The Way I See: Tactile Portraits by Mandie Anderson
Entering from the hallway, paintings are arranged in order on the right side of the room. Continue around the room, counterclockwise.
Image Description: A young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes lays on a log suspended over a creek. He gently touches the water with his fingertips and feet. Below the waves is a fish and a frog. Also, a braille poem “The Old Swimmin’ Hole” By James Whitcomb Riley can be seen and touched.
Supplemental Text: Felix is a bright and energetic 7 year old boy. Diagnosed with autism when he was 3, Felix has continued to bless us, surprise us, and encourage us daily. His autism means he sees the world in unique and beautiful ways, showing us the unexpected delights and curiosities of often overlooked things. – Felix’s Mom
Image Description: A young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes sits on the sandy banks of a creek next to a girl with red hair and glasses. The girl is holding a turtle and encouraging the boy to touch it. Embedded in the sand is a poem by James Whitcomb Riley called “Barefoot Boy.”
Image Description: On a blue quilted picnic blanket is a large family seated around a small baby boy. The baby boy has downs syndrome and is connected to oxygen with a tube. Leaning close to the baby is a mother with a yellow sun hat. She gazes lovingly at the child.
Supplemental Text: I welcomed you into a quiet world shut down by sickness. No calm, peaceful moments to remember, only struggle and survival. Would you pull-through?
As I awoke this morning, I was filled with gratitude for the year we got to share with you. The bigger loss, even bigger than your death as we know it, would have been having you for 1 day instead of 372. -Ames’ Mom
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.
The Stolen Child
W.B. Yeats
Image Description: A mother holds a baby with a white bonnet and a red dress with white flowers. The mother has dark hair and dark eyes. The baby has soft dark hair, dark skin and brown eyes. Her bonnet has tactile lace.
Supplemental Text: Tomorrow is her first birthday, but I really feel we are the blessed ones. I think back through the past year and emotions that I can’t even describe fill my mind and heart. I am not the same as I was a year ago. I am more aware of my weakness and God’s strength. I am amazed by her love and grace as she clings to me and cannot think of a more perfect way to illustrate how I have clung to God’s strength and grace.
Beautiful girl, your joy radiates and fills our hearts and lives. You are so strong, and smart. Full of grace and love, always rising above. I will never be able to express how you have blessed our lives. – Aria’s Mom
Image Description: A smiling boy with light skin and brown hair sits on a green chair. He is wearing a red shirt and red baseball cap. He has rainbow socks on and is holding ice cream with sprinkles and a red cherry on top.
Supplemental Text: Ollie loves singing, dancing and Disney. He loves rollercoasters, baseball, soccer and playing with his friends. He loves wrestling and games with his brothers. He loves greeting everyone everywhere with a contagious dimpled smile, fist bump or, “What’s up?.” He loves ice cream, pizza and french fries. He is a typical 7-year-old boy in almost every way. Ollie just has an extra chromosome. He has extra love, extra laughs and extra empathy. He can be extra feisty, too. He is extra strong as evidenced by his beating A.L.L. Leukemia which he was diagnosed with at age 2. He went through chemotherapy treatments for 2.5 years. We navigated this terrible time in our lives through Ollie’s extra grace and gratitude for his caretakers. Ollie is all the extra sunshine and joy that we never knew we needed. – Ollie’s Extra-Proud Mom
Image Description: A girl with a blue dress, dark hair, and freckles sings as she holds a paper lantern. Embedded in the lantern are the lyrics to a song by Alecia Keys called “This Girl is on Fire.” The background is dark purple and navy, with other paper lanterns floating in the distance.
Image Description: Three students and an art teacher sit around a wooden table. The students are girls, one with blonde hair, one with dark brown hair, and one with black hair. The children use glue, pencils, and paint brushes to create art.
Image Description: A boy with blonde hair and a red shirt holds a small bug, carefully examining it. The background is bright green and heavily textured with the raised outlines of different kinds of bugs found in a backyard: ants, praying mantis, butterflies, and worms.
Supplemental Text: Six-year-old Henry is an affectionate and endearing child whose smile has the power to warm any heart. Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of 3, Henry’s insatiable curiosity about the world knows no bounds. He possesses a remarkable ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, continuously surprising his family with his developmental strides each day. We are immensely proud of him and eagerly anticipate his ongoing growth and blossoming. – Henry’s Mom
Image Description: A girl in a purple sweater paints with different colors on a piece of paper. The girl has dark skin, black textured hair, and purple and gold barrettes in her hair. The image is set on a blue and yellow textured background with swirl patterns.
Image Description: A smiling young boy wears a white soccer jersey and a whistle around his neck. He has dark brown hair and glasses. He stands behind a textured leather soccer ball. The image is set on a green soccer field with a soccer goal in the background.
Supplemental Text: Like many kids, soccer Thursdays are Zeke’s favorite. His joy is palpable at O’Bannon Soccer Park where he is eager to make new friends. Born at 28 weeks with Cerebral Palsy and Cortical Visual Impairment, mobility has presented many challenges for Zeke. In spite of this, few things bring him more delight than kicking a ball and being included. – Zeke’s Mom
Image Description: A girl with light skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pink shirt wears a blue apron. She stands in front of a rainbow and three cartoon drawings she created. The colorful drawings are raised for the viewer to feel them.
Image Description: A young girl with dark skin, black hair wears a gray shirt with drawings of unicorns, rainbows, and stars. She puts large, colorful stickers on a yellow sheet of paper. The background is bright blue with raised textures of unicorns, rainbows, and stars.
Image Description: A smiling young boy with light skin, sandy brown hair, and blue eyes wears a blue and black swimsuit. He is set against a swirling blue, green, and gold backdrop. He leans with his hands against a glass mosaic table.
Supplemental Text: Caleb is a fun-loving, strong-willed, SpiderMan-loving kid who has an infectious laugh and loves to cuddle. He doesn’t know he’s any different from others and I hope that I can teach him to love himself JUST AS HE IS. – Caleb’s Mom
Image Description: A wistful looking young girl with brown hair, light, freckled skin, and a pink shirt. She has a cochlear implant and stands against a blank white background holding a cane. Surrounding her are 3-D lilies painted white.
Image Description: A boy with short black hair and tan skin listens to the sounds shells make when tapped together. He is wearing a white shirt, red shorts, and colorful bracelets on his wrists. He is set against a white backdrop. There are 3-D ripples sculpted in the background.
Artist’s Statement:
The Way I See is a portrait series depicting the lives and experiences of children living with disabilities. It recognizes that perception is not limited to sight, therefore neither is art.
Children living with disabilities may enjoy and create art in many different ways, using their hands, eyes, ears and in some cases, even their sense of smell and taste. The viewer is encouraged to engage with the art and imagine the different ways these children interact with their world.
Through modeling paste, glue, thread, and craft paper, you are invited into the space where children make art. Because the art experience for disabled children is not limited to sight alone, the work is enhanced by the meticulous details and textures that make up a child’s world: backyard bugs, sparkling sequins, glass mosaics, rippling water, leather soccer balls, sprinkles and cherry topped ice cream. It’s a celebration of all things children explore!
Embedded within the work are song lyrics and poems conveying messages that invite a deeper understanding of the fleeting moments and profound impact of a child’s journey. In “Ames and His Family” and “Aria,” the portrayal of love and connection between children, whose lives were tragically brief, and their families is clear. In those fleeting days, intimate bonds are forged as parents and siblings cherish every breath, every step, every smile—no moments are wasted.
Art belongs to all, providing a mirror for the significance and value inherent in every life. Every person deserves the opportunity to engage with, produce, and articulate creations that resonate with and reflect their experience.
Everyone is invited to touch and interact with the artist’ work.
Please refrain from touching student art on the cinder block wall.
Artist’s Bio: Mandie Anderson
Mandie Anderson is an artist and educator from Indianapolis, Indiana. Throughout her freelance career she created over 45 book design and illustration projects with the not-for-profit, One Hope. She also served as the art director for the Bible App for Kids, which has over 50 million downloads. Mandie has experience creating web, print, and app design for numerous clients, and has served on leadership for the Indiana chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. (SCBWI) Mandie teaches art at Butler University, and is completing her illustration MFA at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.
This is Mandie’s first gallery exhibition at the Harrison Center. She lives in Broad Ripple with her husband and two sons.
@mandieandersonillustration
Art Teacher’s Bio: Leslie Walsh
Indiana School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Art Teacher, Grades Pre-Kindergarten through High School
Leslie Walsh has been an art educator in Indiana for the past 24 years. She has taught in parochial and public schools and has made a school home at The Indiana School for the Blind & Visually Impaired for the past 9 years. Leslie has made it her goal to provide differentiated art instruction for each individual student with varying eye conditions. Leslie introduces all art processes using tactile materials so that her students can create meaningful touchable artwork. Leslie has an ability to communicate objects, processes, and materials verbally that can go unsaid in instructing sighted students.
Leslie strives to form a link between the community and art for her students and has a relationship with The Eitlejorg Museum and The Indiana Blind Children’s Foundation. She welcomed many Native American visiting artists into her classroom to teach students lessons on Native American art. Leslie recently co-authored a grant which took students to experience art and music in Washington D.C. Leslie also collaborated with Purdue Professor, Jasmine Begeske, on an article about techniques for adapting art activities for students who are blind or have low vision that which was published in the Journal of the Arts and Special Education. She will be bringing her students on a field trip to experience Mandie Anderson’s The Way I See tactile art exhibit this March.
