Watch It Wednesdays
November 7th, 2018      78th St. Studios
1305 W. 80th Street   Cleveland, Ohio   5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Call (440) 503-5506            Tickets: www.susiefrazier.com/pages/watch-it-wednesdays

If you're wondering what Wednesday has to offer, it doesn't get any cooler than this. Join me and my friends!
Rubbing shoulders with working artists can be enlightening. Bubbling with new ideas and enthusiasm from this week's National Federation of the Blind Convention, Leslie Edwards Humez -that's me- will be painting PATS promotional goodies for a holiday sale and kickstarter fundraiser to support her tactile art for the blind initiative. Support PATS with the purchase of a snail icon and sign up for a chance to win a PATS tee!

Folks want to know why I chose a snail to be PATS company icon. Since it's in my nature to want immediate results, it's easy to become discouraged when results come at a snail's pace.  I needed a reminder that no matter how slowly things seem to be progressing, every step forward is a step in the right direction.  The Chinese are loaded with wonderful proverbs. Confucious said, "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." 

I'm moving my feet up and down and will be exhibiting at the 72nd National Federation of the Blind (Ohio) Convention in November in Strongsville at the Holiday Inn. The NFB is Ohio’s oldest organization comprised of blind people working together to change what it means to be blind. Join us to learn more about issues confronting blind people today, and walk away ready to advocate for change.

For new readers, I'm a sculptor collaborating with contemporary painters to take their art images off-the-wall and bring them into the third dimension. I build sculpture-in the-round from painted images and follow up using 3D printing technology to put what formerly couldn't be touched, into the hands of the blind to enable them to "see" contemporary art in a gallery/museum setting.

Convention invitation: http://nfbohio.org/registration/

http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/street-level/pats101018.aspx

Woo hoo!  Thanks to Fresh Water Cleveland editor, Jen Donatelli and freelance writer Nicole Hennessey for the leg up.

Not only does a bit of publicity make my day, but it reminds me to take a moment to thank the universe and reflect on all the things that brought me to this moment.  It sure has been a trip!

PATS
Watch It Wednesday
78th St. Studios
September 5th, 2018
Cleveland, Ohio

PATS -Perceiving Art Through Sculpture- is me, Leslie Edwards Humez, one Cleveland sculptor working in collaboration with many illustrators to take a wide variety of contemporary art off-the-wall, re-create its likeness in 3D, and literally put what couldn't formerly be touched, into the hands of the blind for the first time. I'm bringing together painting, sculpture and technology to deliver contemporary artists' ideas to the blind in a gallery experience that presents both visual and touchable tactile representations of works on paper.

Since April I've sculpted the work of local favorites George Kocar, Angela Oster and Derek Hess. (On the table are some examples.) September is International Artist Month for PATS. For September, I'm finishing up 4 small, colorful pieces from artist/gallerist/teacher/entrepreneur Higo Gabaronne, whose roots are in Puebla, Mexico and who now calls Cleveland home. Also being painted today is a cat chef, one of the humorous one-eyed characters of Venice, Italy's renowned painter, Franco Anselmi.

On deck next. coming in Comic Book October, is the an incredible trio of cartoonists and illustrators. It'll be a month that tests my attention span...will I manage to finish two difficult pieces? Look for Blues Bird, a sculpture from a comic book of the team Ron Hill and Gary Dumm. And (Meow again, cat fans!) every Clevelander's most loved, flop-eared FB cat, Bubba, will make an appearance out of the pages of his personal comic book created by Bubba's own home team, Gary & Laura Dumm.

The material I use is a proprietary mix of porcelain and cellulose which lends strength to the dried clay body. Each sculpture is finished in high quality acrylics, sealed and mounted. From start to finish I may complete from 1 to 4 sculptures each month depending on their complexity. Work in process here today will be exhibited side-by-side with the illustrations they were taken from, and can be seen on Third Friday at Gallery Plus in #109 at 78th St. Studios.

Please show your support for PATS and the many generous collaborating artists who are making contemporar art for the blind possible by visiting and liking us on FB and stopping in to see the finished work at Gallery Plus.

If you know a sculptor who would enjoy working under the PATS umbrella, contact me!

PATS on Facebook

PATS is me, pop surrealist Leslie Edwards Humez. 

I created PATS -Perceiving Art Through Sculpture- a collaboration which takes contemporary art off the wall, makes 3D sculpture and uses technology to put visual ideas into the hands of the blind for them to see.  (It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without the generosity of the illustrators who have permitted me to use their work to bring my idea into the third dimension.) 

Facts: Visual impairment affects a staggering 3.4 million Americans and an estimated 285 million(1) worldwide. Just a glance at those numbers and I shake my head in much the same way as sighted gallery visitors who view our test exhibits side by side for the first time.  They say, "Why hasn't someone done this before?"

Because the right time is right now. 

The concept took form in March of '18 and  I  began creating sculpture at the average rate of perhaps two pieces a month.  In lieu of a tentative gallery opening in late 2019 for all the work combined, each month I display the most recent work alongside the illustration that inspired it, at Gallery Plus #109 at 78th St. Studios.

Each month when we chat, gallery visitors are startled by PATS potential and each month I realize just how much help I need to reach that opening night on time.

To date, I've cobbled together a small group who promise to help PATS plot direction and brainstorm through its growth. (You know who you are and I'm thankful.)

Just this month the universe sent us a CWRU Thinkbox grad student who -after visiting my website- volunteered to do PATS 3D scanning and printing, thus freeing me to sculpt and do administrative work. (That's a really huge commitment...Thank you from the bottom of my heart, S.S.)

The best news this week is that S.S. and I have created and scanned the prototype for a PATS mascot, soon to go into production and be available to you for a donation. Every bit of the profit will support further R&D.  No-one here gets paid: PATS is run entirely on good will and gifts.  Our 501c3 non-profit application is currently in the works.

If you visited in August, you saw a figure from George Kocar's controversial work, Fool's Parade. Coming in September are several sculptures -including a new cat for you kitty lovers- created from the work of everybody's favorite Mexican-American artist, Higo.

Behind the scenes there's much more work waiting in the wings. PATS needs a volunteer to help broaden business connections, legal help to write a simple contract and volunteer office help to troubleshoot, create a Go Fund Me campaign and write grants. We also need a second sculptor, an electronics wonk and someone young and ambitious to take my place.

Are you one of these? If you are willing to step in any capacity listed or not listed, contact me here. Thanks for reading!


(1) http://www.who.int/blindness/GLOBALDATAFINALforweb.pdf