TEEN WORKSHOP - all participants must currently be in high school. Produced in collaboration with Touch & Create Studio

About this Event

About the series:

This event is part of an interactive, virtual workshop series serving as an engaging creative outlet for teens who are blind and visually impaired or interested in accessible tactile art. Each session will focus on utilizing a variety of media to create artwork that explores spatial relationships, texture and form. Each workshop will be hosted by a professional artist who is blind or experiences visual impairment, and each will share about their story and artistic practice. All workshops will take place over Zoom. Participants must currently be in high school.

About the workshop:

In this multi-sensory workshop, participants will use their senses to create and think about art in a variety of ways. We will be discussing things such as color with taste, imagery with smell, and eventually painting without sight. Through this workshop, participants will be encouraged to explore the process of art-making instead of focussing on the finished product.

Suggested materials:

• red, blue and yellow acrylic or tempura paint
• paint brush
• pencil
• small canvas or cardstock to paint on
• foam sheet (like this)
• dimensional fabric paint or puff paint (like this)
• sand
• poly pellets (like this)
• jelly beans
• paper plate or surface to put paint on

About the artist:

After losing my sight in 2001, I decided to pick up a paintbrush. I never expected anyone to see any of my paintings; I just knew I needed to reconnect with the visual world I had lost. Since then my work has been featured in the New York Times, Discovery Channel, most major news outlets and has been sold in over 120 countries. I have worked with celebrities such as Tony Hawk, Jeff Bridges, Lyle Lovett, and many more. I have received three presidential service awards for my innovative multi-sensory art workshops. I painted a Boeing 737 for Delta to promote the Rock-in-Rio concert, the largest concert in the world. I am ranked as the #1 blind painter in the world, and the only blind muralist having completed projects in New York, Dallas, and Fort Worth. I was recently named a cultural ambassador for the US. Corporations and nonprofits have me out frequently to share my story with audiences.

About Touch & Create Studio:

Touch and Create Studio (TCS) was founded by artist Rishika Kartik with the mission to provide opportunities and outlets to the Blind and Visually Impaired Community to experience and create accessible art and develop Tactile Arts curriculum to be incorporated into regular schooling as an integral part of holistic education for the Blind and Visually Impaired.