The Tactile Art Show has led the Art Association to complete a new project: The TOUCH St. Augustine program — a Braille Trail with TOUCH markers (around town) and the TOUCH St. Augustine Art Garden (at the Art Association building. “The TOUCH St. Augustine project was inspired by our annual Tactile Art Show for the Blind, which we’ve been doing for 13 years. Students from FSDB produce Braille labels for the exhibit’s touchable art and tour the show for their mobility training,” Brady said. “We wanted to expand this concept beyond the gallery walls. After seeing a Braille flag created by the Kansas Braille Transcription Institute, we came up with the idea of developing similar Braille markers for St. Augustine’s historic statuary.” According to Brady, a grant from the Community Foundation JoAnn Crisp-Ellert fund allowed the creation of the TOUCH St. Augustine initiative. TOUCH is an acronym for Tactile Orientation for Understanding Creativity and History. Five statues were chosen for the initial phase: Ponce de Leon; Pedro Menendez; the St. Augustine Foot Soldiers; Father Pedro Camps; and Henry Flagler. “It took two years to design the bronze plaques with Braille and raised tactile graphics as well as the concrete bases. This was a collaborative effort, with our graphic designer Liesl Swogger, retired architect Clyde Brady, sculptor Enzo Torcoletti, and Nancy Berger, the Braille specialist from FSDB on the lead team, Brady said. “We will supplement the Braille Trail with audio guides and the expansion of our web site — touchstaugustine.com. The Art Association’s new Art Garden will include sculptures, Braille markers and other elements that engage the senses. “It will become a starting point for the citywide Braille Trail. And we plan to add more markers around the area in the future,” Brady explained. On July 2, one of the FSDB students was asked to read the Braille marker for the St. Augustine Foot Soldiers monument during the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act commemoration. “It was a remarkable moment to see our idea come to fruition and to witness the impact this project will have on the blind community,” Brady said. A fundraising effort for the (more }) volume 8
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Issue 8
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