the front and he has a little pair of glasses on and they decorated it with seashells and sea glass and a bunch of different sparkles and , uh, textured glitter. So it's like the shark is genuinely jumping out of the ocean and kind of coming right at you, which is really neat to feel and experience in person.

Sara Brown 5:03

Is there anything else you would like to add about InSights Art that we might not have touched on?

Meg Outland 5:07

This is our second year in person since , um, the Covid Pandemic, so I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of new artists this year. But other than that, I'm just looking forward to the exhibit.

Sara Brown 5:19

Alright , Meg, thank you so much for joining me today on Change Makers.

Meg Outland 5:21

Thank you.

Sara Brown 5:25

InSights Art will be on display at this year's Annual Meeting starting Thursday, October 5, through Saturday, October 7. Be sure to visit aph.org for more information, and I've put a link to aph.org in the Show Notes as well as the APH Tactile Book Builder Kit Meg mentioned, and a few other products that help encourage the creation and learning of art. Now I have InSights Art artist Sugandha Gupta here to talk more about how she got into art in her process of creating art. Sugandha is the assistant professor of fashion design and social justice at the Parsons School of Design. Hello Sugandha and welcome to Change Makers .

Sugandha Gupta 6:11

Thank you so much for having me.

Sara Brown 6:15

All right , Sugandha, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do in your profession?

Sugandha Gupta 6:22

Sure. Hi, I'm Sugandha Gupta and I was , uh, born and raised originally in New Delhi, India. I am an artist, designer, educator, and a disability advocate. And currently I'm working as , um, as the assistant professor of fashion design and social justice at Parson School of Design. I teach , um, courses that are pertaining to textile design, fashion design, and also promote and propagate , um, equity and inclusion within design, within education and all kinds of environments where we engage socially and culturally with, with each other as a society.

Sara Brown 7:08

Okay. And can you share a little bit about how you got into art, whether it was your childhood or was it just something you stumbled upon?

Sugandha Gupta 7:16

Yeah, I mean, I think for me, art was something that just came very naturally to me as a kid. Like I was always , um, drawing and scribbling and illustrating all my books and notebooks were full of illustrations and scribbles. So I was always very creative and I was always drawn to art. And then I was very lucky that in India, in the school that I went, St . Thomas School in New Delhi, I actually had the option of having fine art as one of my subjects as a high school student. And so that was really something that I really needed. It was a need not want. And , um, and my art teacher was really , um, a great propeller in my , uh, art and design career because she looked at my dedication and my passion for art. And, you know, I don't see that well. So for me, like to be able to draw still life, I would have to go really, really close to the objects that were displayed or that were to be sketched and and iterated in our art. And I would go with my magnifying glass and I would try to look at the objects very closely, their shape, their silhouette, their details, and then I would have to draw with my memory and sometimes I would have to draw with magnifying glass in my other hand. So it was quite a process and , um, but I was very dedicated and I was, I really enjoyed it. It was really a passion for me . So she , um, prompted me to apply to National National Institute of Design in India, which is a premier , um, design school in India. And that's how my journey as an artist and a designer started. Really.

Sara Brown 9:01

Wow. I love hearing those beginning stories. So this podcast is about InSights Art and the upcoming InSights Art competition that's gonna be held at Annual Meeting. Can you talk about the piece that you submitted into InSights Art?

Sugandha Gupta 9:14

Yes, yes, absolutely. And I'm so honored and grateful for the InSights Art award. Um, so the piece that I entered is a sculptural wearable infinity wearable piece. You can call it a scarf if you want to. There's really no box that I can put it in in terms of a label. Uh , but what it is, is I created felt, I I do a lot of felting in my work, in my process, and I created a , uh, felt strips by using and combining different kinds of fibers like , um, blue face Eser wool, which is long staple fiber. I don't want to get too technical with it, but all , but I'm just giving you context. And then there's , um, tusser silk, which is a kind of silk fiber of course, as the name suggests, but it's a sustainable silk fiber because the way that the silk is extracted is not by boiling the silkworms while they're already inside, but rather extracting silk when the silkworms have left the the cocoon. And so that's all really important for me because , uh, that's part of my process, that's part of my ethos and my values as an artist. But I, I felt it a large piece using these different fibers. And then I cut them into a strp, into strips , uh, which were as uniform as I could get them about, about an inch and a quarter. And then I played with them, drape them on a dress worm , which is very tactile. It's a very tactile process for me as well to, to make work this way. And then I also looked at it visually and tried to create shapes, cultural shapes and forms and cutouts by twisting and twirling and just manipulating those trips that I cut. And, and the piece was then sewed together by hand and by machine both. And the idea behind the piece was really just that people can engage with the piece in different ways by placing the piece on their body in different ways. So every angle that you drape the piece on your body looks different because of the way that I manipulated the strips and because of the way that I created the piece .

Sara Brown 11:31

Well then I can't wait to see that at Annual Meeting when it's on display. And that sounds really cool. And you are correct when you put something on your body, it does hang or drape a different way. I was thinking about that. That's really interesting. Talk about , um, you kind of just already hit about the process to create your art, but I'm sure you've created other pieces in the past. Can you talk about just your thought process and how you, it goes from what an idea to an actual piece?

Sugandha Gupta 11:57

Yes, absolutely. Um, so let me just start by giving an overview of my body of work as an artist, right? Because that'll give context to your audience and to everybody who's listening. So , um, so my body of work consists of textiles and wearable pieces that are created by natural fibers, natural undyed fibers, specifically speaking because I do have a strong passion towards environmental justice. And also I am talking about and reflecting my identity as a person with albinism. So I have albinism, which basically is a genetic condition where people don't have, or people's body cannot generate pigmentation in their body. And so even though I am Indian, I look like a white person, a white Caucasian person because I have blonde hair and I have white skin and I have Indian features. But, you know , uh, everything is white. So it's kind of hard to tell what I would like, you know, what my origin is. So I really wanted to have a space in my artwork where it's really sparking conversation about color and why is this all white? You know, white has so many connotations to it as a color as well. And so , um, I, I make pieces that people can engage in through all their senses so they can touch it, they can smell it. Some of my pieces even have sounds, and of course it's also visible, it's also viewable and, and , um, experienced through sight . So I want people to really be able to perceive the work in a way that's not just limited to site , because I truly believe that we experience the world through all our senses and not just through our site . And so my work is really a window into showing the world that there's so many ways of disseminating knowledge and gathering knowledge, and also just making it very available and very , um, organic for a broader audience to come and experience the work. So you might be a person who can't hear, but you can see. And so you can experience my work through your sight , um, maybe you're a person who doesn't smell, but then you can touch it, you can see it, you can even hear it. So it's just a different way of offering art to a broader audience without making them feel obliged or making them feel like they need to be assisted. It's just a very natural and organic , um, space for everybody to come and engage with the art. So that's just basically the story and the concept behind my work. And then I , uh, constantly try to challenge myself to make pieces that are tactile, that are audible in different ways. Um, I do not use high tech technology in that sense. You know, I think that crafts are also technology. But anyway, that's a whole different conversation. But , um, but you know, I think that the hand and our body is so powerful and such a powerful tool, and so I just want to emphasize that and the creativity that our body has if we really delve deep into our strengths and reflect inwards and not outwards. So I hope that that covers a lot of that question, right?

Sara Brown 15:35

Yeah, you nailed it. You really did. Um, one question I always like to ask before I wrap up an interview is, is there anything else you would like to say to aspiring artists who might be blind or low vision that are afraid to even attempt or what you would say to an , to to inspire an artist who is blind or low vision?

Sugandha Gupta 15:54

Yes, I really appreciate that question because that's really the reason that I became an educator as a person with , uh, legal blindness who was raised in India with no accommodations. I firsthand have, have , uh, dealt with the pressures of , um, just not having access, period, just not having access, just having to figure out how do I learn to weave with my sight? How do I learn to knit, how do I learn to embroider? And then also grappling with these notions that people have, these assumptions that people have that like, "oh my God, how , like, maybe you should just do music." You know, like, "why are you in textiles? You can't even thread a needle." I was told by someone. And , um, I am in textiles because I want to be in textiles. That's my passion. Not, I mean, I love music. I I used to play violin as well, but my passion is textile. My medium is fiber, and I just want to be able to access it and figure it out my way and not because of somebody else's assumption. So my, my advice to anybody who's aspiring to be an artist and designer is stick to your gut feeling and follow your heart with, with your fullest and deepest passion and commitment, because that's what I've done always. I've worked very, very hard and I still continue to work very, very hard and I push myself really hard. But also I want to let you know that it's not your sight or your absence of sight , absence of sight that makes you a better artist or makes you , uh, be able to do art or design. It's your drive and also it's your commitment to your work. And along the way, you'll have many barriers. You'll have many obstacles because the world is just not designed for our bodies, not because you have any limitation, it's because the world is just doesn't know how to be with , um, people like us. And so you are not alone and, and you will figure it out because you're creative and you're passionate. So that would be my , um, advise and , and hope that inspires people. <laugh> ,

Sara Brown 18:12

Thank you so much for joining me today on Change Makers.

Sugandha Gupta 18:16

Thank you so much for having me and thank you for this lovely , um, podcast and this lovely opportunity to share my mind. Thank you so much.

Sara Brown 18:26

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Change Makers . I've put a link to aph.org so you can learn about annual meeting and InSights art. I've also put product information for various a p h products that help with the creation of art. As always, be sure to look for ways you can be a change maker this week.