I read the story today of an unidentified sculptor in England who was mugged in London in June. He’s now blind in one eye, which is tough for a visual artist, which makes him down, but not out. He remembers things with his fingers as well as his eyes, and to help the cops find the middle-aged mugger (yeah, the guy was around 40!), he just made a clay statue of his attacker. The 3D face may be the best mug shot the law could hope for.
So, in my obsessive-compulsive way, I got to thinking about how sculpture and the blind relate to one another. They’re made for each other and even Helen Keller once said, “I sometimes wonder if the hand is not more sensitive to the beauties of sculpture than the eye. I should think the wonderful rhythmical flow of lines and curves could be more subtly felt than seen. Be this as it may, I know that I can feel the heart-throbs of the ancient Greeks in their marble gods and goddesses.”
On cool summer mornings before the thermometer popped in Tucson, I often walked through Reid Park Zoo. Occasionally, I’d rub my fingers along the plaques in front of the cages. They were strictly for the blind, but hey, no one was looking, and I loved the feel of the raised pix of the animals and their bronze braille descriptions.
Meanwhile, in Warrensburg, MO, in a place called “Blind Boone Park”, a sensory garden walk seduces visitors with aromatic plants and a 13ft high wind harp that is sensitive to movement adds music to the experience.
The park itself is named for Blind Boone, who was a born of a runaway slave and a white army bugler in 1865 and ended up quite the pianist, both ragtime and classical. When he was a tot, doctors removed his eyes in an effort to relieve the pressure on his brain. Today, he welcomes visitors as he sits in a really bronze, playing his floating keyboard and tossing back his head in ecstacy. (Photo from ruralmissouri.org website)
Far away, in Bethnal Green in England, The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green”, a skeletal form with his dog, lives to tell his tale as well. Seems he was a nobleman by birth who was blinded in the Battle of Evesham in 1265 and ended up on the streets with dog and cup for him. He had pots of money and a beautiful daughter, and ballads surround her dating problems and the man who finally stooped to asking the beggar for his daughter’s hand. He died reasonably famous, but his image has had as tough a time as he did. The day after he was placed in the middle of town, vandals made short work of him by unbolting him from his stand and pushing him over on the ground. Great work, guys- only heroes push over blind men and their dogs- especially when they’re frozen for life into one position!).
But the ultimate blind sculpture story is about a piece Brancusi did- a smooth egglike form, entitled “Sculpture for the Blind”. According to sources, it’s usually displayed in museums under a plexiglass case to discourage touching!
10:58:26 PM 
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