| Sense & Sensuality @ Richard Attenborough Centre, December 2006 - January 2007 |
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Leicester is only venue outside London for art show with an extra dimension Sense & Sensuality 2006 Monday 4 December 2006 - Friday 26 January 2007 The Richard Attenborough Centre, University of Leicester, Lancaster Road, Leicester LE1 7HA Free admission. Opening times: 10am-4.30pm Monday-Thursday and 10am-3pm on Fridays. For Saturday opening times please phone Leicester (0116) 252 2455 in advance. The Centre closes over the festive season on Saturday 23 December, reopening on Wednesday 3 January The Richard Attenborough Centre at the University of Leicester is to be the only venue outside London where people can experience an art exhibition with an extra dimension. During December 2006 and January 2007, the Centre will host Sense and Sensuality 2006, which attracted record audiences to the capital’s Bankside Gallery where it was launched earlier in the autumn. The exhibition features a selection of winning entries from a national competition with a difference. Applicants - some of whom are visually impaired, others fully sighted - were asked to create art that was specifically suited to a visually impaired audience. Visitors to the Leicester exhibition, as in London, will be encouraged to experience all the art on display through touch, giving both sighted and visually impaired people a rare opportunity to experience art in a new way. There will also be a number of free events for children and families with touch and make sessions on mornings and afternoons on Saturdays 9 and 16 December, and 13 and 20 January; an afternoon of festive family fun on Thursday 21 December, 1pm – 4pm, for families with young children who are visually impaired. There will also be a tactile sculpture trail discovering some of the outdoor sculptures on the University of Leicester campus on Saturday 13 January, 1pm – 3pm. Sense and Sensuality is an annual project, started in 2005 by BlindArt (http://www.blindart.net), a charitable organisation based in the UK whose aim is to encourage participation and interaction of the visually impaired in the sighted domain of the visual arts. The London showing of the exhibition was extremely well received, with BBC Radio 4’s “In Touch” programme describing it as “extremely impressive” and The Guardian as an “exhibition that challenges the public to tell the difference”. BlindArt gives sighted and visually impaired artists an opportunity to showcase their work through competitions, exhibitions, fairs, shows and private commissions. Driving the initiative is the challenge to produce multi-sensory work which adds a fresh perspective to art, producing work in which vision plays an equal role to the other four senses. Helen Forster, Visual Arts Manager at the Richard Attenborough Centre, said: “The fact that people can touch everything is a real wow factor. It was wonderful at Bankside to watch visitors’ faces as they explored the works on display. Touching artwork in a gallery is often a big taboo, so for visitors to have the opportunity to touch every piece of art work from a ceramic sculpture to an oil painting, really is wonderful. Particularly for those with visual impairments whose experience of the artwork is considerably enhanced and enables them to discuss what they felt it was about. It really encourages debate as to whether you have to have vision to experience and participate in the arts.” The artworks are by a mix of established and up-and-coming artists and everything on display will be for sale. While the majority of the work will be wall-hung, there will also be sculptural pieces and one walk-through piece made entirely of plastic bottles, which seeks to mimic the sensation of severely low vision. Information on the exhibition and all of the artworks in the show will be available in Braille and large print. Visitors will also be able to hire an audio guide. Helen added: “This will be a great outing for children, as well as for adult art lovers. We are also planning workshops, including a sculpture trail around the University campus and a festive afternoon for families with young children. While open to all, they will be particularly tailored to suit the needs of people with visual impairments. Details will be released about these events nearer the time.” Sense and Sensuality opens at the Richard Attenborough Centre on Lancaster Road in Leicester on Monday 4 December and runs until Friday 26 January. Opening times are 10am-4.30pm Monday-Thursday and 10am-3pm on Fridays. For Saturday opening times please phone Leicester (0116) 252 2455 in advance. The Centre closes over the festive season on Saturday 23 December, reopening on Wednesday 3 January. Admission to the exhibition is free. Notes to editors Interviews with artists can be arranged with Gillian Garratt, Marketing Manager, The Richard Attenborough Centre, University of Leicester, tel: 0116 252 2455, mobile 07973 188898, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Gillian can also provide further information. Purpose built to enable access to all users regardless of physical needs, The Richard Attenborough Centre is one of the unique assets of the University of Leicester. Sitting within the Institute of Lifelong Learning, the Centre offers short courses and modular certificates in a wide range of arts subjects, from art history and life drawing, to photography and jewellery making. Opened by Diana, Princess of Wales in May 1997, it is building a programme of arts events that will encompass the best of local, national and international work, including music, visual arts and performing arts. Please click here for press release. |
BlindArt Collection Donated to
Moorfields Eye Hospital
October 2012
Link to press release
BlindArt Permanent Collection @ Banbury Museum
February - March 2011
Link to press release (word doc)
Link to press release (pdf)
BlindArt Permanent Collection @ Hove Museum & Art Gallery
June - September 2010
Link to press release
BlindArt Permanent Collection @ RNC
June 2009
Link to press release
BlindArt @ ART LONDON Fair
2 - 6 October 2008
BlindArt Permanent Collection @ Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
26 July – 4 October 2008
BlindArt Forum
Exciting new Feature
Link to press release
BlindArt Permanent Collection @ MOMA, Wales
March - April 2008
BlindArt Permanent Collection @ Catmose Gallery
January - February 2007
BlindArt Permanent Collection @ Menier Gallery
May 2007
Sense & Sensuality @ Richard Attenborough Centre
December 2006 - January 2007
Sense & Sensuality Debuts in New York
October 2006
Winners of Sense & Sensuality 2006
Joint First Prize
Mauro Perucchetti
Nick Hornby
BlindArt Purchase Prize
Andrew Senior
Sense & Sensuality 2006
Bankside Gallery
14 September – 8 October 2006
Link to leaflet
BlindArt in New York
BlindArt @ Art Beyond Sight
October 2005
Education Projects
Sense2Sense Education Project
4Senses Education Project
BlindArt Needs Volunteers
to help us TOUCH ART.
Please email info@blindart.net for details.
• Sense & Sensuality 2005 catalogue
• Sense & Sensuality 2006 catalogue
• BlindArt Permanent Collection catalogue
• Postcards
• Tactile images
available.
Support BlindArt
Please email info@blindart.net for details.
