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NEA funds Deaf artists: Exhibit runs through April 17
During a month-long exhibition in April 2-17, the Dishman Art Museum is showing more than 40 works of art by eight Deaf artists from around the country as part of the Deaf Artists in the Community and Schools project, which delves deeply into the culture, the inspiration and the drive behind the artists desire to create.
The artists convened at the Dishman for a panel discussion led by Brenda Schertz, a professor of Deaf Studies at the University of Southern Maine who has curated five national Deaf artists exhibits. Joining her was Deborah Sonnenstrahl Meranski, nationally known teacher, historian, author and presenter, and the artists who focused on how they evolved as artists during the past decade and how their being Deaf inspires their work.
“Artists typically work in isolation. This exhibit provides a forum for Deaf artists to discuss their work with each other as well as discuss Deaf art with an audience from the university and local community, including the Deaf community,” said Jean Andrews, professor of Deaf studies and Deaf education. “It will also involve K-16 students—both Deaf and hearing—viewing the work.”
Five years ago, Andrews and Lynne Lokensgard, professor of art history, began the early stages of planning for an exhibit that had yet to be fully formed in their minds. Knowing they would need funding for such an exhibit, they began applying for National Endowment of the Arts grants in 2005 and were turned down twice. Revising and re-revising the grant proposal, their efforts were rewarded when the NEA grant was announced in 2007.
“We were very thrilled to be recipients of this grant. It will benefit the Deaf artists themselves as well as our Beaumont, Houston and Austin communities,” said Andrews.
The panel discussion is one of three components of the Deaf Artists in the Community and Schools project. Added to the exchange is “the obvious combination of three languages,” Lokensgard said. “English, American Sign Language and art—what a great combination.”
The second component of the project allows artists to make presentations about their work, giving the audience a unique opportunity to learn the artist’s perspective about being a Deaf individual using visual art to communicate.
The third component— DVD production—will add long-term educational benefit to the program. “We’re going to videotape the panel discussion and our artists are also going to talk about their work in interviews with us,” Andrews said. The resulting documentary DVD of the exhibits and dialogues produced by graduate students in art and in deaf education will be distributed to the 60 schools for the deaf nationwide free of charge and to an additional 1,000 mainstream programs in Texas for their art education curriculum. The multimedia product will document the events through ASL movies, animation, graphics, captioning in English, digital photographs, graphics and English text. An American Sign Language and English DVD with audio and captioning of Schertz providing an introduction to the Deaf artists and their work will be included.
A website for teachers and students will be created for the sharing of artwork, and a teacher’s guide will be available to assist teachers in replicating the project.
“Today more than 80 percent of deaf children are educated in public school where they may not get the opportunity to learn about their Deaf culture until they are older and go into the adult Deaf community. Our DVD will introduce them to new ideas of Deaf identity, Deaf pride and the celebration of their identity as bilingual learners of sign language and of English through the Deaf artists’ exhibition,” said Andrews, who is a researcher in reading for deaf children.
The projected date for completion of the technological portion of the project is August 2008. After writing a Lamar Research Enhancement Grant, Lokensgard received more funding for the DVD portion of the project. Russ Schultz, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, provided matching funds for the NEA grant.
“Lamar University is contributing a significant amount of matching,” Andrews said. The Department of Art and the Department of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education at Lamar University is also contributing funding for the exhibition, which traveled to Austin’s Texas School for the Deaf for display April 21 to May 9. Austin has a large deaf community and more than 500 deaf students in area schools.
Lamar has picked up another partner along the way. VSArts, an internationally known nonprofit organization dedicated to providing art experiences for disabled persons, will support three workshops by deaf artists. The deaf artists will work with deaf children and youth at the Texas School for the Deaf during the same time the exhibition is in Austin.
“There are many people in the community who are deaf,” Lokensgard said. “This project will focus on them and will help them feel integrated in the community.”
The Deaf Artists in the Community and Schools Project will reach more than 1,600 students and deaf and hearing citizens in Southeast Texas and metropolitan Houston, according to Lokensgard and Andrews. “Our DVD documentary will have the potential of impacting 4,000 deaf students in Texas and an additional 80,000 in the nation,” they said. “All programs will be accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences through use of sign language interpreters.”
Following the exhibition, Andrews and Lokensgard hope to do some professional writing on the Deaf art exhibit and its value to Deaf children.
Andrews has been a teacher of reading for deaf students and has prepared deaf teachers and educational researchers in deaf education since 1983. She is director of graduate programs in deaf education at Lamar University and has co-authored two books on psychology and Deaf people, published more than 35 articles in peer-reviewed journals and made more than 40 presentations at conferences related to language and literacy and deaf education teacher-training issues. Having authored five children’s books, she has also published 10 CD-ROMS that present reading materials to deaf students in multimedia formats in ASL, Spanish and English. She has co-authored and managed more than $11 million in Department of Education grants to support deaf teachers and doctoral-level leaders and has secured funding to create multimedia technology literacy materials for deaf students.
Lokensgard has taught numerous courses on art of all types and was instrumental in adding a museum studies specialization to the graduate curriculum at the university. She has served on art juries and curated more than 20 shows and exhibitions. As writer specializing in the arts, she has written an introductory chapter to a philosophy textbook and numerous other art-related projects such as biographical entries for artists, catalogue descriptions, art reviews for magazines, journals and exhibition brochures.
Having directed panel discussions on art, she also has served on state and local art boards in Southeast Texas. She has written and managed grants from the Southeast Texas Arts Council, the private sector and from Lamar University.
After five years of planning, the dream of the exhibit became reality. Selected artists are Ann Silver of Seattle, Wash.; Randy Garber, Newton Center, Mass.; Susan Dupor, Lake Geneva, Wis.; Chuck Baird, Bee Cave; Tony McGregor, Austin; Uzi Buzgalo, Superior, Colo.; Paul Johnston, Laurel, Md., and Alex Wilhite of Houston.
“The hearing community will see that there are very talented individuals who create art that is of high quality,” Lokensgard said. “It will not be obvious that the artists who create these works are deaf, and that knowledge will encourage people to appreciate the talents of deaf individuals.”
“Undergraduate and graduate students in ASL studies, Deaf Education, Art as well as other majors will benefit from this art exhibit. It will present how the Deaf culture is expressed through the visual arts,” said Andrews.
“Deaf artists too will benefit from the opportunity to come together face to face to discuss their ideas and visions. We think it’s a wonderful opportunity to expand our deaf studies program here at Lamar to the benefit of our students,” Andrews said.
During a month-long exhibition in April 2-17, the Dishman Art Museum is showing more than 40 works of art by eight Deaf artists from around the country as part of the Deaf Artists in the Community and Schools project, which delves deeply into the culture, the inspiration and the drive behind the artists desire to create.
The artists convened at the Dishman for a panel discussion led by Brenda Schertz, a professor of Deaf Studies at the University of Southern Maine who has curated five national Deaf artists exhibits. Joining her was Deborah Sonnenstrahl Meranski, nationally known teacher, historian, author and presenter, and the artists who focused on how they evolved as artists during the past decade and how their being Deaf inspires their work.
“Artists typically work in isolation. This exhibit provides a forum for Deaf artists to discuss their work with each other as well as discuss Deaf art with an audience from the university and local community, including the Deaf community,” said Jean Andrews, professor of Deaf studies and Deaf education. “It will also involve K-16 students—both Deaf and hearing—viewing the work.”
Five years ago, Andrews and Lynne Lokensgard, professor of art history, began the early stages of planning for an exhibit that had yet to be fully formed in their minds. Knowing they would need funding for such an exhibit, they began applying for National Endowment of the Arts grants in 2005 and were turned down twice. Revising and re-revising the grant proposal, their efforts were rewarded when the NEA grant was announced in 2007.
“We were very thrilled to be recipients of this grant. It will benefit the Deaf artists themselves as well as our Beaumont, Houston and Austin communities,” said Andrews.
The panel discussion is one of three components of the Deaf Artists in the Community and Schools project. Added to the exchange is “the obvious combination of three languages,” Lokensgard said. “English, American Sign Language and art—what a great combination.”
The second component of the project allows artists to make presentations about their work, giving the audience a unique opportunity to learn the artist’s perspective about being a Deaf individual using visual art to communicate.
The third component— DVD production—will add long-term educational benefit to the program. “We’re going to videotape the panel discussion and our artists are also going to talk about their work in interviews with us,” Andrews said. The resulting documentary DVD of the exhibits and dialogues produced by graduate students in art and in deaf education will be distributed to the 60 schools for the deaf nationwide free of charge and to an additional 1,000 mainstream programs in Texas for their art education curriculum. The multimedia product will document the events through ASL movies, animation, graphics, captioning in English, digital photographs, graphics and English text. An American Sign Language and English DVD with audio and captioning of Schertz providing an introduction to the Deaf artists and their work will be included.
A website for teachers and students will be created for the sharing of artwork, and a teacher’s guide will be available to assist teachers in replicating the project.
“Today more than 80 percent of deaf children are educated in public school where they may not get the opportunity to learn about their Deaf culture until they are older and go into the adult Deaf community. Our DVD will introduce them to new ideas of Deaf identity, Deaf pride and the celebration of their identity as bilingual learners of sign language and of English through the Deaf artists’ exhibition,” said Andrews, who is a researcher in reading for deaf children.
The projected date for completion of the technological portion of the project is August 2008. After writing a Lamar Research Enhancement Grant, Lokensgard received more funding for the DVD portion of the project. Russ Schultz, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, provided matching funds for the NEA grant.
“Lamar University is contributing a significant amount of matching,” Andrews said. The Department of Art and the Department of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education at Lamar University is also contributing funding for the exhibition, which traveled to Austin’s Texas School for the Deaf for display April 21 to May 9. Austin has a large deaf community and more than 500 deaf students in area schools.
Lamar has picked up another partner along the way. VSArts, an internationally known nonprofit organization dedicated to providing art experiences for disabled persons, will support three workshops by deaf artists. The deaf artists will work with deaf children and youth at the Texas School for the Deaf during the same time the exhibition is in Austin.
“There are many people in the community who are deaf,” Lokensgard said. “This project will focus on them and will help them feel integrated in the community.”
The Deaf Artists in the Community and Schools Project will reach more than 1,600 students and deaf and hearing citizens in Southeast Texas and metropolitan Houston, according to Lokensgard and Andrews. “Our DVD documentary will have the potential of impacting 4,000 deaf students in Texas and an additional 80,000 in the nation,” they said. “All programs will be accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences through use of sign language interpreters.”
Following the exhibition, Andrews and Lokensgard hope to do some professional writing on the Deaf art exhibit and its value to Deaf children.
Andrews has been a teacher of reading for deaf students and has prepared deaf teachers and educational researchers in deaf education since 1983. She is director of graduate programs in deaf education at Lamar University and has co-authored two books on psychology and Deaf people, published more than 35 articles in peer-reviewed journals and made more than 40 presentations at conferences related to language and literacy and deaf education teacher-training issues. Having authored five children’s books, she has also published 10 CD-ROMS that present reading materials to deaf students in multimedia formats in ASL, Spanish and English. She has co-authored and managed more than $11 million in Department of Education grants to support deaf teachers and doctoral-level leaders and has secured funding to create multimedia technology literacy materials for deaf students.
Lokensgard has taught numerous courses on art of all types and was instrumental in adding a museum studies specialization to the graduate curriculum at the university. She has served on art juries and curated more than 20 shows and exhibitions. As writer specializing in the arts, she has written an introductory chapter to a philosophy textbook and numerous other art-related projects such as biographical entries for artists, catalogue descriptions, art reviews for magazines, journals and exhibition brochures.
Having directed panel discussions on art, she also has served on state and local art boards in Southeast Texas. She has written and managed grants from the Southeast Texas Arts Council, the private sector and from Lamar University.
After five years of planning, the dream of the exhibit became reality. Selected artists are Ann Silver of Seattle, Wash.; Randy Garber, Newton Center, Mass.; Susan Dupor, Lake Geneva, Wis.; Chuck Baird, Bee Cave; Tony McGregor, Austin; Uzi Buzgalo, Superior, Colo.; Paul Johnston, Laurel, Md., and Alex Wilhite of Houston.
“The hearing community will see that there are very talented individuals who create art that is of high quality,” Lokensgard said. “It will not be obvious that the artists who create these works are deaf, and that knowledge will encourage people to appreciate the talents of deaf individuals.”
“Undergraduate and graduate students in ASL studies, Deaf Education, Art as well as other majors will benefit from this art exhibit. It will present how the Deaf culture is expressed through the visual arts,” said Andrews.
“Deaf artists too will benefit from the opportunity to come together face to face to discuss their ideas and visions. We think it’s a wonderful opportunity to expand our deaf studies program here at Lamar to the benefit of our students,” Andrews said.