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>>BRIGID CAHALAN: My name is Brigid Cahalan,
and I'm one of the outreach librarians
for the New York Public Library.
I am not the main person who put this
event together.
That honor should go to Fotis Flevotomos.
He is a visiting Fulbright artist.
It has been a pleasure having him here.
He has really opened up the world of art to a lot
of people with blindness and low vision
in the New York area.
We're grateful to him.
He's working with us at the New York Public Library,
which explains part of why the New York Public Library,
specifically the Andrew Heiskell Library
is sponsoring this event.
I would like to acknowledge Ned
Richards on my right, your left.
And he is the assistant head of this library here.
Thank you for letting us host this event
here today.
Now I'll just introduce the panel.
Our moderator is Jessica Jones.
She is an art teacher at the Lavelle School
for the Blind.
She teaches students aged three and a half to 21.
She's constantly looking for new experiences
for her students, and feels that art must be
accessible to all people at the same level.
Next we have Olivia Swisher.
Olivia is an artist.
She's also the coordinator of adult and accessibility
programs at the Solomon R.
Guggenheim.
Next we have Melanie Adsit, who has worked
in the education department of the Whitney Museum
of American Art since 2004.
She currently teaches the Museum's school access
and senior programs.
She's also worked in the education departments
of MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Morgan Library, and
the Queens Museum of Art.
Next we have Deborah.
Deborah is an artist.
She loves teaching the drawing classes
she teaches at the college level, besides teaching
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She also teaches at colleges in Westchester.
She really believes that drawing is good for people
to learn drawing and do drawing
in so many ways.
I'm sure you'll hear more about that.
Next we have Pamela Lawton.
Pamela is an artist and she works
with the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Her multi-panelled paintings that reflected the height
of the World Trade Center, the cacophony
of Times Square, and the rhythm of the Indian Ocean,
all places she has painted with zeal.
Inspired by her students, she shares art-making
practices with them including
in the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art where her favorite class is Seeing Through Drawing,
and at the Andrew Heiskell Library
where today she is honored to be teaching
a class amidst the large print books.
Then we have Rebecca McGinnis at the end
of the tables there.
Has overseen the access and community programs
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a number of years.
She's currently going for her Ph.D.
in cognitive psychology.
She herself is partially sighted.
I say she's an artist although
she insists that she isn't
because she's done one of these beautiful drawings,
one of these works of art.
It's definitely the work of an artist.
So we're ready to begin now.
After the panel discussion we'll talk
a little bit about the rest of the day
and we'll move forward.
I give you now to Jessica.
Jessica Jones, take it away.