Recently I have attended a fascinating online event, organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art, the exact title is: Mindful Museum: Virtual Sensory Journey through Art. The concept is that people who are blind, visually impaired, or would otherwise benefit from a sensory style experience, can get to know one or two artifacts of the museum from their own home, but elevated by the use of a kit of sensory objects.

The event is organized by Molly Hull, the museum’s accessibility coordinator. She processes the registrations, and prior to the event sends out a small kit in an envelope to the registrants, which contains objects related to the piece to be discussed. These objects have aspects of touch, color, fragrance, and taste, though I would also venture to say that audio, depending on how you interact with the objects. I am not going to otherwise describe what I found in the envelope, because though each one could be a surprise, I don’t want to take away the joy of opening the first one. I was going to set mine aside until the event, though later in the email communication we were asked to open the kit and experience it.

A few days before the event, the kit arrives, together with an email about the same time with instructions to join the meeting and other useful information.

There is a sensory kit letter, which explains what’s in the envelope, and how to prepare for the event. Then there is an audio description of the artifact to be discussed, last time there were two, as we discussed two of Martha Clippinger’s murals. We were encouraged to listen to the descriptions beforehand, which were very nicely done by professional audio describer, Karen Edwards, whom I had a chance to meet at the LEAD conference recently, and she describes just as nice real time.

It was a nice touch that right before the event, we got the same email as a reminder, so everything was on the top of my inbox.

The event started with a short meditation, inviting us to find a comfortable spot, and be open to our senses.

Then we could hear the description of the murals, followed by a discussion by the artist, Martha Clippinger herself. Let me admit, this was obvious from the letter, but somehow, I just skipped this fact, and it was a total surprise to me that the artist herself was present. Next time I will read more carefully.

Participants were encouraged to interrupt and ask questions at any point.

The event was approximately an hour long, filled with interesting content and sensory experience. I would recommend it to you if you are interested in art, or would like to experience something unique, as this approach to art and senses is definitely one of a kind.

You can learn about the next event and register on their accessibility page. From that page you can find the upcoming events, or email Molly directly.