Signs of Art

A PROJECT WORKING ALONGSIDE GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS TO MAKE THEM MORE ACCESSIBLE AND OPEN TO DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING AUDIENCES.

Meet the phase two team

CHISATO MINAMIMURA: A deaf performance artist and BSL art guide working globally, with a particular interest in the visualisation of sound and music from her deaf perspective.

MADELEINE HAWES: A deaf Camberwell Fine Art graduate passionate about promoting deaf artists in the deaf and hearing communities.

ANDREW HARRIS: An artist and arts coordinator, who runs Artists First, a learning disabled art group in Bristol

JENNIFER GILBERT: A curator, producer and gallerist working with deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, and self-taught artists around the world.

A LOOK BACK AT THE PHASE ONE TEAM

ALANA BARNETT: an artist and a communication support worker at City of Bristol college, working with deaf students

JENNIFER GILBERT: a curator, producer and gallerist working with deaf, disabled and self-taught artists around the world

ANDREW HARRIS: an artist and arts coordinator, who runs Artists First, a learning disabled art group in Bristol

REBECCA VAUGHAN: a deaf artist working as support in a deaf school in Bristol

THE VIDEOS CREATED DURING PHASE ONE OF SIGNS OF ART

OUTSIDER ART

The first video we created was to explain what is meant by the term Outsider Art. The Raw Vision website gives a much fuller explanation of this term and other accompanying terms. The video we filmed, gives a short overview of the term, starting with Roger Cardinal who coined the term in 1972. It then gives a brief definition and explains how the term has expanded over the years, with many galleries, supported studios and even an art fair, showcasing artists labelled under this term. This film is 4.5 minutes long with subtitles.

JAMES CASTLE

James Castle was an incredible American artist who died in 1977. Born profoundly Deaf, James used signs only his family really understood, but was a prolific creator right up until his death. His work was often created from things he found around the home or things he had fashioned himself – like a paste made from soot to draw with or using sharpened sticks as paint brushes. Now, he is a well-recognised artist, with many collectors seeking out his work. He also has an archive dedicated to his work and the study of it in Idaho, America. This film is 6 minutes long with subtitles.

Photographs from Chisato Minamimura’s BSL art tour in November 2023. Photography by Martin Edwards

About SIGNS OF ART

Welcome to Signs of Art. This project began because we found there to be a lack of accessible information available for deaf audiences to find out more about artists and art history. Despite BSL being recognised as a language and there being over 150,000 people using BSL as their first language in the UK, most publicly funded institutions don’t have BSL regularly available on their websites or for events, or do live BSL tours in their venues. Signs of Art want to challenge and change this, and to inspire, inform and engage deaf artists and the deaf community more widely, in the world of contemporary art, where there is currently very little accessible information. This relates to the work that the Jennifer Lauren Gallery does.

2021 | For phase one, we received funding from Arts Council England to do research online, from books, and with interviews over zoom with deaf artists like Chisato Minamimura, and art sector specialists. We used this research to make three BSL films. These are introductory films made with a small budget, but they give a clear overview, with deaf artist Rebecca Vaughan providing the BSL interpretation. Subtitles and a voiceover are included, and the films can be watched full screen if needed. For phase one, the project also worked with a focus group made up of deaf individuals, whose knowledge has been instrumental in shaping this project. They are: Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq, Christopher Sacre, David Ellington, Shauna Flannigan, Martin Glover and John Mancini. The RWA in Bristol became our pilot project in the south west to make their newly renovated venue more welcoming to deaf audiences. See below for further information on the initial changes we helped to implement.

2023 | For phase two, without current funding in 2023, Signs of Art now works alongside south west based organisations to discuss best pratice and what can be implemented to make their venues more accessible and open to deaf and hard of hearing audiences. We continue to work with the RWA in Bristol to create BSL videos and to programme a BSL tour for every exhibition, to give deaf and hard of hearing audiences opportunities to learn more about what they programme. The videos and tour dates can be found on their website. Their staff continue to have deaf awareness training delivered annually.

Do get in touch if becoming more deaf accessible, having deaf awareness training and/or having a better understanding of deaf culture is something you’d like to discuss, as we are more than happy to look at options with you.

Example Video | Madeleine Hawes BSL video inviting deaf artists to apply to RWA open call. Similar videos can be created for your organisations.

MISLEIDYS CASTILLO PEDROSO

Misleidys Castillo Pedroso is a young Deaf Cuban artist, born in 1985, who uses her art as a form of communication. She uses basic signs with her family and has never been to school, but creates art daily in her home, covering the walls with her incredible works. Some are very small, and some are larger than life. Misleidys is well-known for painting muscular figures like body builders in very bright paints with thick black outlines, and her signature look is to include small pieces of cut-out brown tape stuck all around the edge of her works – using this to attach it to the wall. This film is 5 minutes long with subtitles.

Phase one | Pilot Project Study | RWA in Bristol

In the last phase of Signs of Art, we were in conversation with the RWA (Royal West of England Academy) in Bristol about making their space more welcoming to deaf audiences. They relaunched in 2022, after a £4million transformation and we are pleased to announce that we have been a small part of that. The whole purpose of the refurbishment was to make the building more accessible, and we are happy to see that has taken place.

The Signs of Art team were part of the access conversations to increase attendance for deaf audiences. Firstly, deaf awareness training was rolled out across the staff team, which goes a long way to helping deaf audiences feel welcomed. Secondly, Rebecca was given the task to film their welcome video, which as you can see from the photos, is placed front and centre when you enter the building, above the reception desk. This BSL (British Sign Language) video with subtitles, explains a little more about the building, where you can find things within it like the cafe and toilets, and what sort of things you can expect across the year. Not only is this placed as you enter the building on a big screen, it is also on their website in easy to find places – on the ‘your visit’ and the ‘access’ page. What we found from our earlier research is that many big institutions had this information hidden in places you would never look, so the placement of this is of utmost importance.

The other new implementations are that Rebecca has filmed BSL guidance for when the RWA holds their open call, to encourage more deaf artists to enter. Deaf performer and art tour guide Chisato Minamimura now leads on a live BSL art tour for each exhibition programmed.

We are sharing this as a great example of an institution making itself more welcoming to deaf audiences and taking small steps to get there.

Phase One was supported with funding from: