Bank Left Gallery

I visited the Left Bank Gallery in Palouse, Washington. This gallery displays local artists' works adjacent to a quaint bistro in the small town of Palouse. This gallery utilizes pedestals, tables, everyday furniture, display cases, and even a safe for displaying the artwork. They also mount a lot of the painted work on the walls while the smaller sculpture and other pottery and figurines are on the table tops and cases. For artificial lighting the gallery uses what looks like hand made track lighting by stringing wire along the ceiling and the lighting fixtures which are threaded through the wire are directed to particular art pieces. There is a bigger pendant light in the center of the main room of the gallery for central overall lighting as well as a ceiling fan that also has a light. The ceiling fan can help with ventilation in the room. Additionally, there are vents and heaters in the space. Naturally lighting plays a large role in this gallery because there are many large scale windows that take up half of the walls in the space.

The observer is directed through the space by the way the tables and desks are situated. I automatically traveled through the gallery in a clockwise direction because the tables were angled in a way to imply a path in that direction from the entrance. There is also a desk where you would go to purchase the art and that automatically makes the observer think that you should end there. The environment of the interior had blue carpet and cream furniture. There is music for the mood and neutral and cool tones. There is a beautiful coeffered ceiling which gives the interior a historical feel.

Impaired Vision Experience

While under the case study of designing a space for people who are visually impaired I underwent a workshop that allowed me to experience what it is like to not have clear vision. There are different levels of vision impairment. A lower level of impairment like blurry vision can be experience by putting a a plastic bag over your eyes. One call still make out figures but if a person wanted to read anything they would have to get  very close to the sign or paper to make out letters. There are other levels of impairment such as tunnel vision, loss of parts, and central vision. Each in their own way inhibit an individual from seeing clearly.

For the next part of the workshop I wore glasses with petroleum jelly to limit my vision. I could only see vague contours of objects. I still saw my surroundings but in a very blurry manner. Due to this, using an ATM and going down stairs was a bit difficult.