KAB Medway Art Group

We are the award winning Kent Association for the Blind (KAB) Medway Art Group, an art group for blind and partially sighted adults. The group was established by artist Wendy Daws in 2006.

We are excited to share news of our latest project ‘The Value of Touch’ taking place now with the Guildhall Museum, Rochester. Kindly supported by the Arts Council England, Medway Council, NKLAAP and the Kent Association for the blind. Our final work will be exhibited from November 2016 – May 2017. Please follow our News feed for up to date posts.

Press Release The Value of Touch Summer 2016 Wendy Daws

The KAB Medway Art Group meet regularly and explore all manner of art forms, from painting, sculpture, poetry, graffiti, print making and beyond. We visit art exhibitions, have inspirational talks and sessions from other artists We create our own projects and seek out willing partners to help us make things happen. We also drink a lot of tea!

After graduating from the University of Brighton Wendy contacted the Medway branch of the Kent Association for the Blind with a view to volunteer and offer art ‘tasters’ to further her own research into ‘museum and gallery approaches to visually impaired visitors’ based on her dissertation, how to raise awareness of sight impairments and its implications. The art group swiftly developed, with projects led by the group and Wendy’s joint curiosity.

This led to a collaboration with Rochester Cathedral in 2009 and the exhibition ‘Eyes Wide Open’ – subsequently we were invited by the Cathedral to research and create the tactile bronze interpretation of the Cathedral’s Baptismal Fresco by Sergei Fyodorov. The completed tactile bronze is a permanent exhibit at Rochester Cathedral.

2014 saw us take part in the Medway Open Studios and Arts Festival, 2014, with exhibitions of our art held at Rochester Cathedral and Sun Pier House Gallery. We completed a print making course at Intra Arts, to assist Rochester Cathedral with research into 3D objects for consideration for their permanent tactile time line.

‘Through Our Eyes’, we were invited by the Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham, to respond to the museum collections. ‘Through Our Eyes’ art sessions took place at the museum throughout February and March 2015, followed by an exhibition of our artwork in the museum’s Open Space Gallery.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/museum-launches-new-exhibition-by-32373/

In 2015 our group won the Voluntary Arts Epic Award for ‘Exceptional work with Disabled People’ blog.epicawards.co.uk/2015/05/2015-epic-award-winners-announced/

We’re a social bunch and always welcome new faces and ideas. Please follow our News feed to find out what we’re up to.

For more information on the art group please contact the Kent Association for the Blind, Medway Team. Tel. 01634 332929 or email rehab.medway@kab.org.uk