Please Touch the Art

Detail image of Ann Cunningham's rendition of the iconic painting "American Gothic," which she recreated as a piece of tactile artwork. It hangs in the main lobby of the Iowa Department for the Blind.

A row of corn cast of bronze is part of the tactile art installation at the Iowa Dept. for the Blind.

In July 2009, the Iowa Department for the Blind unveiled a public art installation created by Colorado-based tactile artist Ann Cunningham. Spread throughout the building's first and fourth floors, the seven pieces of artwork allow those who cannot see paintings experience them through touch.

Cunningham uses various media to describe texture and color, such as bronze, slate and wood.

The centerpiece of the installation is a recreation of Grant Wood's iconic "American Gothic," which Cunningham formed into a three-dimensional piece of art.

Another highighlight is a work called "Regionalist Landscape," which is inspired by Regionalist painters. It depicts a rural landscape from a scenic, horizontal perspective. Hung beside this work is a contour map of the same location so the viewer can compare two ways of picturing the site.

Ohter works incorporate bas relief, high relief, stylized and abstract portrayals of objects and people, including a depiction of corn in a row made of bronze.

An interesting part of the installation is meant to teach how a picture plane works. Cunningham says of this piece: "With it we can explore how perspective works. This makes it easy to understand how to interpret pictures using picture plane principals (foreground, middle ground, background, horizon, overlap & outline, diminution of size, convergence, on & off the picture plane) and how to use them to make your own pictures." IDB staff member Susie Stageberg touches a tactile artwork by Ann Cunningham, which hangs on the wall in the Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped.

"Most art is of the ‘don’t touch’ nature," said Colleen Armstrong, Iowa Arts Council board member. "But this artwork is meant to be touched and interpreted. It represents how the Iowa Department for the Blind gets in touch with the blind and visually impaired, with their families, with employers."

The unique installation is public art, so the public may view and touch the art inside the building, located at 524 Fourth St. in Des Moines. The art is available for the public to view and touch during normal business hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

More information on Cunningham is available at www.acunningham.com.