DIY-AT: Tactile Graphics and Touch Objects

In this assignment students created tactile graphics or touch objects of content from their virtual audit assignment (assignment worksheet).

Examples of student work (reposted with student permission).

Touch object of giant sequoia tree made from cardboard. Final object is a short cylinder with raised circles made from hot glue to indicate the tree's rings Giant Sequoia Tree from American Museum of Natural History made from cardboard and hot glue.
Tactile representation of the oil painting, Poppy Field in a Hollow Near Giverny by Claude Monet made from tape, paper, and fabric flowers. Tactile representation of the oil painting, Poppy Field in a Hollow Near Giverny by Claude Monet, on exhibit at Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Textured tape represents the shrubs and trees in the background and punctures outline the edges of the wooded skyline. Small vertical rips in paper represent the tall grasses in the midground. Small fabric flowers represent the field of poppies in the foreground.
Half scale dress form containing tulle and sequin dress on the left side of the form. The right side is without clothing as a comparison Black, silk tulle dress with sequins by Howard Greer on mannequin from Ballerina as Bird area of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Spring 2020 exhibit, Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse

Created on half scale dress form and built from gold tulle, sequin power mesh, plastic boning, and ribbon.

Additional documentation located here.
stacked layers of cardboard to recreate abstract self portrait of Dali. Self-portrait of Dali from the Dali museum’s permanent collection (oil painting on canvas). 

Topographic representation of the painting using layers of cardboard.

 
Tactile graphic made out of index card and string of the Series of Vulnerable Arrangements – Voice and Wind from the Guggenheim Museum. The left one is colored blue, yellow, pink and orange and scented with women’s perfume. The right one is colored orange and scented with men’s cologne. Arrangements are hung from a pole with white string. Recreation of Haegue Yang’s Series of Vulnerable Arrangements – Voice and Wind from the Guggenheim Museum. 

Created from index cards and string hung that can be hung from a pole. 
Cardboard construction of the sports zone exhibit space. Includes a railing, floor marking, back wall, and touchscreen. Cardboard construction of the Sports Zone: Race Against Professional Athletes.

Created with pink and brown cardboard, and the pink cardboard represents the most important parts of the exhibit. Includes two lanes, a tv screen to the right, an iPad at the front and a gate to the left, and track with the numbers “1” and “2” inset. 

 
Single sheet of paper folded into an elephant shape. Paper is folded both with hard creases for the legs, and soft curves for the trunk and head. Origami elephant from the Fantastic Beast – The Wonders of Nature exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum. 

Built from rough watercolor paper for the origami using folding lines that I saw in Beth Johnson’s tutorial and wetting the paper to sculpt into soft curves. 
Raised line tactile graphic of petra. Includes front and back of printout that was traced to create raised lines. Raised line drawing of Petra, a palatial entrance to a historical site in Jordan. 

Drawing created from tracing printout of Temple photo (left) with sharp pen on a soft book to reveal raised line drawing (right). 
Set of black suit and pant. The suit and pant is folded with black origami paper. On the diagonal of the set from the top left of the suit to the bottom right of the pant, is a series of 8 to 10 bows made out of black gift tissue. The bows are glued to the set. Black suit with black bows ranging in sizes attached to the front of the suit on a diagonal line from the top left to bottom right, from the About Time: Fashion and Duration exhibit at The  Met Museum. 

Created from black origami paper. On the diagonal of the set from the top left of the suit to the bottom right of the pant, is
a series of 8 to 10 bows made out of black gift tissue. The bows are glued to the set.
side by side picture of original teapot next to plastic recreation. Original teapot has jade base with ram head at the spout and three thin metal handles. Recreation has blue teapot base with ram head spout and thicker yellow handles. Loop-Handled Teapot with Ram-Head Spout from the Palace Museum. The original teapot is made of white jade, with a round body, cover, and knob are carved in the design of a segmented pumpkin. One side of the body features a spout carved in the shape of a ram’s head. Teapot has three thin handles. 

Created touch object using plasticene (a moldable hard plastic), referencing videos about making clay teapots.
closeup of clock face made out of cardboard featuring hour and minute hands, and roman numerals for 3, 6, 9, and 12. Antique pendulum clock from Mercer Museum

Abstracted tactile representation of an antique pendulum clock face (8 inches large). Roman numeral hour markers are dimensional, raised 1/8” from the clock face to facilitate identification by touch. The clock hands and pendulum are also dimensional and can be easily manipulated.