Making tactile art

I’ve been using my Glowforge laser cutter to explore how to make 3D poetry accessible for blind readers and my most recent efforts below can be seen sitting on the surface of the laser cutter. All of these pieces have audio producing tools similar to what you see in stores that sell greeting cards that can sing or say “Happy Birthday or Anniversary”. In the finished pieces below, there are small buttons built into the cut acrylic pieces so that when pressed, audio for a particular line of poetry can be played. There are around the country art museum exhibits appearing on the theme of “Please Touch the Art” which encourage blind or visually impaired patrons to touch the art pieces and the four art works in the image below have been accepted at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA just outside of Boston for their “Please Touch the Art” exhibit beginning on May 23. I was pleasantly surprised to find that attempts to make 3D poetry accessible for the blind also led to the making of tactile mixed media works of art.

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Welcome, and what an awesome use for the GF!

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A warm welcome to you! These are wonderful. Not only as an art form but helpful in a meaningful way. Really nice work. And, congratulations on the showing of your work in an exhibit. A very high form of compliment.

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This is wonderful and awesome in so many ways. Outstanding!

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This is great. Congrats on being accepted at the Mosesian. Your Glowforge produces art for visually impaired as well as those with normal sight. I love the concept of touching art - no matter your physical condition or age.

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Congratulations! Well done. Thank you for joining us and sharing your work. :sunglasses:

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This is wonderful! Great work! Looking forward to seeing your future projects!

What a wonderful project! Congratulations on being accepted for the exhibit, sounds marvelous.

Welcome! I look forward to see more.

@mkolitsky, thanks for posting something like this. These unique use cases really showcase the Glowforge’s capabilities. Congrats.

Welcome you are bringing us to new heights. I will try to drive up from Lakeville, MA to see the exhibit.

double down ditto (I could not have said it better)

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Very cool! :slightly_smiling_face: