Most museums warn patrons to keep their hands off the art, but at Saturday's MindSight exhibit, people were encouraged to do the opposite.
Tour guides led about 60 blindfolded people through a room of three-dimensional pieces, ranging from smooth wooden sculptures to paintings embellished with beads and nails. The exhibit, organized by the Harn Museum and the Gator Lions Club, featured the work of 10 Gainesville artists.
There was a dual purpose, according to Gator Lions Club member Shelly Flanagin: to create an artistic experience that didn't require sight and to help sighted people understand what art is for people who can't see.
Five visually impaired people attended the show, Flanagin said.
Each tour guide led guests around the room by elbow, allowing the guests to run their hands over ceramic opossums and ocean scenes made of sand and glass. Participants were encouraged to guess what they were feeling.
"A lot of people are really good with eyes, noses, mouths," she said. "A lot of (the pieces) are trickier, though. They require more imagining."
Vinnie Squitiro, a science and management graduate student, said that touching the art before viewing it allowed him to better understand it.
"Now that I see everything after having the blindfold on," he said, "it's strange to see how different it looks based on what I was expecting."
