The Virtual Artmaking Workshops for Dayton Veterans Association Low-Vision ClinicTh The workshops were conducted twice in 2022, on April 1st and May 6th, via WebEx with the support of VA’s Low Vision Clinic Coordinator Karla Riste. Materials were purchased through the VA with reimbursement by DAI, then shipped directly to participants. Art making projects centered around the expressive use of paint and drawing. Discussions around select DAI artworks prompted the participants to consider their own artmaking during these sessions.
The only change to the original programming description is that we opted not to have instruction sheets printed in braille. All workshops were virtual, and the VA team coordinator felt it best that instructions and prompts continued to be delivered verbally. The audience for this program is limited to veterans in the Dayton VA’s Low Vision Clinic.
Goal 1: Participants will experience enhanced well-being as well as strong social support as a result of attending the virtual art-making workshop.
Measure: Seventy percent of participants will report an increased sense of well-being and will report feeling supported within this environment.
Method: Verbal questionnaire, “How supported did you feel during this session?” post-workshop assessment.
Result: 100% responded “Very”
Goal 2: Participants will create unique and meaningful artworks utilizing enhanced creative confidence.
Measure: Eighty percent of participants will create artworks they report as being happy with. Method: Verbal questionnaire: “How happy are you with your artwork?” post-workshop assessment Result: 100% responded “Very”
Goal 3: Participants will use and become familiar with art vocabulary as well as descriptive terminology with regard to discussing visual art.
Measure: Eighty percent of participants will report increased knowledge of different art vocabulary or terminology.
Method: Verbal questionnaire; post-workshop assessment.
Result: 100% responded that they felt more familiar with art vocabulary and terminology after their art-making sessions
Share a brief story of how your project made an impact on your target audience.
From a participant
“Prior to my loss of vision while in the service of our country, I dabbled in art and was very interested in the creative process and art history. For me it has always been a joy to see the beautiful spark of interest that is ignited when people are introduced to true art and creativity for the first time. It is almost like the birth of a previously unrecognized portion of the soul. I have seen this beautiful transformation many times when people were first introduced to the art of music, painting, sculpture, writing, etc. It has been a while since I have had these feelings; however, recent presentations by staff members of the Dayton Art Institute provided programs for our low vision veterans group. These presentations included an introduction to creativity in the form of clay modeling and pottery, the history behind the need for these creations and how do[sic] use works of art survived for hundreds of years.
I found my own interest rekindle and observe town several people in our group surprised themselves by learning about this particular aspect of art history and the creative process in general. After the presentation, many of those attending shared that they would like to pursue this area of learning further. They also expressed a willingness and desire to see what types of art they could create even though they had limited vision. Many of us are looking forward to possible personal or group visits to the DAI to experience and learn more! These presentations were a true joy!”
From another participant
“The ladies from the Dayton Art Institute did a wonderful job of introducing (re-introducing) the joy of hands-on creativity to me and several of my comrade visually impaired veterans! While we share degrees of vision loss ranging from “legally blind” or partially sighted individuals to people with very limited vision and/or nearly or totally blind, the programs presented were interesting to all of us.
The presentations included very detailed discussions of early works of art, ranging from simple to complex, by indigenous people in North and South America. Each of us had previously received a large tub of modeling clay with very complete instructions on how to prepare the clay for creating a small work hard. The ladies described how we could feel that way, molded into various shapes which then could be combined to make simple creations like turtles, birds, basic pottery designs, etc. It should be noted that the majority of us had no previous experience with creating any form of
art. The end result was amazing. In less than an hour we created clay models of small animals, household objects and basic pottery. I think many of us were pleasantly surprised that we could do something like this. I think we all are looking forward to further sessions with these delightful, talented representatives of the Dayton Art institute! Perhaps, at some point, we may also have the honor to be guided about the actual institute itself. It will be interesting to know about different forms of creativity, its history, and the creative process. I think we all benefit greatly from these presentations!”
