Art Beyond Vision

Following a very successful pilot in early 2023, and thanks to further funding from Wakefield Council's Culture Grants, we are thrilled to announce that our Art Beyond Vision programme will be starting again in September 2023! As before, the courses will be run by local artist Ruth Fones, assisted by Ania and Tom, our two creative advisors and facilitators who have lived experience of sight loss themselves.

These courses are open to everyone with sight loss, irrespective of whether you have previously been creative, or have never done anything like this before. You will be given the skills and materials to create work to a high standard that is original to you. Participants in the pilot project are welcome to attend again to further develop their skills.

The courses focus on techniques that anyone can engage with, no matter what level of usable vision (if any) you have. Techniques include (but are not limited to) tactile drawing, origami, collage, embossing, basic stitch techniques. We do not use techniques such as watercolours as these are not accessible for people with no vision.

We are also planning to run a series of fully accessible ceramics workshops in partnership with our friends at The Art House. These sessions will be starting in November.

Feedback from previous Art Beyond Vision participants:

“As I have been recently registered visually impaired, it gave me insight into my disability and what was possible.”

“Gives me a better understanding of how artists do things.”

“Been fun and learnt a lot. Enjoyed meeting new people.”

“After lockdown, social interaction is even more important. This is vital to counteract feelings of isolation.”