Picture shows Teresa Jaynes at work in her studio. Jaynes stands to the viewer’s left. She looks at her hands as she adjusts a large-size, wooden sculptural letter between lines of blue tape on a white wall.
April 4 – October 21, 2016
Exhibition in the Library Company’s Louise Lux-Sions and Harry Sions Gallery:
Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind An Exhibition of the Visual Culture Program
Exhibition Hours: M-F, 9 am to 4:45 pm
About the curator: For more than 25 years, Teresa Jaynes has created installations and artists’ books based on extensive research in special collections and libraries including: The Rosenbach Museum & Library, Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Newberry Library. Her projects often expand over several years with different stages of research, learning a new craft and mapping out a series of interrelated components that coalesce into ambitious and highly nuanced work. Philadelphia-based, Jaynes received her MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University and her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, as well as grants from the Independence Foundation, Art Matters, National Endowment for the Arts, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Jaynes has exhibited her work in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia.
![Picture shows Pablo Batista at his four-piece drum set during the middle of a concert. Batista has his eyes closed and his hands flutter above the drum in front of him. He wears a blue long sleeve shirt with dark blue ornamental details at the shoulders. A fellow musician with a guitar strapped over his shoulder stands to Batista’s right. Another drummer, seated at his drum set, plays behind Batista. [end of description]](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/PabloBatista-VIPARC-201571-1030x686.jpg "Pablo Batista during a concert.")
Pablo Batista during a concert.
Musical Meeting of the Minds
September 14, 2016
Reception: 6:30pm
Concert: 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Featuring Philadelphia’s Master Percussionist Pablo Batista
The Library Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Jazz Project, and Free Library of Philadelphia invite you to enjoy a special performance by world-renowned master percussionist Pablo Batista and his Latin Jazz Ensemble. Expect an evening of dialogue, humor, passion, and community.
This is a free event, but please RSVP by September 9. We ask you to register for the reception, trolley, and the concert individually.
We are providing trolley service one way from the Library Company to the Free Library, but space is limited. Free street parking is also available.
Let us know if you require any accessibility accommodations, and we will be happy to assist.
5:30PM – 6:30PM
Reception
Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street
The evening begins with a reception and viewing of Common Touch: the Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind.
6:30PM
Trolley Pickup and Service to the Free Library
Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street
7:00PM – 8:30PM
Concert with Pablo Batista and his Latin Jazz Ensemble
Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Branch
Skyline Room, 4th Floor
1901 Vine Street
Finally, join us in the beautiful Skyline Room at the Free Library of Philadelphia for a lively and moving performance by percussionist Pablo Batista and his Latin Jazz Ensemble.
Philadelphia native and percussion master, Pablo Batista is a 2000 Pew Fellow and graduate of Temple University, who has performed, recorded, and toured with a range of leading jazz, R&B, Latin, Pop, and Gospel artists including Bono, George Howard, Alicia Keyes, Gerald Levert, Jeffrey Osborne, Eddie Palmieri, Teddy Pendergrass, Diane Reeves, Grover Washington, Jr., Musiq, Manny Oquendo’s Conjunto Libre, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2015, Batista received a Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Project grant for El Viaje (The Journey), a performance work blending traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms and contemporary Western instrumentation with Afro-Caribbean choreography.
As a songwriter and composer, Pablo’s musical direction is the result of many years of study, research, and blending folkloric drumming, dance, and chant with the great American music he’s been listening to and playing, for decades. Pablo is inspired by his roots and moved by the struggles it took to get to this point. As a passionate teacher he shares what he was taught and has gathered over his career, about time and rhythm.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/musical-meeting-of-the-minds-tickets-27026040615
![Picture shows exhibition visitors interacting with Teresa Jaynes’s Gift #2, a papier mâché owl on a wooden, sideways, cylindrical stand. In the right, the left hand of a man touches the front of the owl. The owl has yellow eyes and tan and white paper feathers. Part of the man’s right hand, which holds the top of a cane is also visible. In the left, a woman with long blond hair and wearing a green sweater touches the back of the owl. She stands between a women, with medium-length dark hair and wearing a purple zip-up cardigan, to her left, and the arm of another woman in a red sweater touching the back of the owl, to her right. The woman in purple, who also wears glasses, has her hands in fists and touching. Her knuckles touch in an explanatory gesture. Other gallery visitors walk and look at other parts of the exhibition in the background. [end of description]](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CT-OPENING_KA_0199-1-1030x773.jpg "Exhibition visitors interacting with Teresa Jaynes's Gift 1, paper owl.")
Exhibition visitors interacting with Teresa Jaynes’s Gift 1, paper owl.
Bridging the Story of Blindness (and Vision Loss) Across Two Centuries
September 15, 2016
Reception: 5:30pm
Panel Discussion: 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Bridging the Story of Blindness (and Vision Loss) Across Two Centuries
In Conversation and Reflection
Join us for a night with the Vision Council, the five-person advisory committee to artist-in-residence, Teresa Jaynes for Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind. The Council will reflect on Common Touch from their point of view. These individuals each have a unique visual acuity —from complete blindness at birth to the development of low-vision later in life. The multi-disciplinary members include a world-renowned musician, former executive in the fashion industry, a classical vocalist, a tri-athlete, and an art director.
Explore the exhibition and hear from the Vision Council during an evening of reflection and conversation on navigating the predominately-sighted world from the perspective of those with vision loss. The conversation will tap into their stories – then and now – on education, perception, and the tools and technologies used to negotiate the world.
All Programs Are Free; Advance Registration Is Required
For more information, please contact the events coordinator at (215) 546-3181.
If you require any particular accommodation, please indicate that in your registration or call (215) 546-3181.
About the Visual Culture Program
Launched in 2008, The Visual Culture Program at the Library Company of Philadelphia promotes the use of historical images as primary sources for studying the past and fosters research, collection, and interpretation of historic visual material. For more information about VCP at LCP, please visit: http://www.librarycompany.org/visualculture
About the Library Company
The Library Company of Philadelphia is an independent research library specializing in American history and culture from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Open to the public free of charge, the Library Company houses an extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, prints, photographs, and works of art. The mission of the Library Company is to foster scholarship in and increase public understanding of American history before 1900 by preserving, interpreting, making available, and augmenting the valuable materials in our care, thus providing meaningful stewardship of the legacy of founder Benjamin Franklin.
Past Events
Tuesday, April 5th 2016
Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm: Special Opening & Reception
Join us for the celebratory opening of Common Touch, a multimedia exhibition of new works by artist-in-residence Teresa Jaynes. Common Touch explores the nature, foundations, and limits of perception through the juxtaposition of Jaynes’ multisensory artwork with historical materials documenting the education of the visually impaired in the 19th century.
Picture shows Terry Galloway, standing and tilted to her left and with her hands up to her wide-open mouth.She shouts into a large -size ear that is the “face” of a person dressed all in black. A red curtain adorns the background.
Wednesday, April 20th, 2016
You Are My Sunshine – A Kind of Love Story
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Common Touch Exhibition Viewing & Reception
Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
6:30 pm – 7:45 pm: Live Performance by Terry Galloway &
Conversation with Kristin Lindgren, Ph.D. to follow
Gershman Y – 401 S. Broad Street – Philadelphia, PA 19147
In “You Are My Sunshine” performer Terry Galloway offers her humorous perspective on life after receiving a cochlear implant and being thrust into a world of sound. “You Are My Sunshine” is a comic, sometimes moving, sometimes profane exploration of what happens to a woman after she literally regains her senses. Galloway is a writer, director, and performer for stage, radio, video, and film. Her memoir Mean Little Deaf Queer (2010) was a Lambda Award finalist and winner of the Golden Crown award for non-fiction. A conversation about the intersection of art, disability, and access with Terry Galloway and Haverford Professor Kristin Lindgren, Ph.D. will directly follow the performance. Lindgren was a key organizer of Haverford College’s 2012 exhibition “What Can a Body Do?” which explored disability through the visual arts, poetry, and scholarship.
Tuesday, May 17th, 2016
Talking to the Fingers in the Language of the Eyes
5:00 pm: Annual Business Meeting for Library Company Members
6:00 pm: Common Touch Exhibition Viewing & Reception
6:30 pm: Artist’s Discussion: Talking to the Fingers in the Language of the Eyes
Join Teresa Jaynes, artist-in-residence at the Library Company, as we explore the artistic process of Common Touch. Enjoy an overview of the Library Company’s Michael Zinman Collection of Printing for the Blind and learn how it inspired Jaynes to embark on a multi-year journey of research, exploration, and creation. Jaynes will share her perspective on this unique art installation where the world of 19th-century historical collections intersects with a new world of tactile expression.
Tuesday, May 24th, 2016
Many Blind Rivers: Stories of Consciousness
An Evening with Stephen Kuusisto
5:30 pm – 6:00 pm: Common Touch Exhibition Viewing & Reception
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Lecture & Discussion Led by Stephen Kuusisto
Blindness trails a long history in imagination. Award-winning writer Stephen Kuusisto, author of the New York Times “Notable Book” Planet of the Blind (1998) discusses blind history and its place in art. Stephen Kuusisto teaches in the Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies at Syracuse University. He is the author of numerous works, including Only Bread, Only Light: Poems (2000) and Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening (2006).
Picture shows bust-length portrait of Stephen Kuusisto with his dog. In the lower left edge of the image to the viewer, Kuusisto rests his left cheek on the knuckles of his left hand. He wears dark-shaded glasses and a black T-shirt. Above his head is the head of a yellow Labrador posed in left profile. The dog wears a metal choke collar with a dog tag.
