Category: Uncategorized

More Touch Experimentation at the OAG

Posted on by Corey Timpson

This is the 2nd tactile art piece we’ve seen at the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) (see April 8 2020 for the previous piece we experienced there). Unlike the previous, this research project is based on an original artwork – Group of Seven member, Franklin Carmichael’s 1928 “In the Nickel Belt” oil painting. This work is interpretively reproduced as a rubber and wood tactile image with an adjacent iPad surfacing descriptions and sound effects. There is a substantial disconnect between navigating the iPad and the tactile image, going back and forth, which would certainly be a barrier to autonomous exploration for blind users, and the iPad was not set to access mode, meaning sight was required for on-screen orientation and navigation. Yet the interesting point for us with this work, is the dividing up of the paintings various landscape elements, the tactile patterning, and material selections and uses. We’d have more than a few notes for consideration within this experiment to render it more inclusively accessible, but we love that the OAG keeps on exploring various ways of making 2D artwork accessible to a wider audience.

Wide view of the installation has the label in English and French to our left. The iPad, mounted off the wall at an angle is located directly to the label's right, and the tactile painting is to its right.
Installation view of the labels (English, Français), iPad, and tactile artwork.
A landscape oil painting of dark colours low in saturation depicts an undulating ground which comprises the bottom half of the painting. Rising through the centre of the work is a plume of light grey smoke or clouds, meeting the top of the painting that consists of more grey clouds set against a pale grey sky.
Carmichael’s 1928 In the Nickel Belt oil painting.
A text label that reads: This project is the results of a collaboration between a researcher, Dr. Patricia Bérubé, and 6 participants from the low-vision and blind community taking on the roles of co-translators and co-curators. Using a participatory and co-design approach, the participants co-developed a multi-sensory translation of Frankly Carmichael's work, In the Nickel Belt. Visitors are invited to experience this augmented version of the painting by exploring the tactile component with their hands as well as he audio component on the iPad. Leaving your finger on a specific Zone will play a related sound, while double tapping on one part will provide a one or two-word description of what is being touched.
Installation label.
This tactile representation of a landscape painting in a plain, gold painted, wooden frame, is made of green, blue, and white rubber and pale wooden raised lines. The wooden lines provide outlines to the landscape, isolating the ground or mountains from the sky, and the clouds. Green rubber is patterned like repeating upside down Vs is used to note the ground, blue rubber in circular patterns is used for the sky, blue rubber lines are used for another part of the sky, and white rubber in a sort-of hounds tooth pattern is used for the clouds or smoke, located centrally in the image, above the ground and below and in the middle of the sky.
Tactile version of the Carmichael’s painting.

The Return

Posted on by Corey Timpson

Sina and I began this micro blog as a response to expressions of interest that we share those instances we come across, in our travels and across our projects, that present an interesting, unique, or innovative take on experience design. Given it’s us, you can be sure that whatever we chose to spotlight somehow surfaces concepts related to inclusion and access.

What we didn’t predict was a global pandemic stopping our travels the same month we decided to first publish Mosaic (#M4C). 20 months later and travel has ramped back up again. As such, we’re happy to begin picking up where we left off and sharing those notable examples of interesting and inclusive experience design that we come across . (Note: The Reading List and Glossary sections have been kept up to date this entire time).

It’s nice to be out in the world again and we’re looking forward to sharing those instances we come across that can help provoke discourse around meaningful, rich, and inclusive experience design.