Art Education for the Blind.

www.artbeyondsight.org/index. shtml

This site is a wonderful resource for networking, learning, teaching, and advocacy, whether you work with students who are blind and visually impaired or not. A feature of the site is a sample from Art History through Touch and Sound Online, a multimedia series developed by AEB. A variety of sensory interpretive strategies are explored using Salvador Dali's painting The Persistence of Memory. Click on "look" and a high-resolution image appears. It can be downloaded and printed--a useful tool for those with limited vision. "Read" offers verbal background information on Dali and surrealism; a description of the painting, including lively comparisons, an exploration of the imagery and juxtaposition of objects; and their effect on the viewer. "Listen" provides a short sound composition that helps to define surrealism and to evoke the mood of the painting (requires Windows Media Player). "Touch" offers a black-and-white image that can be printed and manipulated to create a tactile diagram, accompanied by a narrative to be read while the hands explore the diagram. "Curriculum Integration Activities" suggest writing exercises based on this painting.

The site provides a network of discussion groups. Interviews with artists who are blind or partially sighted, and an e-gallery of their artworks are featured as well as advocacy materials, activities, and resources for organizing Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month (October) at your school. You will notice that all text on the site is large and easy to read.