Had a great time in the #TactileArt room here at #NFB23 yesterday. Doing the same thing again today, teaching #TactileDrawing and holding an #SVG coding class at 6pm in Room 344 in the Hilton Americas. Come learn a fun way to illustrate in a non-visual way! #Blind #BlindArt #a11y

If you are attending #NFB23 in Houston and would love to learn #SVG coding as a non-visual way to build #TactileGraphics and #TactileArt, come swing by the tactile art and picture book Room (Hilto Americas Room 344), on July 1st and 2nd from 6pm-7pm CT! I'll be teaching a crash course for us #Blind creatives and anyone else interested. Will be going over tips and tricks that I also have up on BlindSVG.com and go over bestpractices. Bring a laptop and let's create together!

I just launched a new site devoted to teaching how to create #TactileArt and #TactileGraphics using #SVG code. The focus is on #accessibility and opening up creativity to #blind and #low-vision folks who want to participate in building graphics, iterate on ideas, and use SVG for projects ready for embosser, swell-form, 3D print, and CriCut output. Come check it out! https://blindSVG.com

It's been a while since I've written something for my blog, and just posted about my journey into #TactileGraphics and #TactileArt after having gone #Blind almost a decade ago. I never thought I'd draw again, and here I am helping to teach other blind and low-vision folks how to create drawings both physically and digitally! https://marconius.com/blog/index.php/2023/04/16/on-drawing/

From snowdrops to bas relief.

I like to feel the shapes of leaves and flowers, to stroke grass heads, to feel the texture of bark. Bring sight-impaired, these tactile actions are part of my enjoyment of time in nature.

I am incorporating tactile elements in the local nature-inspired artworks I am creating. This includes bas reliefs of plants.

#SightImpaired #SightImpairedArtist #DisabilityArt #DisabilityArts #NatureArt #BasRelief #Snowdrops #TactileArt #MastoArt

If you are in or around #NYC on March 23-25th and want to learn #TactileDrawing and #TactileArt, sign up and come join our TeachIn at the #NYPL Andrew Heiskell Talking Book Library! I'll be helping @ChanceyFleet and #AnnCunningham teach #blind drawing and art concepts, #SVG coding, and how to create #TactileGraphics and tap into your creative and spatial skills. This is really exciting! #a11y #FeelAroundAndFindOut https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdB-q2xMqfVzx5Ltu-9KxkbqaGaWW3WuTwcdJ6oGxldupAAJg/viewform

With our upcoming #TactileArt trip to #Toronto, this Californian still has silly weather questions. Do I wear my winter boots on the plane? Change into thermals once at the airport before venturing to a #Lyft pick-up zone? Definitely don't want to freeze my looneys before the trip even gets started! #WhatAreSeasons #BlindAdventure

Magritte said "Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see." So in that vein, I'm studying up and practicing with masks in #SVG to creatively hide and unhide shapes for more complex layering and depth in #TactileArt #drawings. So even when we can't see, we can still percieve hidden and unhidden things through touch. I may have enjoyed art history too much back in college... :) #Blind #BlindArt

Renee Magritte once said "Art evokes the mystery of life," so naturally #TactileArt allows us to touch that mystery. Learning how to hand-code #SVg to create drawings that can be embossed onto paper has been an amazing way to tap back into my artistic side after having gone #blind. It builds spatial reasoning and has also helped me reinvigorate physical #drawing skills, but creating printable images for anyone to emboss and enjoy has been fantastic. Check them out at https://marconius.com/svg