A visually impaired artist will bring his experience to Quay Arts in Newport today (Wednesday, March 16), with a plan to enable partially-sighted art lovers to hear what's on show.

Four Isle of Wight artists and 48 others, from the artist-led group Contemporary British Painting organisation, make up the Paradoxes exhibition.

Visitors with sight problems cannot usually have the same experience as those who are sighted and Clarke Reynolds wants to change that.

He is touring major galleries on the south coast, with a sighted artist friend, Steve Baker, recording art podcasts and hosting discussions.

  • The second series of Clarke and Steve’s podcasts, ‘Art In Sight,’ will exclusively focus on Quay Arts.  
  • It will consist of around half a dozen short (10 – 15 minutes) episodes and be available to download from April 4.
  • CLICK HERE for more www.seeingwithoutseeing.com

Clarke said: "Current audio provision for visually impaired artists gives a very short description of the work and removes the emotion from experiencing art.  

"Steve and I approach the work like two art-loving friends discussing the content, techniques and personal impact we experience from the art.  

"We are making podcasts that can be enjoyed equally by sighted and non-sighted people, so they can share opinions on the works whilst they wander around the exhibition.  

"Our approach has the added bonus of allowing people who can’t visit the exhibition to experience it by downloading the podcasts."

Ian Whitmore, Visual Arts Manager, Quay Arts said: "We are really excited to welcome Clarke and Steve to record their podcast at Quay Arts. We are constantly striving to find new ways to increase access to the gallery and we are delighted that Clarke and Steve chose Quay Arts for this exciting series of podcasts."