The following is an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times article by staff writer Deborah Vankin: “Do touch the art. This first-of-its kind L.A. artwork offers a tactile cityscape.”
You could say that Megan Whitmarsh and Carla Tome are particularly hands-on regarding their new public art project, which debuts April 26.
The artists, who are not blind, created a large sensory wall and companion mural at the Braille Institute Los Angeles. The commission is part of a three-year, $2-million renovation that the East Hollywood nonprofit is unveiling this week. The 104-year-old institution now has a state-of-the-art recording studio to create audiobooks for patrons, as well as a new teaching hub with iPads, laptops and Braille e-readers that offers workshops for using those and other devices.
The sensory wall — in the children’s room at the Braille Institute’s library — is the first of its kind in Los Angeles, a handmade, public artwork incorporating ceramics, textiles, musical instruments and prerecorded audio telling a story about Los Angeles that visitors are meant to interpret with their hands.
