Feeling Felted Art October 5, 2021

This October, The APH,”In Sights” art contest is virtual for the second year in a row. On October fifteen, the winning art of blind children and indepdent artist will be displayed and discribed on the American Printing House for the blind website, http://www.aph.org after five thirty p m eastern time. The art wil be posted on the APH facebook page later the same evening. I am a blind artist that relies on my memory and sense of touch to knit and felt 3D tableaus. I work to portray a disability with a touch of humor while starting conversations about living with different challenges. My second goal is to create an art piece that can be accessed tactically.

The four photos show animals in daily situations.

The first photo is named “Chicken Run”. This art is featured in the American Printing House,”In Sights” calendar for 2021. The piece features a cream hen sitting on a clutch of brown eggs. Three of the chicks have hatched. Two of the chicks are under the wings of the hen in the nest. The third chick is on brass legs. The chick is joyfully racing away on her prosthetic legs.

The second photo is named”Blind Date” Two pink pigs are seated at a table conversing. The girl has a leader pig at her feet in harness.The boy has a white cane on the floor at his feet. They are sitting at a table with drinks and a candle for atmosphere. This art shows the blind engaging in an ativity that many take for granted. The art won first place in the craft division of the In Sights contest in 2019.

The third photo is “Knit Wit”. The darker humor looks at dementia in the older population. The tableau shows a gray sheep sitting and knitting a grey sock. She is unaware that her ball of yarn has rolled away. Instead she has started to knit using the fleece from the backside of her sleeping ram on the couch. It provokes discussions about dementia in seniors. This piece won honorable mention in 2020 and will be featured in the In Sights calendar for 2022.

The final photo is “Playing Cat and Mouse”. The piece is of a sleeping cat in a basket of knitting. The cat is a cream and dark brown with Siamese markings. There are three mice running around and in the basket. The cat is deaf and cannot hear the mice at play. This is a reminder of the disadvantage that the deaf and hard of hearing experienced this past year with social distancing and mask wearing. This limited their ability to lip read and see facial expressions. This piece won third place in the 2021 craft division in the American Printing House, “In Sights” art contest.

All the art is touchable by the blind and others.

photos

I am now working to produce replicas of working guide dogs. Guide dog Willow an all black british lab, poses in front of little Willow seated on the red chair.

carolfarn@aol.com

copyright 10-5-2021