AmRev360: Making Art Accessible with Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired

When the Museum opened its latest special exhibition, Liberty: Don Troiani's Paintings of the Revolutionary War, it faced a difficult question: how do you distill highly detailed paintings into a meaningful experience for people with visual disabilities? Enter the Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired.

Clovernook provides life-enriching opportunities while empowering people who are blind or visually disabled to be self-sufficient and full participants in their communities. Its braille printing house produces books, magazines, and other materials for the National Library Services and braille patrons worldwide. For Liberty, Clovernook created and donated raised tactile images of three of Troiani’s paintings for use at the Museum by guests with visual disabilities. Most recently, Clovernook created a new tactile graphic based on an engraving by Amos Doolittle of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which took place on April 19, 1775 and is featured in our core galleries.

In this episode, Clovernook's Sam Foulkes, Director of Braille Production & Accessible Innovation, and Brian Anderson, Arts & Accessibility Coordinator, join Museum President & CEO Dr. R. Scott Stephenson to discuss Clovernook's mission, the process for how tactile graphics of paintings are made, what museums can do to be more accessible to people who are blind or have visual disabilities, and more.

To learn more about Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired, visit clovernook.org and follow on Facebook and LinkedIn.

AmRev360 features lively conversations on the American Revolution from all angles between Stephenson and a broad slate of dynamic guests, including authors, actors, community leaders, and more. Interested in more Museum videos, subscribe to our Youtube channel.