_Survey of Accessible Museum Programs This writing goes through what it means for a museum to have accessible programs, specifically looking at art museums. Accessible encompasses much more than elevators and hand rails; museums must also account for elderly visitors, visitors with visual or audio impairments, and visitors with cognitive or developmental disabilities. As seen through this survey research, of the museums that offer accessible tools and programming, many only cater to a few of the mentioned communities.
Credits to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Project Art-Ability This is a proposal for a museum program for adults with cognitive disabilities using sensory activities to interact with the collection. The proposal is based on my previous "Survey of Accessible Museum Programs" and observations at a program for elderly adults with Alzheimer's or dementia at the Art Institute of Chicago. I used the AIC collection for the exemplar but with the intent that the proposal could be applied at other art museums.
Hogarth, The Rake's Progress (1785)
Ages of Madness: A Study of Language and Framing The societal standard of normal versus abnormal isolates and allows for discrimination against minority groups, such as people with disabilities. This standard has been developed over history, and continuously sustained through qualifying language. This essay looks at the development and changes to language to continually enforce individuals with disabilities as "other" or "abnormal".
Dubuffet, Dhotel Nuance d'abricot (1947)
Outside Art: A movement of the past yet a deception of the present Outsider Art was a term first established during the early twentieth century as a label for a newly-recognized style of art and a group of artists that were divergent to the academic traditions and typical conventions. This term, though not a movement, was emblematic of the modern ideal: authentic, expressive and avant-garde, or against the grain. Through this essay I look at what it truly means to be an "outsider" artist and how the label has changed over time due to the art market.