LEAP! this summer

Though there's still an undeniable chill in the air around the Museum, we in Education are hard at work planning our 2013 LEAP! (Learn + Play) summer camps. For seven very special weeks this July and August we invite campers ages five to thirteen to discover enchanted creatures, cook on an open hearth, join the circus, sail the high seas, and indulge their creative minds. 

One of our offerings is AHOY! A Week at Sea, a nautical-themed camp for six-to-eight year-olds that we ran for the first time last year. I wrote the curriculum for AHOY!, and experienced one of my all-time favorite museum moments on "Steamship Day," when we learned about the Ticonderoga and put ourselves in sailors' shoes.

Intern Callie and Lex practice their figure eight knots.

We're fortunate to have a knowledgeable Museum staff, including several true maritime experts. Peter Tomasi, our Ticonderoga carpenter, leads a group of dedicated volunteers who work on the boat year-round. One of them is Lex Nason, who has volunteered in the Ti workshop for eighteen years and over 8,000 hours. He and Peter generously offered to spend the morning teaching our campers the nautical knots they know and use.

A book of knots.

Each camper had their own three-foot length of rope. We began with basic overhand knots and worked our way up to figure-eights, which hold better and are also easier to untie when needed. Before long, our campers tied their water bottles together using their new skills and created a pulley system for hoisting them onto the tables!

Peter demonstrates a knot he uses on the Ticonderoga.

All hands on deck! Our water bottles get a boost.

We try to build activities into camps for staff to share their expertise with an eager young audience. On another afternoon during our "Week at Sea" campers questioned Shelburne Museum's Director of Buildings Chip Stulen, who happens to be trained in boat building, about ship design. Then campers built their own models complete with smokestacks, flags, figureheads, and rudders. My colleague Paige spoke with the kids about her years traveling the world on a cruise ship and told the Native American story of Natsilane and the killer whale, a fascinating piece of nautical folklore. 

I always look forward to planning these fun, creative, and interactive camp activities--they brighten the short winter days.

A sailor's life!

Camp registration is now open--click here to learn more about our offerings and download a registration form. We hope to see you this summer!

i-loview, Accessible Technology!

This season Shelburne Museum received a generous gift from the Vermont-based accessible technology company, Ai Squared -- two i-loview handheld video magnifiers for  visually impaired museum visitors. Equipped with sophisticated cameras, the devices allow users to see an image up to 32 times its original size.

Intern Nina uses an i-loview magnifier on an Art at Hand tour of the Ticonderoga

We have put the magnifiers to good use in our Art at Hand program for the visually impaired. We've used them, for example, to see the tiny anchor pattern that dots the dining room carpet on the steamboat Ticonderoga. Later this month we will employ them at the General Store for up-close look at objects behind the counter or high up on the shelves. The i-loview magnifiers have been indispensable on these special tours.
Now, the devices are even more accessible to our visitors. Through closing day on October 28th they are available to check out at the Information Desk just behind the Museum Store!

Anne displays the i-loview magnifiers now available for visitors to check out at the Information Desk

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Rebecca White, Marketing Project Manager at Ai Squared, who wrote her own article about Art at Hand on their "Zoomed In" blog. She explains that while the company's flagship product, ZoomText magnification and reading software, has been on the market for over twenty years, the i-loview is an innovative development in accessible hardware. "We do everything we can to stay on top of technology," she says. "The i-loview helps our customers on the go--whether they're at the grocery store or an art museum." The device, White emphasizes, allows people who are visually impaired to "stay connected to the world and maintain their sense of independence."

White expresses a passionate belief that cultural institutions should be accessible to the tight-knit community of visually impaired Vermonters whom Ai Squared knows well. The company moved to the southern part of the state 1992 and, as she describes, its corporate culture just "feels Vermont." Then she pauses, realizing that, "maybe that only makes sense to Vermonters!" Certainly we at Shelburne Museum take pride in our deep regional connections and are glad to establish a partnership with such an esteemed local business. Ai Squared makes it a point to give back to the state they call home, and we thank them heartily for their generosity.

Update: If you'd like to learn more about Art at Hand, check out this article published in the Burlington Free Press on Sunday, October 21st.

Looking Beyond Sight

The following is a guest post written by Shelburne Museum member Shirley Katz. She and her husband, George, attended an Art at Hand tour for museum visitors who are blind or visually impaired. Here's what she had to say about their experience: 

The Lions Club sponsored a day at Shelburne Museum for the blind and visually impaired. It was a described, hands-on tour of two of the exhibits: The steamboat Ticonderoga and the Lighthouse.

 

 

The Ti is very impressive, now "docked" in a grassy basin on the museum grounds.

Museum guides provided replicas (or near-replicas) for everyone to get a feel for the boat. 

 

Then we boarded the Ti to hear an excellent visual description. The Ti was restored to appear as it may have looked in 1923. The cherry wood paneling and adornments are truly beautiful. As a sighted person, I appreciated this even more as we were invited to feel the detailing.

We even got a feel for what it may have been like to take the controls.

Back to the area just in front of the dining room, we learned more about this magnificent vessel. 

The floor here looks like a puzzle. The guides had a sample piece of what the flooring is really like.

Our guide also pointed out that the carpeting in the dining room looks like it is made up of tiny anchors--very appropriate! Can you see them?

 

The museum now has two magnifiers for visually impaired people to check out while on a tour. They were generously donated by Ai Squared, and this was the first day they were used. Here Geo is looking at the ceiling while also seeing it up close in the magnifier. 

 

We walked back for a tour of the Lighthouse before taking the shuttle back to the main entrance.   

Thank you, Shirley! We are offering three additional Art at Hand tours this season. For more information or to register, visit http://shelburnemuseum.org/learn/adults/activities-and-tours/tours-for-special-audiences/.