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James Castle: A Retrospective (through April 25)
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Born profoundly deaf, James Castle (1899–1977) was a prodigious artist who, without formal training, created a remarkable and vast body of work over the course of his life in rural Idaho. His drawings, cardboard constructions, paintings, and, even books of drawn text became his chief means of communicating with the world. Despite the barrenness of Castle’s surroundings and the solitary quality of his life, his works lack any sense of loneliness, pain, or worry. On the contrary, making art for Castle was clearly an act of confident pleasure and curiosity, an act in which he immersed his full awareness. This retrospective is the first comprehensive museum exhibition of his drawings, books, and paper constructions. For more about the exhibition visit: http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibition/castle

*Staff and Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired e-news subscribers should identify themselves as staff or e-news subscribers with the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired at the BAM/PFA admissions desk (2626 Bancroft Way) to obtain 2 for 1 admission through April 25.

Admission is $8 adults (18-64); $5 for seniors, disabled persons, and young adults, and non-UC Berkeley students; and free for children (12 and under), BAM/PFA members, and UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty.

Upcoming Public Programs (free with gallery admission):

Saturday, March 6, 1:30 p.m.
Sign Language–Interpreted Tour: Patricia Lessard

Expert American Sign Language interpreter Patricia Lessard, who is a specialist in interpreting visual art, will work with a student from UC Berkeley’s graduate program in art practice to present a uniquely informative gallery tour of the work of this singular American artist.

Thursday, March 18, noon
Gallery Talk: Jacqueline Crist and Ann Percy
Two of the foremost experts on the art and life of James Castle join forces to offer their insights on selected works in the exhibition, and the stories behind them.

*Sign language interpretation will be provided by Patricia Lessard.

Sunday, April 18, 3 p.m.

Gallery Talk: Constructing Castle with Brenda Brueggemann and Katherine Sherwood
Bringing together two educator-practitioners who have long focused on James Castle, this program will highlight visual and linguistic elements in his work that contribute to a deeper understanding of his artistic output as a whole.

*Sign language interpretation will be provided by Patricia Lessard.

For general information about BAM/PFA including access and house visit: http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/visit

Click here to view the full list of portable video magnifiers available at Adaptations.

If you are able to join us at the LightHouse for Friday’s Tech Seminar, be sure to check out Adaptations’ Clearance Table. The store is continually adding discontinued items to the table such as talking watches, magnifiers, sunglasses and more. Adaptations is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Beginning April 1st, the store will no longer be open on the third Saturday of each month).

Photo of Adaptations Store Manager Sam Rodriguez using the Ruby video magnifier

LightHouse Braille instructor Divina Fontanilla teaches Raymond Marcus to use a slate and stylus

When 48-year-old Raymond Marcus first came to the LightHouse, he had no interest in trying to learn Braille, even though he had once carefully studied the letters on a free Braille alphabet card someone had given him years ago.

Marcus has had problems with his vision all his life due to Retinitis Pigmentosa, which has left him with limited vision. He attended a vision loss rehabilitation class twelve years ago, but he says, “I was just going through the motions. I wasn’t really benefiting from it. At the time I had a lot of resentment towards my vision.”

But in October, 2008 he learned about the LightHouse and began attending our peer-led support group. “It really helped to hear other people’s stories.” This experience encouraged him to take advantage of other LightHouse services. He completed Orientation and Mobility Training and the Living With Vision Loss series. Then, social worker Linda Porelle gently suggested the possibility of learning Braille.

“It was too intimidating,” said Marcus, “I didn’t think I could do it.”

Marcus took the initial test anyway, and found to his surprise that he was better at it than he thought he would be.

He began weekly Braille classes with LightHouse Braille instructor Divina Fontanilla this January. Using a Perkins Brailler borrowed from the LightHouse, he started with simple tasks such as making labels and taking down phone numbers and addresses and moved on to basic reading.

He loves the result of his efforts. “I am amazed that I can read without worrying about having enough light. I can take my Braille with me on the bus, on Paratransit, anywhere,” said Marcus. “With Braille playing cards, I can even sit and play cards with my aunt and cousin.” He is also using a Braille calendar, and writing by hand with a slate and stylus.

Now, just five classes letter, Marcus is pages away from completing the course in Grade One Braille. About to move on to learning the more challenging Grade Two Braille he says, “I’m kind of intimidated to memorize more letters and all the combinations of syllables. But all I can do is try and see what happens.

“My experience at the LightHouse has been a series of new beginnings. One class would end and something new would begin. I never know what the next thing will be, and it’s still continuing today.”

Image_Charlie and Tony Fletcher at Friends of Charlie

The LightHouse will host the annual Friends of Charlie benefit for Enchanted Hills Camp (EHC) on Saturday February 27, 2010 at the Twin Peaks Tavern in San Francisco, from 12 – 3 p.m. (map)

This summer EHC will be marking its 60th anniversary. We hope we can count on you to send Charlie and his good friends to EHC in 2010 and help us celebrate this important milestone in EHC’s history.

Friends of Charlie started in 2004, when a few people raised money to send their friend Charlie Wilson, who was losing his vision, to Enchanted Hills Camp for the first time. Of that first camp session, Charlie said, “I told some people when I came back that it was one of the best weeks I spent in my life and I will never forget it.”

As the seniors that make up Charlie’s group of friends grew, so too did the support for this fun and inspiring event. Over the last five years, Friends of Charlie has become one of the premiere fundraisers for EHC, raising $9,000 last year!

Please consider supporting Friends of Charlie by donating raffle or silent auction items, providing a donation in support of the event or joining us on the 27th.

For more information about Friends of Charlie, please contact Jennifer Yeagley at the LightHouse at (415) 694-7333 or email jyeagley@lighthouse-sf.org.

February 15, 2010, PALO ALTO, CA (KGO) — We’re used to seeing architecture — enjoying the shape and size and sweep of buildings and bridges and other structures. A Bay Area architect is forced to come at things from another direction because he’s blind. Rather than limit what he does, he thinks the loss of sight has opened new horizons.

Surgery to remove a tumor near Chris Downey’s optic nerve two years ago saved his life, but could not save his sight.

“To wake up one day and it’s dark and you can’t see anymore, a lot of things go through your mind. Quickly, architecture came to mind and how are you going to do that?” said Downey.

Turns out Downey tackled architecture with the same stubborn persistence he applies to everything in his life. He couldn’t draw anymore, but he could still picture things in his mind’s eye.

“There’s a lot in architecture that’s verbal, that’s conceptual, that you think about mentally and you solve problems and all sorts of things you do in non-visual ways,” said Downey.

He can read blueprints, thanks to a program that converts them to raised dots – something like Braille -and then prints them out on a special printer. He can study shapes by molding them with a kid’s toy called wiki-sticks — basically yarn covered with wax.

“You can just bend them, they hold their shape, you can bend them around and make right angles,” said Downey.

Downey is currently part of a team working on a big expansion project at the VA Medical Center in Palo Alto. It includes new administrative buildings, a mental health center and polytrauma and blind rehabilitation center. Team leaders say Chris’s perspective has especially helped improve plans for the latter building.

“When we look at them with our eyes we see the whole thing at once and we get a sense of how the whole building works. When Chris works through these spaces with his finger, he’s working through them as if he’s walking through them. So we get an experiential sense of the plans,” said architect Eric Meub.

“In architecture there’s a misconception that there’s one person off in the back room who comes up with all these ideas and does everything. The reality of it is that its team work,” said Downey.

Image: 2007 Braille Challenge participant examines closely his trophy

Click here to view more photos from the 2007 Northern California Regional Braille Challenge at the LightHouse.

Northern California Entertainment and Recreation Listing 2.12

If you do not receive this listing in your inbox every Friday, join the distribution list by emailing bberenson@lighthouse-sf.org.

This listing is compiled by the Vision Loss Resource Center at the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It is compiled weekly as a service to the blind and visually impaired community of Northern California. If you have a meeting or event information that would be appropriate for inclusion in this list, please email info@lighthouse-sf.org. This list will be updated every Friday. Information for each Friday’s listing must be submitted by the Wednesday prior to publication.

And, check out this exciting news from MLB.com.

FANS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS GAIN ENHANCED ACCESS TO MLB.COM

NEW YORK, February 11, 2010 – Baseball fans with visual impairments will benefit from the implementation of functional improvements to MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and all 30 individual Club sites as a result of a joint collaboration between MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the American Council of the Blind, Bay State Council of the Blind and California Council of the Blind. All three organizations applaud this fan initiative taken by MLBAM.

“MLBAM has undertaken groundbreaking work to make its web sites accessible and has assumed a strong leadership position among sports, media and entertainment properties in doing so,” said Mitch Pomerantz, President of the American Council of the Blind. “We certainly urge similar sites to make this level of commitment in following MLBAM’s lead.”

Read more here.