Finishing Up and Reporting In

(Relief of central Edinburgh constructed specifically for those with visual impairments)

It is so hard to believe the summer is almost over and that I have to leave the UK tomorrow! I am definitely going to miss being abroad and doing research. This week I was able to go to a phenomenal talk called "The Work of Many Hands" at the National Gallery though. The talk basically discussed how Tony Cragg's sculptures were constructed and the process behind the design as well as the purpose of his work. It was very informative and afterwards I was able to go and be inspired by his newly opened exhibition.

Apart from the lecture and exhibition, this week has also been a time of focusing on how to condense all of my information and experience into a summary and powerpoint for the Office of Undergraduate Research and APPLES. I honestly think this has been the hardest part of the research so far. Once this is finished though, all that is left will be implementing the research into my independant study course and putting on the exhibition in the fall, which has it's own difficulties to sort out.

So, in conclusion of my research on Art for the Visually Impaired, I just want to thank all of the people that helped fund and support my travels as well as all of the amazing people that have helped me here in the UK. I appreciate it all so much and this has definitely been an encouraging and life changing experience that I hope to have the opportunity to do again!

Edinburgh Research and more

Wow, it has been awhile since I updated this... sorry for the neglect. Things have been going good. I made it to Edinburgh just fine it was a beautiful trip up the east coast of the UK. I have been moving around a bit between host people here in the city so that has been a little chaotic but other than that the city has been amazing, the people are great, and the accents are wonderful!

I have been to all of the museums here in Edinburgh, except the Queen's Gallery which has been closed for a royal wedding, but I will be headed that way soon now that the wedding is over. Research wise it was been good I have found some helpful information and have been able to go to some arts lectures. I will be going to a visual description tour later this week which should be a great experience for seeing the practicals of how something is run when catering for audiences with visual impairment. The one thing that I am finding quite difficult here is that a lot of the information I find is similar if not the same as the programs they had in London. It's still interesting and nice to know that these are good programs that are successful here as well.

I plan to go to the Edinburgh College of Art in the coming weeks in hopes of using their library and archives as well as possibly talking with some of their professors if they are still in town for the summer. At the end of this week the Edinburgh International Festival starts up so, not only will there be chaos across the city but there will be many new art venues to look into and new programs for the visually impaired to investigate.