Education Stories – The Andy Warhol Museum https://www.warhol.org Tue, 02 Aug 2022 19:27:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 Pop-Up Digital Lab: Learning From and About Teachers https://www.warhol.org/pop-up-digital-lab-learning-from-and-about-teachers/ https://www.warhol.org/pop-up-digital-lab-learning-from-and-about-teachers/#respond Tue, 10 Jan 2017 01:28:55 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2294 Each fall, educators from the greater Pittsburgh area convene at The Warhol for its Teacher Open House. Think of the three-hour event as an all-access pass to the museum: teachers can preview special exhibitions, listen to lectures from curators and artist-educators, engage in art-making activities, and learn about how they can incorporate The Warhol into their curricula. And to top it all off, teachers may receive Act 48 professional development credit hours!

An artist educator helps a teacher wearing glasses and a white sweatshirt with colorful streaks on it screen print a design onto a yellow shirt using turquoise ink.

The digital engagement team has been thinking about how its technology resources can better serve the needs of teachers. At this year’s Teacher Open House on October 25, we transformed a small corner of our entrance space into a Pop-Up Digital Lab—a space in which teachers were invited to share how they use technology, test out our digital resources, and provide feedback on how to improve our offerings to fit their needs.

In designing our Pop-Up Digital Lab, we were inspired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Test It Lab, in which the museum takes over a museum space for a number of weeks. Visitors passing by the space give quick feedback on a number of future museum experiences, whether it’s voting on which language they prefer on a wall panel or testing a paper prototype for a mobile app. The findings from the Test It Lab inform what ends up in exhibition galleries later down the line.

The Pop-Up Digital Lab was a fun and fast way to collect data as we embark on new digital projects and consider revamping old ones. We are in the beginning stages of redesigning warhol.org to better serve the needs of our various audiences, and a core group we hope to target is teachers looking for Andy Warhol-related resources for their lesson plans or planning to visit the museum with their class.

Additionally, the Teacher Open House was a great opportunity to test the value of D.I.Y. POP, an iOS app that allows users to learn about and use  Warhol’s silkscreening process. We launched the app on 2011; five years after its premiere, we hoped to gauge teachers’ interest in incorporating D.I.Y. POP into their curricula in order to assess whether we should revamp the app.

During the course of this year’s Teacher Open House, we asked educators to drop by the Pop-Up Digital Lab and participate in a number of activities related to our research questions: What are teachers looking for in online resources from an art museum like The Warhol? How do they currently use digital tools in their teaching practices? How might we improve our existing digital resources to better serve teachers’ needs?

Inspiration Wall

At this unfacilitated station, teachers were invited to stop by the Inspiration Wall and let us know about how they use technology. On one giant sheet of butcher paper, we posed the question “What are some of your favorite online resources, apps, and websites?” Teachers wrote responses on sticky-notes and attached them to the butcher paper. Next to the sticky-note poll, we had teachers use dot stickers to “vote” on the digital tools they use in their classrooms. We populated this second sheet of butcher paper with a number of potential responses: audio and podcasts, class blog, videos, learning management systems, students’ mobile devices, powerpoints, smart boards, laptops, and iPads/tablets.

Teachers write their poll responses on sticky notes while standing in front of the Inspiration Wall

Explore D.I.Y. Pop

At the following station, teachers were invited to go through the process of creating a silkscreen print on our D.I.Y. POP app. The app allows users to use Facilitators observed the experience of first-time users, capturing their frustrations about the interface design and asking how teachers could see themselves using this with their students.

Dive into Resources & Lessons

We also set up an unfacilitated station that allowed educators to navigate our existing education resources on warhol.org. Teachers navigated our lesson plans and filled out comment cards about their experience using the site.

Each comment card each had one of three prompts on them:

  • My favorite part of this website was…
  • One thing I found frustrating about this website was…
  • I would have loved to have seen…

We hoped that these questions would help us get a broad sense of how people were feeling about the resources and lessons section of the site, and they did ultimately yield a lot of valuable information.

Completed comment and teacher information cards fanned out on a table

Card Sorting Activity

At our final station, teachers were invited to participate in a facilitated card-sorting activity that would inform us as we rethink the resources and lessons section of our website. Participants were given a set of eight cards, each of which had a statement about what they might be looking for on The Warhol’s online resources. The statements provided were:

  1. I want to find inspiration for lesson plans I will write.
  2. I want ideas for art-making activities.
  3. I want access to resources such as powerpoints, images, or videos to use in the classroom.
  4. I want to download full, pre-written lesson plans.
  5. I want to learn about the historical and social context around Warhol’s life.
  6. I want to learn about Warhol’s process and artistic technique.
  7. I want to learn about specific artworks.
  8. I want to refer students to this website for their research projects.

First, we asked teachers to eliminate statements that didn’t reflect why they might go to The Warhol’s education page. Afterward, teachers ranked the remaining statements by importance. We took a photograph of their top priorities—along with the grades and subjects they teach—as a quick snapshot of each data set.

Three people participate in the card-sorting activity at the Pop-Up Digital Lab

Findings

After collecting all this data, we needed to crunch the numbers to make meaning from it!

The card-sorting exercise in particular yielded a lot of useful data; we had 20 participants who each gave us information about eight distinct statements. To organize this information in a meaningful way, we ultimately decided to award points to each statement based on how it was ranked. Cards that were ranked as most important received eight points, second most important received seven points, and so on. Cards that were eliminated entirely received zero points.

We then calculated the average score each statement was awarded overall and by the grades that the teachers taught. For this analysis, we considered high-school teachers to be teachers whose students were predominantly in grades 9 to 12, middle school teachers to be teachers whose students were predominantly in grades 5 to 11, and elementary school teachers to be teachers whose students were predominantly grades 4 and below.

This bar graph summarizes the data collected from the card-sorting activity. There are four bars, a blue one representing overall score, an orange one representing score by elementary school teachers, a gray one representing score by middle school teachers, and a yellow one representing score by high school teachers.

This chart displays the average score each of the eight statements (listed in order above) received in each category. We were most interested to see what cards the teachers ranked highest and lowest. This data is summarized below:

This chart summaries the highest and lowest ranking items for each age group. Among elementary school teachers, art-making activities were the highest-ranked, and warhol's process was the lowest-ranked, followed by a tie between referring students for research and gaining information about the social context around Warhol's life for second lowest-ranked. Among middle school teachers, resource like powerpoint and images was the highest ranked option. Pre-written lesson plans were the lowest-ranked in this age group, followed by a tie between information about Warhol's process and information about specific works for second-lowest ranked. For high school teachers, Warhol's process was the highest-ranked item, referring students for research was the lowest-ranked item, and pre-written lesson plans were the second lowest-ranked. Overall, art-making activities was the highest ranked item, and referring students for research was the lowest-ranked item, followed by pre-written lesson plans for the second lowest-ranked item.

In some ways, this data fit our expectations. It made sense to us that elementary school teachers would be more interested in art-making activities than exploring more of the scholarly analyses about Warhol’s life and works, for example. However, some of the results were also surprising. High school teachers, we assumed, would be interested in recommending warhol.org to their students as a resource for research, but it turned out to be their lowest-ranked statement.

Dot sticker responses to classroom digital tool poll

Our analysis of the dot sticker vote from the Inspiration Wall was much more straightforward; we simply had to tally the votes. We received 202 responses.

This horizontal bar graph summarizes the data gathered from the dot sticker vote. According to the bar graph, the category audio and podcasts received 9 votes, class blog received 5 votes, videos received 41 votes, learning management systems received 7 votes, students' mobile devices received 22 votes, power point received 33 votes, Smart Boards received 30 votes, laptops received 27 votes, and iPads and tablets received 28 votes.

This was the first time we’ve collected data on whether teachers take advantage of their students’ personal devices, so it was interesting to learn the prevalence of allowing students to use their mobile phones. It was also surprising to see that a relatively high number of teachers use interactive whiteboards called Smart Boards, which was a technology we hadn’t anticipated being so popular.

In the other Inspiration Wall activity, we received a 97 responses about educators’ favorite digital resources, and most of these were unique. However, we did find some trends among the responses. For example, Pinterest was cited as a resource 11 times. There were also seven different mobile applications mentioned, as well as a number of websites. Five museum websites were mentioned, in addition to four references to YouTube in general or specific YouTube channels. The learning management system Schoology and crowdsourcing community Teacherspayteachers were also each referenced multiple times. This open-ended activity has provided us with many sources to use for inspiration in the future, as well as ideas for our own digital resources. For example, we’re considering making it easy for teachers to “pin” activities and lesson plans from our website to their own Pinterest boards, and we see that teachers really crave short videos to share with their students.

 

While the “Explore D.I.Y. Pop” station did not provide quantitative data, it did give us insight into the value the app might provide to educators. We heard that teachers liked the way the app explained Warhol’s process and thought it was a valuable teaching tool, but that several of the bugs in the app (for example, videos that no longer work) take away from the experience. Some teachers expressed an interest in using D.I.Y. Pop to allow their students to get familiar with the screen printing process before doing their own prints in the classroom, and others mentioned that in the case that they were unable to provide an in-classroom screen printing activity for their students, using the app might still allow students to experience and learn about screen printing.

We also learned a lot from the comment cards that teachers filled out while exploring our education website at the “Dive into Resources & Lessons” station. We received 28 responses total, 21 of which discussed the participant’s favorite part of the website, four of which discussed what frustrated the participants, and three of which discussed what else participants would have liked to have seen on the website.

While it is difficult to quantify subjective responses, some strong trends did emerge. Four of the 28 comment cards mentioned that the website was extremely slow to load, and three of the cards noted  the website clearly displayed the national and Pennsylvania teaching standards. “I LOVE that  Sixteen cards gave positive feedback on different aspects of the lesson plans, such as the high quality of certain sections of the lesson plans. However, as far as the user interface goes, the teachers were divided; two teachers commented that they liked the interface, while others commented that they wished it was more intuitive. This was a good place to start gathering thoughts on the website, but because the station was unfacilitated, we tended to get praise rather than critical feedback, and we couldn’t dig deep into the motivations behind the feedback. We will have to continue gathering data to clarify these responses.

Moving Forward

We learned a lot from the Pop-up Digital Lab that will help inform digital projects in the future, but perhaps the most important learnings were about what user research means at a museum.

  • User testing and evaluation doesn’t always have to be formal. The Digital Lab was a scrappy endeavor from the beginning; we hand wrote and painted all of the signage and used simple analog tools such as voting dots and post-it notes. It would have been great to have a really sleek, polished look for the lab, but the teachers appreciated the D.I.Y. nature of the event.
  • It’s good to have a mix of facilitated and unfacilitated activities. The facilitated stations, especially the card-sorting activity, yielded the most robust qualitative data. However, having unfacilitated activities such as the Inspiration Wall and the education website response cards were still valuable and allowed us to gather more data with fewer Warhol staff resources.
  • Our museum activities are opportunities to learn about users. This year, the digital engagement team has been thinking about how we can infuse user research and evaluation at all stages of a project development. After the Teacher Open House, we’d like to take that mantra one step further: user research should be woven into all of our museum activities, whether it’s the everyday museum visit or a special event.

The Pop-up Digital Lab served as a great model for quickly collecting user data with a limited budget and staff resources. We’re looking forward to taking our findings from the Pop-up Digital Lab to build better technology experiences for teachers and all learners in the future!

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Art as an Equalizer https://www.warhol.org/art-as-an-equalizer/ https://www.warhol.org/art-as-an-equalizer/#respond Thu, 15 Dec 2016 22:04:57 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2290 This story originally appeared in the fall 2016 issue of Carnegie Magazine, a quarterly publication of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Story by Julie Hannon and photography by Renee Rosensteel.

A new program at The Andy Warhol Museum makes it a more welcoming destination for visitors with autism and sensory sensitivities.  

It’s a toss-up for favorite moment of the morning for 14-year-old Jacob Schmitt: lying on the floor with Andy Warhol’s “floating balloons” dancing overhead, or mashing together blood-red lips and a pastel-colored cat in a collage he crafted in the underground studio of Andy’s museum, The Factory.

“I feel like myself when I do art,” says Jacob.

The boy in the center of the image tosses a large cube with a picture of a smiling young women on the viable side of the cube. His mother, to his left, looks on smiling.
Jacob Schmitt and his mom, Jane Stadnik (at right), participate in an ice breaker that prompts the group to practice facial recognition skills.

For Jacob’s mom, Jane Stadnik, it’s about something just as powerful: spending two enjoyable hours in a museum with her son. Jacob has autism, and outings to busy public places can be overwhelming for him and those around him. But on this particular Saturday morning at The Andy Warhol Museum, the goal is making teens and young adults like Jacob with sensory sensitivities—and their caregivers—feel welcome.

“When you come to a program like this, where people are knowledgeable about autism, if he’s stimming [self-stimulating behavior], it’s not a big deal. People go on their way and it makes it so much more of a relaxed experience,” says Stadnik, who made the trip from Ambridge after learning about the free program on Facebook.

“Art has been really inclusive for Jacob. In math class, he notices that he’s different from other kids. But when he rolls into art class, he’s like everyone else. It’s the same here. Art is an equalizer.”

This morning’s sensory-friendly program is not unlike most of the museum’s tours that introduce visitors to Warhol’s life, art, and practice. It reveals many artifacts from the Pop artist’s storied life—from his working-class Pittsburgh roots to his New York stardom. It also points to the lasting impact Warhol still has on artists working today, including the global sensation Chinese activist-artist Ai Weiwei. There’s even dedicated time for artmaking, including Warhol’s signature process of silkscreening.

What is a little different with this tour is the preparation. Knowing that many in today’s group are sensitive to loud noises, bright lights, and crowds, in advance of the visit staff made available a “pre-story” video, designed to inform participants about what they could expect to find at the museum—from the sights and sounds of specific galleries to the location of the bathrooms.

On each floor of the museum is a quiet area that includes a bench and a box full of calming aids that participants grab as needed: noise-cancelling headphones and sunglasses as well as super-stretchy fidgets and weighted blankets—self-regulating tools that promote focus and concentration, decrease stress, and ­keep fidgeting fingers busy.

Also on hand for support and conversation: a small team of occupational therapy students from the University of Pittsburgh and Chatham University.

“It’s not about changing the experience of being at the museum or how Warhol’s art is viewed,” says Leah Morelli, The Warhol’s school programs coordinator who developed the pilot program in partnership with a focus group and advisory committee. “It’s about providing multiple pathways for discovery and a successful experience.”

The art of reading a face

On the museum’s sixth floor, artist-educator Christen DiLeonardo pauses in front of a series of blue, gold, and grey silkscreens of Jackie Kennedy. The paintings, she explains  to a wandering group in tow, are significant because they combine two of Warhol’s signature themes—celebrity and fatal disaster.

Fascinated by the relentless media coverage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Warhol zeroed in on the First Lady, culling from newspapers and Life magazine eight images that, when cropped, juxtapose her facial expressions immediately before and after her husband’s murder to powerful effect.

“Here Warhol gives us a rounded view of Jackie at her most raw,” DiLeonardo says. “In which images does she look happy?”

Pointing to a canvas featuring the First Lady beaming in a pillbox hat she wore on that fateful November day, Dale Johnston replies, “that one.” “Yes!” DiLeonardo counters. “What tells you that she’s happy?”

“She’s smiling,” asserts Johnston.

“Yes! What is it about her mouth that tells us that?” DiLeonardo asks, this time prompting the larger group. As if on cue, two participants use their fingers to push the corners of their lips toward the sky.

For Johnston, 27, and other adults and children on the autism spectrum, reading facial expressions and nuanced body language is a challenge that art can help them overcome.

Johnston is no stranger to art museums. An especially big fan of Warhol friend and collaborator Keith Haring, Johnston and his mother, Shawn, say they both enjoy art, how it makes them feel, and what it has to teach them.

“It’s amazing how art opens him up,” says Shawn, noting that Dale is also active with Manchester Craftsman’s Guild. “I like to make things with my hands,” adds Dale, a common refrain from the day’s participants, all of whom spent about an hour in the museum’s studio doing any combination of three projects: watercolor, collage, and silkscreening.

A young man and a women stand in a gallery filled with colorful celebrity pop portraits. The young man in pointing at a sheet of paper the women is holding.
In the portrait gallery, participants work in pairs to match the emotions on faces in printed handouts with those in Warhol’s colorful Pop paintings.

“Coming to an art museum, looking at portraits, making portraits, that’s more of an adult way to practice these very important life skills,” says Kelly Ammerman, a teacher at City Connections, Pittsburgh Public Schools’ community-based life skills and independent living program designed for students ages 18 to 21 who have moderate to severe disabilities.

“Programs like this help get these young people out into the community, engaging with people and in topics that interest them,” says Ammerman, who has accompanied both teens and young adults to sensory-friendly events ­at The Warhol. “It also allows them to get the lay of the land; so, for some, they can feel prepared and comfortable coming back on their own.”

Twenty-year-old Maximus Chaney was so inspired by Ai Weiwei’s artful protest of placing fresh flowers inside the basket of his bicycle each day while banned from leaving China for 600 days, he vowed to build a bicycle out of Legos, a material also used by Ai. “I might even donate it,” he says.  “I know one thing for certain. I’d like to come back [to The Warhol] and bring my grandmother.”

In an exercise on the second floor, with Warhol’s colorful Pop portraits as the backdrop, program leader Morelli gives the participants photocopies of faces—some expressing happiness, sadness, even indifference—and sends them off in pairs to match the emotions on the paper to those in Warhol’s paintings.

For ninth-grader Bella, on her first visit to The Warhol from Streetsboro, Ohio, it was a good social exercise. “We knew it would be a great opportunity for a hands-on experience, where Bella could learn and create, and also meet and interact with new people socially, which is always good,” says Bella’s mom, Keri Stoyle, who found the program online while making plans for the pair to come to Pittsburgh to paddleboard and ride bikes. “She’s learning to advocate for herself.”

Like any gathering of teenagers, there was, of course, talk of music. At Jacob’s mention of his love for Green Day, Chrisoula Perdziola, whose teenage daughter, Eva, has autism and is limited verbally, notes that despite the fact that all five of Eva’s senses are heightened, she loves listening to music—Green Day and Foo Fighters, in particular. “And she likes to listen to it loud,” says Perdziola, laughing.

Embracing difference

Perdziola remembers opening day of The Andy Warhol Museum in 1994. She still  has a Polaroid of herself walking in the front door. That same day she bought a print of one of Warhol’s most famous paintings, Flowers, in the museum store. Four years later, when they were preparing to have Eva, they put the print in her room, and it’s been there ever since.

“Warhol did a lot of art outside of the box, and kids and adults on the spectrum  live outside of the box,” says Perdziola, who works for PA Museums (the state’s museum association), is active in Autism Connection of Pennsylvania, and brings the perspective of a caregiver to The Warhol’s advisory committee for sensory-friendly programming. “For me, The Warhol is a place of acceptance for uniqueness and differences of all kinds. We feel relaxed and at home here. That’s big.”

Composite image. The left image is a smiling young woman tossing a yellow metallic balloon. In the right image, a young man pulls a squeegee across a silkscreen and a young women to him right helps pull.
Two of the program’s crowd favorites: Artmaking in the museum’s studio, The Factory, and interacting with Warhol’s Silver Clouds. Above right, Dale Johnston tries his hand at silkscreening with help from artist-educator Heather White.

Having Perdziola as an advisor, as well as Jessica Benham—who is autistic, a doctoral student at Pitt, and heavily involved in Pittsburgh disability advocacy as director of public policy at the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy—is important, says Roger Ideishi, associate professor of  rehabilitation sciences at Temple University and a national consultant for sensory-friendly programming. He’s partnered with The Smithsonian, the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, The Warhol, and others. Best practices for sensory-friendly programs within the arts are still emerging, he notes.

The Warhol is among a growing list of local cultural organizations—Carnegie Science Center, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Ballet, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh—to program specifically with those on the autism spectrum in mind.

Since 2009, The Warhol has partnered with Wesley Spectrum High School in Whitehall to develop and deliver an intensive in-school art program that helps students on the autism spectrum or with behavioral health issues identify facial expressions,  body language, and social cues. The Warhol’s pilot sensory-friendly series, made possible through the support of The Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, and the FISA Foundation in memory of Dr. Mary Margaret Kimmel, is just one part of the museum’s comprehensive accessibility initiative for museum visitors with disabilities. Also available: an inclusive audio guide, tactile art reproductions and signage, and assistive listening devices in  The Warhol Theater.

“What’s great about arts organizations across the country is that they’re recognizing that there’s been a group of people in society who rarely get the opportunities to experience the arts in multiple ways like many of us do—as patrons, as art makers, as art appreciators,” says Ideishi. “The Warhol is really looking closely at how we can capture the strengths of these individuals and help fill wants and needs.”

What’s success look like? “For the museum, it could be that it’s living and  even expanding its mission,” says Ideishi. But he’s the first to note that measuring the outcome may be different for everybody.

“We hope to see return participants; I think we’d all be happy with that result,”   he notes. “At the same time, we could see    a family come to a program, stay for only
a short time, and think to ourselves, wow, that’s disappointing—only to learn later from the parent that it was the best 20 minutes that family ever spent together
in a public place. So it’s often very individualized, and that’s something organizations need to consider.”

Where The Warhol is ahead of the curve, he says, is with young adults and adult programming. Benham, who is often asked to advise on programs within Pittsburgh, says The Warhol is a needed leader in this respect. The transition to adulthood for those on the spectrum—in terms of social services, health care, employment, even entertainment—is a growing challenge.

One in six adults in the United States are living with a disability. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 68 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder. As these kids continue to come of age, they’re the next generation of patrons, says Benham.

Which is precisely the reason she believes occupational therapy students, in addition to museum staff, benefit from spending time immersed in the culture of a population that is part of their clientele.

“The saying goes, if you’ve met one  autistic person, you’ve met one autistic
person,” says Benham. She notes that she had an interesting interaction with one of the occupational therapy students while  participating in the program at The Warhol. “It turns out I had one of her family members in a class I teach at Pitt. This interaction gave the student, I hope, a moment to think about the fact that this person who is autistic is just like me, is a graduate student just like me, is human just like me. When people look at me, they often have no idea I’m autistic. There is no one universal physical attribute or singular characteristic for being autistic.”

Like many of the program’s participants, Benham says, the level of support she may need often depends on the situation and   the timing.

“The Warhol’s staff is learning to interact with all people, and meeting them where they are,” says Perdziola. “And in that, there’s real value.”

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Designing an Inclusive Audio Guide Part 5: Reflections on a user-centered design process https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-5-reflections-on-a-user-centered-design-process/ https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-5-reflections-on-a-user-centered-design-process/#respond Tue, 25 Oct 2016 20:06:13 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2276

This is the fifth post in a series about the development process of The Warhol’s new audio guide.

Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been developing Out Loud, The Warhol’s new audio guide, and I’m excited to announce that we are launching it on October 25. The app is available to download for iOS devices from the App Store; visitors to the museum can also borrow a device at the museum for free.

I’m proud of Out Loud because it is truly the result of working directly with users, employing user-centered design and agile development processes to shape the final product. While the app offers perspectives and information on Andy Warhol that we hope all visitors will enjoy, we took on an inclusive design process and built the app with visitors who are blind or have low vision in mind.

The best way of understanding our users’ needs was to go straight to the source. Before we drew a single wireframe or wrote a single line of code, the app team talked to partners with visual impairments about how technology can be used to strengthen a museum experience. For both technical and audio content development we treated user testing sessions as milestones, moments to test specific features. What we learned during a session would dictate the direction we would take, whether that meant scrapping a particular design or re-editing audio to tell more concise and engaging stories.

We also tested the app at every opportunity possible. In mid-July, we hosted a Pittsburgh-area Accessibility Meetup at The Warhol in which community members with different abilities came to test the app. It was quite humbling: we learned that, no matter how well-designed the technology is, an audio guide is only as good as the museum experience around it. Everything, from the visitor services representative who hands a device to a visitor at the admission desk to the kind of headphones we offer, can make or break the experience. We applied these learnings in early August when we presented the app to our colleagues in town for the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability conference.

We continue to see Out Loud as a work in progress. You could consider the Out Loud we’re launching now a beta version, a way for us to publicly test the ideas we’ve been working on for the past nine months before we expand it further. This version includes content for the seventh floor of our museum, covering Warhol’s life through early 1962, the moment right before he produces his most iconic works. We’ll be collecting feedback from visitors to help shape how we tell stories about this prolific, multifaceted, and often contradictory artist.

Gallery attendants manning our admission desk often tell me that one of the requests they receive the most from visitors is an audio guide. I’m thrilled that, with the launch of Out Loud, we’ll now be able to offer new and diverse perspectives on Warhol’s life and art  in an engaging way. Even more exciting than opening up new perspectives on Warhol’s work is opening up the museum to audiences that might not always feel comfortable here. In the video above, Ann Lapidus, one of the community partners whose honest and continual input was pivotal to creating the app, describes how Out Loud is innovative because it allows people with visual impairments to enjoy a full and independent experience at the museum.

Whether or not you’re in Pittsburgh, you can be our next user tester. Download the app today, or borrow one of our devices for free at the museum, and let us know what you think!

Accessibility initiatives at The Warhol are generously supported by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, and the FISA Foundation in honor of Dr. Mary Margaret Kimmel.

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Designing an Inclusive Audio Guide Part 4: Content Development: Telling the Warhol Story https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-4-content-development-telling-the-warhol-story/ https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-4-content-development-telling-the-warhol-story/#respond Fri, 05 Aug 2016 00:18:09 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2218 This is the fourth post in a series about the development process of The Warhol’s new audio guide.

If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface: of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it. — Andy Warhol

While Andy Warhol might have quipped that there was no “mystery” behind his work, we in The Warhol’s education department continually strive to demystify one of the most complex artists of the 20th century. As a member of The Warhol’s education team for over 15 years, I’ve had the opportunity to be the content lead on three different iterations of the museum’s audio guide. By reinterpreting our collection and preserving our museum’s history through the broader use of digital technologies, we’ve had the opportunity to enhance the visitor experience each and every time.

2008: Guide by Cell, The Warhol’s First Audio Guide
In 2007 we began looking into integrating simple and familiar mobile technologies into the visitor experience. In 2008 I attended the American Association of Museums (AAM) annual conference in Denver, Colorado, where I sat in on a Small Museums & Technology Panel that posed the question “Can and Should Small Museums Be Technological Leaders?.” My immediate response was YES…YES we should, and cost shouldn’t be a prohibitive factor. Fortuitously, I met a representative from a company there called Guide by Cell (GBC) who, since 2004, has grown to become the leading provider of affordable mobile engagement solutions. Our partnership was born, and the education department set out to create its first series of podcasts based on the museum’s permanent collection.

During this time, a traditional museum podcast followed a recipe-like production beginning with a content script of 150–300 words, which resulted in audio clips 2–3 minutes in length. We recorded the audio using a ZOOM H4N portable digital recorder and edited using Audacity, which is free, open source software. A nice feature of GBC was that we could also record phone interviews with artists, scholars, and curators, which in turn allowed us to create audio content for our traveling exhibitions. Visitors accessed the audio guide by dialing the tour number and then entering the prompt number next to the artwork. A later version of GBC allowed users to access the audio content using QR codes. While this “new” mobile technology offered many things, there were many things that it did not…including accessibility for our visitors with low/no vision or hearing loss.

The Warhol's 2008 Guide by Cell brochure. Pictures of some of Warhol's works appear alongside pictures of keys that a user could press on their phone to get information about the artwork.
The Warhol’s 2008 Guide by Cell brochure

 

2014: The Warhol’s First Attempt at Audio Visual Descriptions
Fast forward to the summer of 2014 and our blockbuster exhibition Halston and Warhol: Silver and Suede. Again we embarked on a new audio guide to enhance the visitor experience, only this time we designed it with our low/no vision as well as the deaf and hard of hearing community in mind. Our education team participated in numerous trainings and workshops centered around improving our interpretation and accessibility initiatives. We came away with the knowledge of producing audio visual descriptions and a toolbox of best practices for engaging audiences with low/no vision. We set out recording 12 audio stops with interviews from curators, scholars, collectors, friends, and family of both Warhol and Halston. In addition, we created 12 audio visual descriptions of key Warhol artworks and Halston designs. We also made transcripts available so that visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing could also interact with the exhibition.

The content was delivered using iPods and low-energy Bluetooth beacons, placed on or near the artwork, to push content out to visitors based on where they were located in the gallery. This technology allowed us to move away from QR codes and visitors having to read numbers on a wall label and type them into the phone. Instead, the iOS application notified you when there was relevant audio nearby. While excited by new technologies and motivated with best practices in accessibility, we quickly learned from our user testing that our best practices…weren’t the best. Users found the prescribed, industry standard audio visual description template that we used to create content long and boring. And due to the close proximity of artworks and temporary exhibition walls, the Bluetooth beacons caused interference with one another resulting in premature audio starts and stops. However, our deaf and hard of hearing audiences did find the transcripts of the audio content easily accessible and enhancing to their overall visitor experience. Onward and upward!

2016: The Warhol’s Newest Inclusive Audio Guide: Out Loud
This year we set out to once again to reimagine a new audio experience for our museum visitors. We began with a focus group including members of the community with low/no vision, some of whom were familiar with our 2014 audio guide. Our biggest take away in terms of creating new audio content was that users wanted a “path with choice.” This meant creating and delivering content in a way that provided a curated visitor experience but allowed the user to order the content based on their interests and needs. We began by getting rid of the old audio visual description template and created content around themes suggested by the users, such as brief introductions to the artwork, short visual descriptions, historical and cultural context, points of view and artist interviews, as well as supporting information like music clips, podcasts, or archival audio. In terms of content delivery, instead of providing 2–3 minute clips, the new audio content branches out into smaller, modular stops mostly under 1 minute in length.

Another key finding this time around was that users from this community often visited the museum as a social experience and desired an audio guide that didn’t impede that experience, but enhance it. Therefore, this iteration of the audio guide was built with a universal audience in mind. Visitors with low/no vision can access the audio content using VoiceOver technology, and our deaf and hard of hearing audience can simply use one of our neck loops that broadcasts to their hearing aids. Audio splitters are also available for visitors who want to share in the same audio experience at the same time.

We at The Warhol believe that the process of viewing an artwork is both creative and active and an important aspect of the creative process. Therefore, through meeting people where they are and engaging them in the interpretation of the collection, we are able to reach our vision of becoming an active community of learners by encouraging dialogue and expression about art and contemporary life.

Accessibility initiatives at The Warhol are generously supported by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, and the FISA Foundation in honor of Dr. Mary Margaret Kimmel.

Out Loud, The Warhol’s new audio guide, will be available at the museum fall 2016.

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Designing an Inclusive Audio Guide Part 3: Talking Tech with Ruben Niculcea https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-3-talking-tech-with-ruben-niculcea/ https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-3-talking-tech-with-ruben-niculcea/#respond Fri, 22 Jul 2016 20:00:01 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2189 This is the third post in a series about the development process of The Warhol’s new audio guide. 

To develop our inclusive audio guide, we’ve partnered with the fantastic Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh Innovation Studio. I sat down with Ruben Tudorel Niculcea, lead software engineer at the Innovation Studio, to talk about the technology behind the iOS application.

Desi Gonzalez: What is the Innovation Studio?

Ruben Niculcea: The Innovation Studio is a post-digital design, research, and development lab for the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. We ask, how can museums be 21st-century cultural institutions, and how can we showcase the breadth of content that we have available? Museums hold so much knowledge, history, and culture, and we use technology to present this in a way that’s relevant, engaging, and meets people where they are.

DG: Tell me a little bit about yourself and the role you played on this audio guide project.

RN: I’m a lead software engineer at the Innovation Studio, and I was the lead developer on the project. I’ve made all of the architectural and technical decisions associated with the delivery of this project. I help set development deadlines and make sure they’re met and that we’re delivering a product based on The Warhol’s needs. Sam Ticknor, a junior developer in the Innovation Studio, has been working alongside me to develop the app.

DG: Let’s get a bit technical. Can you describe the technology underlying the audio guide?

RN: This is a React Native application with a Redux architecture. It’s an emerging technology in the mobile app space, and I made that leap for a number of reasons. I feel that React Native is finally stable enough to be used in production, and it allows for rapid mobile development that is currently not available in traditional ways of developing mobile applications, such as Objective-C with a model-view-controller architecture. For example, we’ve redesigned the audio player for the app three or four different times, at times with completely different visual design, animations, and functionality. Because we went with React Native and a Redux architecture, we could rapidly prototype these different components without having to fundamentally change large parts of the application. Another great thing about React Native is that, if we want to port this to Android further down the line, 70% to 80% of the work will have already been done.

DG: A central goal of the project is to design the audio guide for users with visual impairments. Is this the first time you’ve developed an app for this audience?

RN: Yes, it is. At my previous job, we made sure that we included a baseline for accessibility. That means we had support for VoiceOver—the screen reader technology built into all iOS devices that uses a combination of different gestures to translate the visual design into speech—as a layer on top of what we built. But as for thinking about how a user would interact with an application with VoiceOver from the start, this is the first time I’ve done that. It’s completely different to design with VoiceOver in mind.

DG: In addition to VoiceOver, we’re also using bluetooth low-energy beacons to push out media to users. What has your experience working with beacons been like?

RN: Previous to this, I shipped a somewhat similar solution for the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History where, when you enter certain rooms, you trigger a notification highlighting certain content. This app works a little bit differently, in that we’re detecting when you’re in within a particular region in the range of a certain object—a more accurate way of determining proximity.

Beacons are good for detecting when you’re in the proximity of something, but if you’re trying to figure out someone’s exact location, then beacons are actually a pretty crude solution to that problem. We’re still working to make the beacons function better.

DG: What’s a feature on the audio guide app that you are most excited about?

RN: With this audio guide, we’ve done things a bit differently: instead of having one longer audio file related to each work of art or theme, we’ve split our audio into smaller, modular chunks, so that you might have three to five audio “chapters” for each “story.” We’re planning on dynamically rearranging the order in which you listen to these chapters, which is something I’m most excited about.

Each chapter is assigned a category—such as historical context, artistic process, or archival material—and we will be able to rearrange the order in which you’ll listen to them depending on your preference. If you have VoiceOver enabled, we will move the visual description audio file to the top of the list, so that visually impaired audiences will get a sense of an artwork before diving into deeper content about it. And for all users, we’ll be able to tailor a path based on your interests. Let’s say you really like historical context—whether it’s a clip about the house Warhol grew up in, or a discussion about consumer culture in the 1950s—and you listen to the historical context every time but skip other kinds of content. The app will be able to learn what you like and place that category higher up on the list.

DG: What has been one of your biggest learnings throughout the process?

RN: The thing that’s really struck me is that designing with accessibility in mind—what’s often referred to as “universal design” or “inclusive design”—has not only been learning a new area within software development—namely, designing for screen readers—but also has forced me to simplify my designs in a way that is beneficial to everyone. It’s made me realize that, if an interaction is too hard for someone who is visually impaired, then it’s something that could be improved for everyone. The final design of our audio player is a great example of this. We slowly simplified the audio player and how the controls are arranged until it they were consistent across all screens and most states.

 

A screen shot of the "College Years" story from the new Out Loud app. The page includes a thumbnail of the piece, details about the piece and a "Chapters" section with several audio clips. There are audio controls like previous, rewind 5 seconds, pause, speed, and forward near the bottom of the screen. Below them is a tool bar with the options "Near me," "Stories," and "The Warhol."
The most recent layout for the audio guide.

 

DG: Where can I find the code?

RN: At the Innovation Studio and The Warhol, we are committed to open source, and sharing our knowledge and technology with other museums. We plan on open-sourcing the app as soon as we launch version 1 of the app, and it will be available on The Warhol’s Github account. We’ll be releasing it with an MIT license, which means that anyone is free to use, copy, modify, publish, and distribute the code however they please.

Accessibility initiatives at The Warhol are generously supported by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, and the FISA Foundation in honor of Dr. Mary Margaret Kimmel.

Out Loud, The Warhol’s new audio guide, will be available at the museum fall 2016.

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Designing an Inclusive Audio Guide Part 2: Tactile Reproductions https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-2-tactile-reproductions/ https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-2-tactile-reproductions/#respond Fri, 15 Jul 2016 00:58:55 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2175 This is the second post in a series about the development process of The Warhol’s new audio guide. 

You might not think a museum would offer a meaningful experience for a person with visual impairment. But why not? At The Andy Warhol Museum, we’re working on changing that perception, and we’re providing experiences to visitors with the widest possible range of abilities.

We are very excited and proud to introduce three tactile reproductions of Andy Warhol’s artwork on the 7th floor of the museum. Visitors will be able to get a sense of the texture, shape, and composition of Warhol’s artwork through touch. The beauty of tactile reproductions is that they are beneficial to all visitors. We can all learn something about Warhol’s artwork by experiencing it through the sense of touch.

I first learned about tactile diagrams at the 2013 Leadership Exchange Arts and Disability (LEAD) conference in Washington, DC, and I was excited to share my ideas with the rest of the museum team. After that, we began working on a mobile app with visual descriptions for an audio guide, and a raised map of the gallery spaces so that visitors could have a sense of space before they peruse the galleries.

During this time of testing and research, I also discovered something called a “swell form machine.” The swell form machine uses a specific kind of paper and a carbon ink pen that allows you to draw on the paper and put it through the machine, which heats up the ink. The ink swells on the paper giving specific physical definitions that are raised, juxtaposed against the smooth paper. We experimented with many kinds of raised reproductions and got a positive response from visitors, as well as some feedback. For example, a consultant named Sina Bahram, when using a larger-scale tactile reproduction made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) material, advised us to mount the reproductions on a 45-degree angle on pedestals so that they were more accessible to touch for everyone.  

The Warhol is working with David Whitewolf of Tactile Reproductions, LLC, who is making the three tactile reproductions that will soon be on display at The Warhol. I asked David a few questions about the fabrication process, because it’s fascinating.

Leah Morelli: How did you get involved with making tactile reproductions?

David Whitewolf: I first got involved with crafting tactile reproductions when I received a call from a friend of mine, Anika Wilcox, who was working with The Warhol at the time. She asked if I would meet with the education team and discuss what might be necessary to create tactile reproductions of some of Andy Warhol’s artworks, which they could take on educational road trips. Several months later we had finished four pieces, two of which were full-scale reproductions and were cut using a machining process, and two of which were smaller, scaled-down, hand-held pieces created using a high-resolution 3D printer.[1] This was the very beginning of our process, and through it we developed a basic understanding of the software workflow, the tooling and time requirements, and the overall philosophical reasoning driving our choices.

LM: From the beginning, explain the materials that you started experimenting with and how you have come to the current material that you are using to create the tactile reproductions.

DW: In the beginning we were looking at materials that might cut easily, and therefore quickly using a computer numerically controlled (CNC) router, and yet be robust enough to be handled by many people over several years. This was a crazy prototyping period, which had two big constraintsthe budget and access to the machinery required to make these objects. Those two things go hand-in-hand because of the time required to create a single piece. CNC machine time can be expensive, especially when a piece might take up to 70 hours of continuous operation to create, so we had to make new friends who were interested in our project and who donated time on their machines to support it.

Our first pieces were made using two common light-weight materials: medium density fiberboard (mdf) and rigid foam insulation. Both of these materials are fairly lightweight and easy to machine quickly, but, as I soon discovered, they require extensive finishing to make them robust enough for handling. For the mdf there was a lot of careful sanding involved and many, many coats of paint and clear enamel in order to create a pleasant tactile experience. With the insulation I painted a layer of acrylic latex paint over the surface and then attempted a two-part epoxy coating, which did not leave a very satisfying result. In fact, I failed with that coating the first time, which meant I had to cut the entire piece again!

A far simpler process was the use of a selective laser sintering machine (SLS) to 3D-print two of the pieces. The original works are larger (approx. 1 meter square) so they had to be reduced to fit in the machine, which only has a 12” x 12” x 12” build volume. The pieces came out of the oven complete and only required a coat of enamel in order to keep them clean. As we’ve discovered, this is fine for smaller works, or expanded sections/details of works, but the loss in definition when reducing a large work makes it almost impossible for a patron to distinguish important areas. Also, the enamel coating over the sintered nylon isn’t as smooth and pleasant an experience to touch as you might imagine.

 

A large machine takes up most of the image. It has a thin, horizontal rectangular window at about elbow height where items are 3D printed. The machine is gray, but the front has two black panels on the right and left side. To the right of the SLS machine is a computer screen and key board used to upload files to the machine for printing.
A selective laser sintering machine (SLS) used to 3D-print two of the tactile reproductions.

 

After these experiences we decided to move to a more robust material that didn’t require as much finishing, would be easy to clean, and would be easy to machine. It would also need to be cost effective. I made the decision to use HDPE, not only because it met these requirements, but also because it was so pleasant to touch. By this time, we had acquired our own CNC router. The first piece we cut was fairly small, but cut full size, and came off of the machine nearly complete. Only minor deburring, or getting rid of unwanted pieces, around the edges was required. The next piece was larger, however, and we noticed a significant deformation during the cutting process.  After a slight modification to the data and checking the material for defects, a second iteration was attempted. This also failed with the piece cupping and flexing as it was being cut, and cupping severely after being removed from the machine. The learning curve got a little steeper at this point as I learned about the molecular and structural composition of the material. It turns out that HDPE was actually not the best material for this process!

We are now using a copolymer with the trade name Acetal. This is a dense material, made for machining, which remains dimensionally accurate even under fairly extreme circumstances. However, because of its molecular structure and density, the Acetal feels rougher than HDPE, which is often described as greasy. We’ve learned that the same data cut on both materials gives patrons completely different experiences. In order to make sure that we are communicating the intended information of the piece, and not creating an unpleasant experience for the patron, we are modifying our datasets in software. This work is ongoing.

LM: Would you describe your process and any considerations you have when transforming a two dimensional image into a relief?

DW: The primary purpose of a tactile reproduction is to make the visual information created by the artist accessible to a patron who cannot experience it visually. Because of this, we’ve taken the approach of providing as much of that information as possible to the patron with limited modification. In other words, it is important to us that our tactile reproductions do not add information to the works. Rather, we make every attempt to provide an accurate experience by simply differentiating one feature from another. After all, no one knows what the back of Mona Lisa’s head looks like, so we don’t make any claims like that in our reproductions.

The process itself is quite time-intensive due to the need to do accurate work at a very high resolution and also because of the craftsmanship required. I have to look at each piece both as an engineer and artist in order to make choices about how best to bring out the information for the viewer. Each piece is completely different in this regard, but the tools I use are common. I utilize a typical image editor, which allows fine resolution manipulation of pixel color and provides standard filters for blurring (this allows gradations between areas so that we are not creating unpleasant transitions). Once I have created the grayscale image, I use another software program to build a 3D object from the image data. In this program, black areas are “farthest away” from the viewer and white areas are closest, with varying shades of gray falling somewhere between.  When this process is complete, the dataset is brought into another software package in order to generate toolpaths for the CNC router. Finally, this g-code is loaded onto the router’s computer and the part is cut. This process, not including the machining time, can take up to 80 hours.

 

A man holds a while plastic tile. On the tile, a self portrait of Andy Warhol has been recreated in 3D, which will allow museum patrons to experience the art in a new, tactile way.
A 3D-printed tactile reproduction of Andy Warhol’s 1986 Self-Portrait made using a selective laser sintering machine (SLS).

 

LM: What are some things that you learned from meeting our consultant, and working with users, and how did that inform your process?

DW: Meeting with Sina Bahram (of Prime Access Consulting, Inc.) was a lot of fun! He is a very intelligent and pleasant person and has been studying and working in this field for quite a while, so his notes on the pieces we created were concise and direct and very helpful.  

Because Sina’s primary interest is in universal design, he spoke with us about all aspects of presentation, from the works themselves and their audio descriptions to how the works are mounted and the placement of signage. One very interesting thing I learned as we went over the pieces was that line drawings require more verbal description than other types of work. This is a little counterintuitive for people who are able to experience these pieces visually. We might tend to think that the work is less busy or more precise due to the inked line, but, in fact, the opposite appears to be true for those who are sight-impaired. The precision of the line means there is less information defining the various areas of the drawing. Whereas I may clearly see the outline of an arm leading to a shoulder and neck, a blind person wouldn’t be able to differentiate those outlined areas as objects, especially if, say, the arm was draped across the chest in the figure. This is where a more detailed audio description is required.

Working with Sina also helped to confirm many of the choices I had intuited when building the pieces and let us know that we were on the right path. This may not sound like much, but it really helps clear your head so you can get to work!

LM: Is there anything else you want to add?

DW: I would like to add that working with The Warhol to create these pieces has been a fun, engaging, and professional experience. It is very satisfying to work with people who really do want to reach each and every member of our community. We are happy and thankful to be a part of this process and to help to share it with others who might do the same in their own communities. And, to anyone who is interested, come to Pittsburgh and touch the art!

LM: I am excited that The Warhol will have three tactile reproductions on the 7th floor of the museum in time for the opening reception for the LEAD conference, which is in Pittsburgh this year, and opens the first week of August. [2] Come check it out!

Accessibility initiatives at The Warhol are generously supported by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, and the FISA Foundation in honor of Dr. Mary Margaret Kimmel.

Out Loud, The Warhol’s new audio guide, will be available at the museum fall 2016.

 

[1] The first four tactile reproductions we made were based on the following Warhol artworks: Campbell’s Soup I: Cream of Mushroom, 1968; Female Fashion Figure, 1950s; Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967; and Self-Portrait, 1986.

[2] The three tactile reproductions that are on view beginning August 2016 include representations of the following Warhol artworks: Coca-Cola [2], 1961; Reclining Male Torso, 1950s; and Female Fashion Figure, 1950s.

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Designing an Inclusive Audio Guide Part 1: An Introduction https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-1-an-introduction/ https://www.warhol.org/designing-an-inclusive-audio-guide-part-1-an-introduction/#comments Sat, 25 Jun 2016 00:12:59 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2159 This is the first post in a series about the development process of The Warhol’s new audio guide. 

In 1964, Andy Warhol moved to a new studio in a large New York City loft and covered its walls with silver paint and aluminum foil. Dubbed the Silver Factory, this space became known as a gathering place for artists, friends, and celebrities.

The “open-door policy” of the Factory is something that we’re inspired by at The Warhol as we endeavor to create a communal and inclusive environment within the walls of our museum. One way we’re becoming a more inclusive place is through our commitment to making the museum friendly to visitors of all abilities. Later this summer, we’ll be soft-launching a new audio guide that takes an inclusive design approach. According to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, this is a philosophy that designs with all users in mind from the outset: “The inclusive design approach will ensure the museum experience is not only accessible for all ages and abilities, but is enriching and satisfying for all. It is not a design style, but an orientation to design.” Through a series of posts on The Warhol Blog, we’ll dive into the process behind our new audio app, which soft-launches later this summer in a limited release and will be available to all museum visitors this fall.

The story starts in the summer of 2014, when my predecessors in charge of digital engagement partnered with the education department to develop experiences for visitors who are blind or have low vision. One component of the project was an audio guide in conjunction with the exhibition Halston and Warhol: Silver and Suede. We used low-energy bluetooth beacons to push content out to visitors based on where they are located in the museum—no need to read numbers on a wall label and type them into a device! Instead, the iOS application notifies you when there is relevant audio nearby.

In conjunction with the app, we also partnered with David White of Tactile Reproductions, LLC, to produce tactile representations of artwork in The Warhol’s collection. Tactile reproductions reimagine the contours and colors of an artwork as different relief layers, allowing visitors to use touch to gain an understanding of what a work looks like. Together, the audio guide app and the tactile reproductions allow visitors with visual impairments to delve into Warhol’s life and practice through senses beyond sight.

 

A young woman with blonde hair is seated at a table. She holds an old iPhone, which she is using to test out the new audio guide app.
Young woman seated at a table using the audio app on a cell phone.

 

We learned a lot from these prototypes, but they were just the start. Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been hard at work to turn these prototypes into a reality. From the beginning of the process, we’ve kept four things in mind:

  • Put users first. We are committed to building an audio guide experience not just for community members with visual impairments, but with them as well. In our design process, we’ve worked closely with consultants with varying degrees of blindness. We talked to our partners even before we drew a single wireframe, exploring what makes a great museum experience and how they use technology. We also bring in our consultants to test prototypes at different stages of the process, allowing the findings from these sessions to guide the next step.
  • Don’t just build for accessibility. We strongly believe that if we design with different abilities in mind, we can craft a better experience for everyone. Even though we’re designing first for visitors with visual impairments, the audio guide will be available to all. Our consultants told us that they like to come to museums with friends and family, so whatever we design should be built for a social experience. Additionally, we currently don’t have an audio guide—and our front desk staff tells us this is one of the most common requests they get.
  • Reimagine the audio guide. Since we started from scratch with this audio guide, this was a great opportunity to depart from the usual way of doing things. We’re not the only ones rethinking the traditional audio guide: The newly-opened Broad Museum in Los Angeles is taking a cue from the irreverent and conversational tone of podcasts in their audio app; the British Museum has experimented with tours with longer audio files organized around themes rather than objects; and SFMOMA has designed a fully-immersive audio experience. In future blog posts, we’ll describe how we’re taking a different approach, splitting up audio content into smaller, modular stops and allow visitors to dive deeper if they’d like to learn more.
  • Start small, dream big. Everything I’ve described above is a tall order! From the outset of the project, we decided getting it right was more than ticking off all the checkboxes. For version one of the app, we have focused on only one floor of the building—floor 7, which displays works and artifacts from Warhol’s birth through to the early 1960s—but we’ve made it as complete an experience as possible. After launching and refining version one of the app, we want to expand to other floors of the museum.

Over the course of this blog series, we’ll be delving into everything from the user research we’ve done in conjunction with our blind and low-vision partners, to the process of imagining a new kind of audio experience, to the technical trials and tribulations of wrangling beacons and building our app from scratch. We’re glad you’ve joined us!

Accessibility initiatives at The Warhol are generously supported by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, and the FISA Foundation in honor of Dr. Mary Margaret Kimmel.

Out Loud, The Warhol’s new audio guide, will be available at the museum fall 2016.

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Face Time: Adil Mansoor https://www.warhol.org/face-time-adil-mansoor/ https://www.warhol.org/face-time-adil-mansoor/#respond Fri, 11 Mar 2016 21:00:51 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=2108 Adil Mansoor

Image: Adil Mansoor, photo by Joshua Franzos

This text by Betsy Momich originally appeared in the spring 2016 issue of Carnegie Magazine, a quarterly publication of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

By his estimate, it was all those “checked boxes” that helped then-undergrad Adil Mansoor score a coveted spot as a campus tour guide at Northwestern University: “I’m a Pakistani- Indian. I was a queer-identified kid. I did a lot of theater. I went through the financial aid experience. I had an immigrant background.” But it’s likely his big personality had something to do with it, too. The theater artist and arts educator learned early on that his ability to command an audience—a tour group, a theater audience, a group of teenagers—could not only get him somewhere in life, but also allow him to do some good. Today Mansoor has no fewer than three jobs to help him fulfill that mission. He’s program director at Pittsburgh’s Dreams of Hope, a queer youth arts organization, where he directs young people in plays they write themselves. He’s a founding member of Hatch Arts Collective, a performing arts group committed to socially engaged work that recently produced and directed Chickens in the Yard, the first play staged by Quantum Theatre as part of its Gerri Kay New Voices Program. And for the past four years he’s been youth program coordinator at The Andy Warhol Museum, where he manages two of the museum’s big annual youth events: Youth Invasion, where kids from across the region plan programming and then take over the museum for a day, and Prom @ The Warhol for queer, trans, and allied youth, some of whom don’t feel they have a place at their own school proms. He also won a national award for Dine and Discuss, an afterschool program he helped create, where kids sat around tables at The Warhol, ate a meal, and talked about issues of culture and religion. Says Mansoor, “We want young people to be talking about this stuff.”

When did you become interested in the arts?

In the first grade—I have a really clear memory of it. They took the best two readers from every grade level to be in this all-school play, and I wasn’t one of them. So I petitioned the first-grade class to do a play so everyone who wanted to be in it could be in it. I played a groundhog that had a guinea pig sister, and I taught her how to juggle. It felt like a victory. I had my voice heard!

At what point did equity and inclusiveness become so much a part of your work and your art?

When I started to realize that I was an anomaly at Northwestern University. That I was unique for someone coming from my income experience to be at a school like that. I was in all of these education classes reading about the educational gap and looking at what income does to test scores, and I started to think a lot about who gets to go to college, and who gets to go to a school for the arts. It started to click that I might have the opportunity to shift that paradigm, even for a small 1 percent.

Did you find Pittsburgh a welcoming place to do that kind of work?

I found people here very willing to say welcome to new folks. The community is also really accessible in terms of getting projects supported, getting people interested, and building teams.

One of the first places I made networks and friends was at the My People film series at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. It’s an annual film series of movies for and by queer people of color. I could not believe that it was happening. I hadn’t even seen that in Chicago. The staff is super diverse and represents communities in a way I’m excited to see represented.

Has a lot changed in high schools in terms of kids being able to embrace their identities sooner?

Oh yeah. I think social media has completely shifted our access to information, so young folks today are thinking about things like identity in ways that I know I wasn’t in high school. And they’re seeing more people standing up for themselves.

Do you believe art can be transforming for everybody?

Yes! And in my heart of hearts it’s the most efficient way to transform. I think folks want to believe that art is for fancy people or smart people or whatever, and we’ve set up all of these systems so that kind of becomes true. And that’s heartbreaking.

How does The Warhol try to change that?

What I love about the museum is that it’s always engaging people who don’t think about art all the time. One of the first things I did at The Warhol was serve on an advisory board for The Word of God exhibition series. The first event looked at the artist Sandow Birk [who hand-copied pages of the Quran onto backgrounds of American scenes], and the group they gathered together all looked like my father—older, Pakistani-Indian men who had immigrated to America at some point. These men were being beautifully, intelligently critical of the art. In a museum. In a really queer museum. It was awesome!

Last May, we had almost 1,000 teenagers in this building for Youth Invasion. Maybe they came here for the free samosas or they came here to support their friend who was a model in the fashion show. But, regardless, they were in a building full of contemporary art.

So, do you ever do only one thing at a time?

No, I think I’m always doing 10 things at once. But for one thing, it’s feasible in Pittsburgh.

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Warhol’s Secret Adventure in the Soviet Arctic https://www.warhol.org/warhols-secret-adventure-in-the-soviet-arctic/ https://www.warhol.org/warhols-secret-adventure-in-the-soviet-arctic/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2015 22:03:42 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=1992 Andy in the Arctic or Умницы from Emily Newman on Vimeo.

Andy Warhol was never in the Soviet Arctic. But in summer 2015, The Andy Warhol Museum’s education department initiated a collaboration with the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in St. Petersburg, Russia. The project was conceived as a parallel initiative in St. Petersburg and Pittsburgh, encouraging Cold War literacy through the study of period pop culture. Students in both places studied politics and films from the 1960s (including the marvelous Ice Station Zebra), conceived their own Arctic Spy Thriller, and made posters (Pittsburgh) and a film trailer (St. Petersburg). Last month, artist Yvegeniy Fiks visited Pittsburgh on the occasion of his museum installation Yevgeniy Fiks: Andy Warhol and The Pittsburgh Labor Files, on view through January 10, 2016. I took the opportunity to show him the film we produced in St. Petersburg and talk about the project’s unexpected outcomes.

Emily Newman: When I showed you our film in Pittsburgh, I thought it was funny that you said something like, “interesting connection between Andy Warhol and the Soviet Arctic….” People in Russia asked me a lot what the connection was, and I had to admit that there wasn’t one.

Yevgeniy Fiks: Well, I think I was thinking in terms of your project: in your project the connection between Warhol and the Soviet Arctic came into being so the connection exists. But in general, there is a strong tangible connection between Warhol and the Cold War, and Pop Art in general and the Cold War. Pop Art being a quintessential American art movement of the Cold War era, with its commodity populism and glorification of consumption. Russian Sots artist Vitaly Komar, for instance, considers late-Soviet Sots Art to be a mirror image of American Pop Art. I think in your project, which is wonderfully playful and imaginative, the absurdity of Warhol’s visiting the Soviet Arctic is a lot of fun. This playfulness makes Andy in your film like the favorite Soviet children’s cartoon character, Cheburashka—someone who is sweet and Soviet-style gender-neutral.

EN: Yes, the conversation that I had with the St. Petersburg museum staff about what I wanted to do before we started was quite vague—I think we all knew that if we got into too many details that we might start hitting barriers, and we didn’t want that to happen. My original idea was to stage a spy thriller inside the museum, to work with children on the Cold War topic in order to familiarize them with the terms of the long-standing relationship between the U.S. and Russia on the world stage. But pretty quickly I was asked not to touch political topics—and eventually I was even asked to de-emphasize Warhol—so we were left with just the shell of an idea: an artist, the Arctic, the ‘60s. Their reasons for being nervous actually make sense. As you know, after the Russian Revolution all churches were demolished or re-purposed—The Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic is the last museum-in-a-church left in the city, and this puts them in an extremely vulnerable position—they cannot risk controversy, and a collaboration with an American museum attracted attention from the outset. But back to the project—I think it’s safe to assume that at least some of the staff were familiar with Warhol, since he is very well known in Russia following the 2000 exhibition at the Hermitage.

YF: I also find it very interesting that with the new restrictions of “no politics and no Warhol” as you put it, your project about politics and Warhol became somewhat akin to Soviet-era children’s television shows, which were playful and sweet. So knowing the background of your project, it makes me think that perhaps the late-Soviet children’s shows that I enjoyed as a child in Moscow, for example, ones about Cheburashka, were perhaps unrealized radical narratives of gender and politics, which became sweet children’s stories because of censorship.

EN: The film is sweet, and one Russian friend called it “vegetarian.” Warhol actually said, when asked, that he wouldn’t have wanted to visit Russia, and who knows what he would have thought of the Arctic, but we can use what we know about Warhol to interpolate what his reaction would be to almost anything. What would Warhol have made of the Soviet Arctic, as it is preserved in this museum? He would have loved it, of course, just like he admitted to loving his trip to China even though he said he hated to travel.

YF: Yes, for sure the “vegetarianism” of the film and its sweetly positive outlook is funny. It’s funny how Warhol is sort of put back into the closet in St. Petersburg’s Arctic Museum! How Warhol got transformed into Cheburashka. And how in a way your project, your film, was put into the closet too in a way. So, being a product of a censorship or restrictions it actually ended up living up to its promise as a project about the Cold War, no?

Doctorofgoonpostersmall_er
Pittsburgh students produced this poster “Doctors of Goon.”
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Teacher Talk at The Warhol’s Annual Teacher Open House https://www.warhol.org/teacher-talk-at-the-warhols-annual-teacher-open-house/ https://www.warhol.org/teacher-talk-at-the-warhols-annual-teacher-open-house/#respond Thu, 19 Nov 2015 00:27:27 +0000 http://blog.warhol.org/?p=1957 As the associate curator of education, I’ve been planning The Warhol‘s annual Teacher Open House for the past 10 years. The event features special previews of exhibitions, lectures, gallery talks, art making, and classroom resources, and teachers in attendance receive Act 48 credit hours and information about school partnership opportunities. The event on November 12 kicked off with a well-deserved sit-down dinner and a chance for teachers to chat with their colleagues over drinks. This is where I caught up with Kathleen Slowik, an art educator at Ingomar Middle School in the North Allegheny School District. We talked about past events, and how she implements in her classroom resources and ideas from teacher open houses she attends.

 

Two women sit together in the middle of a red velvet couch in the lobby of The Warhol. On the wall behind them is a large photograph of Andy Warhol reclining on the same red velvet couch.
Two teachers enjoying the open house.

 

Nicole Dezelon: How long have you been attending the teacher open house?
Kathleen Slowik: I have been attending The Warhol’s teacher open houses for a very long time; I believe, since they began, actually. I remember my peers and I were so excited when we learned of the open house, I was teaching elementary art at the time, my guess is 1996 or 1997.

ND: Do you have a favorite or most “memorable” teacher open house?
KS: I have such a great time each year I attend and look forward to each one. I have often attended workshops with teachers from my school, who enjoy the arts and teach science, social studies, English, as well as my art educator friends, and I always have a fantastic time and walk away inspired. Hearing about the upcoming events, the docent tours, seeing the featured artists, the delicious food, and printing in the studio are always uplifting and inspiring experiences! They keep me coming back with enthusiasm! Some of the workshops I enjoyed most were the year The Warhol partnered with and bused teachers to the Mattress Factory for an Indian dance and dessert; the year the museum had “dress up” in the studio, which was a lot of fun; I loved the Colors of Warhol: Silver and Gold teacher workshop and the Marilyn Monroe: Life as a Legend exhibition. I have to say each workshop is memorable!

Teacher Open House 2015 participants sit on chairs and couches in the Warhol lobby.
Teacher Open House 2015 participants.

ND: What keeps you coming back?
KS: Having attended for so many years, I can say The Warhol’s teacher open house is always fresh, fun, educational, and inspiring! I always leave inspired, with great ideas to take back to the classroom. It is a great night with great friends, and I walk away with a folder of resources, new enthusiasm, and great ideas for my students.

ND: How have you incorporated content from the teacher open house into your classroom?
KS: The Warhol is a great resource with many rich new ideas. I was so excited about the Bruce Nauman exhibition, I had students create a linoleum block print, using strictly words, in various arrangements, as their composition. I was so excited seeing Warhol’s shoe drawings; I had students create beautiful poinsettia ink blot drawings, drawn from life embellished with watercolor, and a hint of the glitter spray was beautiful for the winter months. I have had students create large pop art “containers” from clay, celebrating Warhol’s work. Following a class field trip to The Warhol, students created a ceramic project, using image transfers to incorporate the work they enjoyed seeing in the About Face exhibition. The teacher open houses inspire me to try new ideas, mix other media into students’ linoleum block prints to encourage students to play with materials and ideas, perhaps accentuate the element of “line” as Warhol did in his work, print over collage, foil, add diamond dust, reacting to their design in a creative way. I also utilize the PowerPoint presentations, developed at The Warhol and introduced in prior teacher open houses. The year “Art of Play” was part of the museum’s programming, my students focused on sports as subjects for their prints, and my students and I participated in the video contest that was in the Cultural District for First Night of that year.

ND:  What other resources could The Warhol provide to you as a teacher?
KS: I have so enjoyed all of the resources over the years, and I am so grateful for all that you offer, from the PowerPoint presentations, the multiple project ideas shared, publications for students, grants offered as a contest to partner with The Warhol in the past, The Warhol D.I.Y. Pop app, extensive online resources and image sources; all I can say is keep doing what you are doing, and thank you! All I can think of is perhaps adding a second educator night in the spring, for a second jolt of inspiration for teachers!

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