10TH Annual Please Touch Exhibit

Often art galleries and museum post signs or have guards to make sure patrons Do Not Touch the art or even get too close. This exhibit is the opposite. The art in the Please Touch Exhibit is just that: Please Touch it and have the tactile experience with the pieces.

ReVision Arts has a different approach to the definition of art. Believing in the concept of “Art for All” it is an inclusive organization that brings together people of all abilities to celebrate art. ReVision Arts focusses on artists with all types of disabling conditions, and other artists who consider themselves underrepresented.

This exhibit which will also include audio description will be on display Wednesday- Sunday, June 26th- July 26th, patrons can visit the 10th Annual Please Touch Exhibit at the A/NT Gallery, Seattle Center International Fountain Pavilion. Check the ReVision Arts website for rules and deadline for submission. www.revisionarts.org

The artists who create the pieces for the show represent a wide range of ages/experience, ethnicities, and abilities/disabilities. Last year’s participant artists included young children who created pieces while working with art mentors, BIPOC artists who represented indigenous Duwamish-Muckleshoot, Vietnamese, and Mexican artists, Blind/low vision artists, and Disabled/Nondisabled artists whose 3D tactile work had received recognition and awards. 

Art pieces are open for patrons to touch and experience art on a level that usually doesn’t happen. First time sighted patrons are offered eye covers to expand their horizons with this tactile art experience.

Barbara Oswald, Director of ReVision Arts, is the founder of the Please Touch Exhibit concept and has produced and curated the chosen art since its inception. As an artist with visual challenges Barbara uses her lack of acuity to compose artwork that draws the audience to her work, whether in fabric design, 3D sculpture or 2D photography and painting, moving the narrative from what art looks like to what it feels like. This approach offers visitors a multi-sensory relationship with participant artists’ artwork.

“This is a milestone year” explains Barbara, “We are expanding our Call for Art and recruiting new artists who if their work is juried into the exhibit may further participate in a larger venue for Disability Awareness Month in October 2024 at King Street Station Gallery. It is a wonderful opportunity for emerging artists to participate in an inclusive venue."