Blind students discover, create beauty in art classes
8/14/2008 by Kevin Callahan
Helen Abbott heard another art student say she couldn't do it during a project in class. Abbott didn't want to hear it.
"I told her she could do it," Abbott said about the papier-mache art project. "I told her to use her hands and imagination and God will do the rest."
Abbott, 46, is blind. The art student she helped also is blind.
They participated in art classes this summer -- once a week for five weeks -- at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Deptford. About 10 beginners and 15 experienced artists -- all of them blind -- participated in this program provided by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
"God gives us the feeling of touch," Abbott, of Woodbury, said. "You take what you are thinking and put it together."
This program was put together by Gloucester County Social Worker Lois Chapman, who is also a West Deptford Lion.
Chapman brought the program across the river to Gloucester County through funding from the Gloucester County Cultural/Heritage Commission and the Gloucester County Freeholders.
"We look forward to doing this every year if we get the funding," said Chapman, who lives in West Deptford.
This was the third summer of the art program.
"A lot of people weren't too sure in the beginning, but everyone who does it usually comes back," Chapman said.
Chapman thought of the idea when she saw an advertisement by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has a Form in Art program that combines art-making studio classes and the study of art history into a course for legally blind adults.
 Vaughn Stubbs and Eiko Fan, artists at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, taught the class at GCIT.
In addition to the art teachers, Chapman asked fellow Lions to help the blind artists. Lions Linda Gerwatoski, Ralph Bagnato, Donna Hanes, Diane and Mary Umphress and several non-Lion volunteers helped the blind artists complete the various projects.
Every artist created a papier-mache masterpiece during this course, making a dog, llama, bull and/or buffalo. Some did two projects -- mostly those who participated in the past.
Abbott made a bull and matador.
"I was dumbfounded," Hanes, who lives in Mickleton, said. "I can't fathom how they accomplish what they do. Helen made a bull and matador. How do you make a replica of a bull when you have never seen a bull? I don't know how she did it."
Abbott answered the question by saying, "The Lord's eyes gave me different visions of it. My eyes can't see but God sees for me."
At the art museum, four Form in Art classes meet once a week for two 13-week semesters each year. At the end of the year, students have the opportunity to enter their best works in a museum-held exhibition.
The blind artists are able to create their pieces with the help of visual descriptions and touch tours by specially trained guides in the museum's galleries.
Then, in studio classes, instructors introduce the students to various materials and techniques to assist with their creations.
Students are not required to have had any previous art training before entering the Form in Art program.
 At GCIT, the blind artists were mostly senior citizens. Some were legally blind but most were completely blind.
The helpers at GCIT weren't art teachers.
"We never have enough helpers," said Hanes, a former elementary English teacher. "We really needed volunteers."
The helper volunteers brought cardboard rolls from toilet paper and paper towels to help with the construction, and hair dryers to expedite the drying time for five coats of paint.
"They're absolutely beautiful," Hanes said about the papier-mache art works.
And, so were the artists.
Reach Kevin Callahan at (856) 317-7821 or kcallahan@courierpostonline.com.
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