Unlock Your Independence, Nebraska!

A graphic reads: Come join us at the Joslyn Art Museum for a tactile exhibition: Seven Art Movements. An introduction to art for blind, disabled, and sighted visitors. September 10th, 2024 through March 9th, 2025. Produced in partnership with the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Hands are seen experiencing a tactile version of the Mona Lisa. Discover how art is becoming more accessible through the work of the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and tactile images. An exterior view of the Joslyn Museum entrance is shown; tall fluted columns and a marble facade made of pink stone can be seen. The camera enters a gallery with marble floors and walls that is designated to host the tactile exhibition. Tactile images from seven different art periods are shown in the gallery at the newly renovated Joslyn Art Museum. Exhibitions like Seven Art Movements feature tactile images, audio descriptions, and Braille, inviting blind and visually impaired visitors to experience art in new ways. This innovative approach breaks down barriers, proving that art can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of ability. Three blind people are seen walking together through the museum using white canes. Join us at the Joslyn Art Museum and see how accessibility transforms our connection to art, history, and each other.

Graphic card reads: Come join us at Kiewit Luminarium. A tactile exhibition: Experience the Cosmos - The James Webb Space Telescope. An invitation for blind, disabled, and sighted visitors. September 26th to October 27th, 2024. Produced in partnership with the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The camera enters the building and moves to a gallery displaying 10 tactile James Webb Space Telescope images. Project scientists describe the images: "Anytime we point a telescope at Neptune, we do not know what we're going to see. Sometimes we see extremely bright features; two days later, those features are gone. On the left, which is the near-infrared, you see just one bright star in the center. On the right, which is mid-infrared, you see Cass exploded, and what you're looking at here are the dying embers from that explosion. That material, as it spins faster and faster and faster, would actually be so fast in the middle that any star that tried to form would fly apart. It's that process of infall and ejection that makes the dramatic hourglass shape that we're looking at here. The bright nucleus of the galaxy—we have both star formation and a black hole, so there's an active black hole in the center." The Kiewit Luminarium building is shown at sunset. Come and share in the experience. Visit ncbvi.nebraska.gov to learn more.

An on-screen graphic reads: Come join us at the Hastings Museum. A tactile exhibition: Leonardo da Vinci - Artist and Engineer. An exhibition created to serve blind, disabled, and sighted visitors. September 24th through December 19th, 2024. Produced in partnership with the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. An exterior view of the Hastings Museum is shown; large gray and brown stones and glass make up the building facade in Hastings. At the Hastings Museum, there's so much to experience. Video shows a collection of life-size polar bears, a buffalo, and a statue of the 1970s advertising icon Kool-Aid Man, created for the beverage brand Kool-Aid which was invented in Hastings. When you visit, you can not only spend time with wild animals and icons, but now through December 19th, 2024, you can experience and learn about Leonardo da Vinci's engineering drawings and innovations. A gallery is shown. Included are a tactile military tank, a water-lifting device, an early idea for a helicopter, crossbow, an excavation machine, shrapnel shells fired from cannons, and more. Born in 1452 near Florence, Italy, Leonardo was the son of a legal notary and a woman of lower station. Around the age of 14, he began to work in the studio of renowned painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. Though he trained professionally as an artist, Leonardo also learned skills such as drafting, metallurgy, and chemistry. This knowledge aided him when it came to engineering. He quickly gained notoriety not just for his art, but also for his creative inventions. This exhibition allows blind and sighted patrons to experience Leonardo da Vinci's mechanical drawings through touch and audio stimulation. An on-screen graphic shows a logo of the NCBVI. It includes the shape of a person using a cane for cane travel and includes an outline of the state of Nebraska. It reads: NCBVI - Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Empowering blind individuals, promoting opportunities, and building a belief in the blind.

A blind man walks with a cane. "Can people who are blind lead full and meaningful lives? Let's ask. We are artists, teachers, and chefs. We shop, play sports, and we raise our own families." People use their hands to explore a 3D version of the Mona Lisa. "But enjoying art and photography has remained difficult to grasp." Three blind people walk in a museum with canes. "Through an innovative program, the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Nebraska museums are making select exhibits accessible to all." Come and share in the experience. Visit ncbvi.nebraska.gov to learn more.