Clarke Reynolds, a visually impaired artist, will be at Quay Arts, Newport on Wednesday 16th March as part of an Arts Council England project to bring art to life for sighted and non-sighted visitors.
Clarke (pictured right) is touring major galleries on the south coast with a sighted artist friend, Steve Baker (pictured left), recording art podcasts and hosting discussions with visitors about the exhibition.
Visiting the Paradoxes exhibition
They bring their tour to the Isle of Wight visiting the Paradoxes exhibition by artist-led group Contemporary British Painting (CBP).
This exhibition of 52 painters includes 48 artists from the CBP membership who are based throughout the British Isles, and four guest artists from the Isle of Wight.
Clarke has been visually impaired since birth, but despite that he graduated with an art degree and spent several years working as a model-maker. Last year he and Steve met when they visited My Dog Sighs’ INSIDE immersive installation in their home town of Portsmouth.
Audio describing the exhibition
A local organisation had arranged for Steve to audio describe the exhibition and they realised there was a new way to approach accessibility to art for the visually impaired.
Clarke said,
“Current audio provision for visually impaired artists gives a very short description of the work and removes the emotion from experiencing art.
“Steve and I approach the work like two art-loving friends discussing the content, techniques and personal impact we experience from the art. At the moment it is hard for sighted and non-sighted friends to experience art together.
“We are making podcasts that can be enjoyed equally by sighted and non-sighted people so they can share opinions on the works whilst they wander around the exhibition.
“Our approach has the added bonus of allowing people who can’t visit the exhibition to experience it by downloading the podcasts.”
Looking forward to interviewing Lisa Traxler
Clarke added,
“I’m really looking forward to the breadth of this exhibition and the range of techniques used by the different artists.
“I’ve been a fan of Lisa Traxler for 18 months and so I’m delighted that I will get the opportunity to interview her as part of the Quay Arts podcasts.”
Whitmore: Constantly striving to find new ways to increase access to the gallery
Ian Whitmore, Visual Arts Manager, Quay Arts said,
“We are really excited to welcome Clarke and Steve to record their podcast at Quay Arts on 16th March.
“We are constantly striving to find new ways to increase access to the gallery and we are delighted that Clarke and Steve chose Quay Arts for this exciting series of podcasts.”
Bite-sized podcasts
The podcasts are released in bite-sized chunks with each series focussing on a gallery on the South Coast. The second series of Clarke and Steve’s podcasts ‘Art In Sight’ will exclusively focus on Quay Arts.
It will consist of around half a dozen short (10-15 minutes) episodes and be available to download from Clarke’s Website.
Episodes will be available to download from 4th April 2022.
News shared by Angela Parks, in her own words. Ed
