Our friend Maxwell Ivey from a few episodes back has introduced us to this week’s special guest for Outlook and we’re talking art and accessibility with this ally. Anthony Saldana has never been to Canada before, but would like to come and bring his documentary with him: Straight Off the Canvas.

Saldana joins us, on Outlook today, from Queens New York where he got his Bachelor’s from Queens College. He was in an art gallery one day when he began to wonder how people who are blind appreciate art, visual art amongst other forms. He decided to do some research into this question and the idea for this documentary began to take shape.

It’s been a long process, over the last ten or so years, but luckily this wasn’t his first, but would be his Master’s Thesis.

Anthony then reached out to an organization called Art Beyond Sight, a nonprofit which we’ll include at the end of these show notes.

In Straight Off the Canvas, Saldana features two low vision/blind art teachers (Elizabeth Castallano and Jessica Jones), with several students including those at the Lavelle School for the Blind in Bronx New York. Throughout this documentary, they were being followed all the way through, as the art evolved starting with the student’s concepts in the fall, returning months later, showing off their art projects at an art exhibition at the end of the year.

The teachers are featured, but really it’s the kids that end up stealing the show. This film is a beautiful display of the value art can bring to our lives, a universal desire to create something, the perfect thing to focus on when the pandemic hit.

Anthony directs, interviews the subjects, and even adds audio description for blind viewers, but…for him…this film’s also really been a “Labor of love.”

Blind people, explaining art and the visions they have for it, along with an art therapist featured, showing off the power of art to transform lives of all children and adults, with or without seeing it with the eyes.

We discuss what it takes to be in the entertainment industry, some of the success of the film so far which includes multiple awards and virtual and in-person screenings, and next Anthony will be showing the documentary at the upcoming Canadian Society for Education through Art conference, November 13th and 14th:

https://csea-scea.ourconference.ca

Check out updates on the progress going forward by following along on Twitter: @StraightCanvas

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/straightcanvas

And check out nonprofit Art Beyond Sight for how to make more artistic spaces accessible for all:

http://www.artbeyondsight.org/index.php